The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) in The Sword and Laser

May 04, 2009 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalypse-and-dystopia, sci-fi-fantasy, read2009

This is the first King book I've read that I haven't had to force myself to finish, and I'm glad. He is almost whimsical here. Sure, the setting is bleak and the characters and situations are dark, but he paints such a vivid picture that it kept me interested to the end. Quick read. (Just saw that JJ Abrams is working on a movie adaptation of The Dark Tower series, which must mean an end is coming soon). ...more

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May 23, 2007 Angie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The dark tower series is unforgetable. I have never to this date read anything like it. My mom had to wait like 30 years for all the books in the series to be complete, I waited like 5 years at the most! :)

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Dec 22, 2008 Eric rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, western, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, stephen-king

I listened to the audiobook of The Gunslinger, and loved the narrator. His gravelly voice was perfect for this gritty westernish tale.

As for the book, it was ethereal, unhinged in both time and place, uneven at points, and incredibly ambitious. I loved how I could taste the sand of the Mohaine Desert and see the townsfolk of Tull, but I also hated how overly-descriptive and indulgent the writing was at certain points. Most of all, it felt like a loosely connected set of short stories -- the stor ...more

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Aug 16, 2013 Jlawrence rated it really liked it

[2nd time: After a re-read I find myself still in agreement with my earlier review below. This time I will actually read more of the series, however.]

In the forward, King says his inspiration to start this series was to somehow combine the widescreen spaghetti western feel of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with an epic fantasy world of Lord of the Rings scope. At least in this first installment, the combo comes across more as spaghetti western + David Lynchian surrealness + random elements from [2nd time: After a re-read I find myself still in agreement with my earlier review below. This time I will actually read more of the series, however.]

In the forward, King says his inspiration to start this series was to somehow combine the widescreen spaghetti western feel of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with an epic fantasy world of Lord of the Rings scope. At least in this first installment, the combo comes across more as spaghetti western + David Lynchian surrealness + random elements from forgotten horror comic books BUT somehow it works.

This was interesting as my first King read since junior high (read Pet Cemetery and The Shining then) because I'd been reading online criticisms of King's writing, and this seems to escape some of the most-often lobbed objections. For instance, he was charged with always having a simplistic good vs evil view, protagonist always clearly-identified good guy/gal fighting clearly-identified evil. Well, sure, the book's protagonist Roland is chasing a guy called only "the man in black" whom we see do a least hideous act ...but Roland himself is a deeply compromised character, not only does he (view spoiler) but he (view spoiler).

I also liked the flashback to Roland's younger days (view spoiler).

The only thing that was disappointing was the very end - (view spoiler).

A very odd mix, but I'm intrigued enough to try more of this series, and even try some of the other supposedly linked-to-this-series King books. ...more

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May 10, 2008 Sandeep Vasudevan rated it liked it

I'd heard of The Dark Tower from someone a long time ago, and I had always wanted to get one, but was usuallyt baffled by teh fact that I only ever managed to see Vol III onwards on the shelves. So when I finally saw Vols I and II at Landmark, my heart leapt up and I went ahead and shelled out hard eearned money for it. And did I like it? Was it worht the wait? Read on.

Well, the setting is damn different, I must admit, it's the Wild West meets the plains of Rohan meets Dune. The book starts well ...more

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