Book Review: The Gunslinger by Stephen King (Dark Tower Series Book 1)
A long time ago I found myself enamored with the application known as Audible. This was before Amazon took it over but it is mostly the same now. In those days I listened to many spoken word books and other educational materials. One of the books I listened to was Stephen King's The Gunslinger. The Gunslinger is the first book in the 8-book series known as the Dark Tower series. As it has been a sufficient amount of time to forget the majority of the goings on in these old recordings I decided to re-engage with my library of listenables.
Speechify is a free text-to-speech software so you can listen to your favorite books. Click this affiliate link image to download today!
The Gunslinger is primarily about Roland who is, as might have been guessed, a gunslinger. In his world, a strange world indeed, gunslingers are few, and their training is harsh. From a young age, he was selected to learn the ways of his father and take up the gun, for what purpose he would learn later, and as he grew into his gifts his unique mind set him apart from his cohort. To pass his training and become a true gunslinger he would have to win his guns by challenging his ruthlessly brutal teacher. The consequences of losing this battle would be exile from everything and everyone he knows but when his mother is attacked he chooses to challenge his master two years earlier than expected.
Presently Roland is chasing the man in black, a mysteriously evil character that is the key to Roland finding the way to the Dark Tower. What Roland will find when he finally gets to The Dark Tower he does not know but he is bound to this fate no matter the cost. Roland trails the man in black throughout the wasteland desert of a world gone mad. On his travels, he finds a small town where a dead man has come back to life but it is not a sign of god but instead a trick of the devil. To survive he has to do things that he is not proud of but his hands know their job and his guns know their marks.
As Roland gets closer and closer to the man in black he meets a young boy named Jake who reminds him of himself. Jake is smart and honorable and they become fast friends. The two new comrades finally catch up to the man in black at the foot of a mountain but when Roland tries to shoot the man he finds his guns no longer want to kill and instead the man in black leads them into the depths of the mountain and they continue to chase him therein. Inside the darkness, Roland and Jake find an old mining cart and travel along it toward an unknown end. There they find mutants who want their flesh and block their path. The man in black lies at the end of the line but when their paths meet it will cost them all something priceless.
Stephen King’s The Gunslinger is a dark and mysterious story that is infinitely compelling. It takes place in a world similar to our own but where death and torment are commonplace and supernatural elements set it apart from the world the reader is accustomed to. The writing is exceptional and there are no dull moments. It is so bound in dark overtones and impending doom that it is hard not to feel a sense of dread while reading it. Good and bad are not so easily defined and with so much left to reveal the Dark Tower series has much more to offer. This is a great start to the series and I will continue this journey that I started years ago once more. I highly recommend The Gunslinger to anyone who enjoys a book that combines many genres in a way that is deftly maneuvered.
