The Gunslinger by: Stephen King

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower 1)

Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 231
Published: June 10th, 1982 (1st published)
Publisher: Plume

Purchase: Amazon | Bookdepository

Goodreads Synopsis: Book I

In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

My Thoughts:
The Gunslinger is the first installment in The Dark Tower series by: Stephen King.  This story follows Roland a gunslinger (the last one actually) who is on a journey to find "the man in black". While on this journey Roland runs into a few people, including a child name Jake who accompanies Roland for a good portion of his journey until he meets his fate, so to speak. While reading this book you also get a glimpse of Roland's childhood and the world that he lived in, which is much different from the world that Jake once lived in.

What I gathered from this is that this is a post-apocalyptic book with hints of magic in it, and every character has experienced very different lives but can't seem to remember much from their past lives due to something "the dark man" has done. This book was quiet hard for me to follow compared to another Stephen King book that I had read. Events kind of skipped around and certain things were implyed but never really explained so I found myself struggling to understand certain portions of this book. Also some of the lingo that was used was older so that could be a reason as to why I was confused while reading this book.

Overall, I thought this was an ok book, I might feel differently if I re-read this sometime down the road. I will be continuing on with this series though because I have heard that some of Stephen Kings books connect back to the Dark Tower series. My favorite character is Jake hands down!!

Final Verdict: 3 Stars