"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
Written by Stephen King in 1970, five years before the publication of his first novel, that sentence opens up a world still unknown to many of his readers. It begins a spectacular seven-volume epic fantasy -- The Dark Tower -- that is sure to become an American classic.
Now, preparing the way for the publication of the saga's concluding volumes, King offers a revised and expanded edition of The Gunslinger, the mesmerizing first book of the series. This hardcover edition, for which King has written a special introduction and foreword, contains all of the full-color paintings and pen-and-ink drawings created by Michael Whelan for the original limited edition published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher in 1982.
Eerie, dreamlike, set in a world that is weirdly related to our own, The Gunslinger introduces Roland Deschain of Gilead, of In-World …
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
Written by Stephen King in 1970, five years before the publication of his first novel, that sentence opens up a world still unknown to many of his readers. It begins a spectacular seven-volume epic fantasy -- The Dark Tower -- that is sure to become an American classic.
Now, preparing the way for the publication of the saga's concluding volumes, King offers a revised and expanded edition of The Gunslinger, the mesmerizing first book of the series. This hardcover edition, for which King has written a special introduction and foreword, contains all of the full-color paintings and pen-and-ink drawings created by Michael Whelan for the original limited edition published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher in 1982.
Eerie, dreamlike, set in a world that is weirdly related to our own, The Gunslinger introduces Roland Deschain of Gilead, of In-World that was, as he pursues his enigmatic antagonist to the mountains that separate the desert from the Western Sea. Roland is a solitary figure, perhaps accursed, who with a a strange single-mindedness traverses an exhausted, almost timeless landscape. The people he encounters are left behind, or worse -- left dead. At a way station, however, he meets Jake, a boy from a particular time (1977) and a particular place (New York City), and soon the two are joined -- khef, ka, and ka-tet. The mountains lie before them. So does the man in black and, somewhere far beyond...the Dark Tower.
(front flap)
Review of 'The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I definitely enjoyed this book, but it is also definitely the start of a saga. Throughout the whole novel there's so, so many hints of a larger world, and bursts of rapid-fire world building. The world King is creating is strange and intriguing enough that I want to continue with this series just to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. There are also a fair few Stephen King-isms in here, to be sure, though I'm told not as many as the later entries. Really, it's a matter of how much you can tolerate the particular style. I'm writing this a long time after I read it so I apologize for the vagueness.
