The Gunslinger – Review
Author: Stephen King
Publication Date: 1982
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: 315
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
“The Gunslinger” is not a Louis L’Amour western – we’re talking about Stephen King here. A mixture of fantasy, horror, western and sci-fi, it drops you into a world that manages to be familiar yet offputting, as the gunslinger pursues the man in black in fulfillment of some duty, some requirement of sworn oath, in the first book of the Dark Tower series.
I fall into the story right away, as it makes clear that things will not be clear; there are histories and realities in this world that are sometimes alluded to, but rarely addressed. I do learn a bit about the gunslinger, Roland, as he tracks his prey, though, as pieces come out through flashbacks to his childhood or to events from just a few weeks ago.
“Susan, his beloved, was dying before his eyes.
As he watched, his arms held by two villagers on each side, his neck dog-caught in a huge, rusty iron collar, she was dying. Even through the thick stench of the fire Roland could smell the dankness of the pits… and he could see the color of his own madness. Susan, lovely girl at the window, horse-drover’s daughter. She was turning black in the flames, her skin cracking open.
“The boy!” she was screaming. “Roland, the boy!”"
- p.167
From all these genres combined together, it could have gone very wrong, but the story works for me. From the first page, I slip into thinking of Roland as stepping straight out of the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, and it feels right. Consider Roland to be a knight on an Arthurian quest, and a lot of the fantasy pieces come into focus, from the singularity of Roland’s purpose, to wizards and demons relying on temptations and illusions. The evidence of time being manipulated at the discretion of a power greater than, and indifferent to, humanity lends some sci-fi flavour, while the straightforward instances of horror come at me without hesitation, creating images in my mind before I realize I may not want them there. But it is the jumble of pieces that are out there but not in focus, like the mysteries of the gunslinger and how his world has come to ruin, that I enjoy late at night while I read the story.
And it is that last element that may work most strongly against the story. If you don’t care for ambiguity, if you’d rather have side stories chased down and wrapped up, I would not recommend this novel to you. For me, though, the story is a promise of what comes next, and I enjoy it for all the unanswered questions it leaves me with until the story continues in the next book in the Dark Tower series, “The Drawing of the Three“.
© 2009, A Few Minutes With Michael. All rights reserved.
Thanks to Mishel at mis(h)takes
Thanks to Deb at Bookmagic
22 comments
I own the whole series even though I didn’t even read the first one. But I love King, and like your review showed, I know that this is a series worth owning for every fan of King.
lilly´s last blog ..June Reads
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hi Lilly, thanks for coming by to comment. I found “The Gunslinger” at the used book store last week, so now I will be keeping an eye out for the rest of them when I go back.
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Great review! My fiance has been ‘begging’ me to read this series. I’m a little skeptical, although I should at least give the first book a shot. It’s a short one so I’ll fly right through it, but I’m a little intimidated by the later books (they’re huge!). Not that I’ve never read a large book before, but I have to push myself to sit down and read them
Your review has helped me in my decision, and I think I’ll be picking up The Gunslinger soon
Jenni
Jenni @ Falling Off The Shelf´s last blog ..Featured Famous Birthday – July 8th
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Hi Jenni, as I go through the rest of the series, I will be posting reviews along the way. And Peter at Kyusi Reader mentioned the graphic novel series as well, so that is something else I will be looking for.
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I’ve never read any of Stephen King’s work because I always thought it would be too scary for me. I might be able to handle this one.
Kathy´s last blog ..Wondrous Words Wednesday
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Hi Kathy, you would definitely be able to find scarier books from King than this one.
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Still not sure if I would try it. Well, if I find it at the thrift stores then I’ll pick it up. I’m sort of meh on it though.
Karoline´s last blog ..Teaser Tuesdays
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
It was complete chance that I came across it at the used book store. I think someone may have been planning to come back later to get it.
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I haven’t read much Stephen King. You do make this one tempting, though.
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
As I work through the series, I’ll let you know how it goes. The books get quite long, apparently.
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Sounds interesting. I like sci-fi when it’s mixed up with other genres.
I tagged you for a meme here: http://booksbound.blogspot.com/2009/07/whats-on-your-desk-wednesday.html
Donna´s last blog ..What’s on Your Desk Wednesday?
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Thanks for the tag, Donna. I’ve taken the photo, will post shortly.
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What a fabulous review!!! I hate even saying this, but I read this about 25 years ago. And loved it! And loved the second in the series. And the third. But I never read the rest, mostly because they just came out so far apart. I did buy them all, and hope to start over from the beginning. And after reading your review, I suspect it may be more sooner than later.
Debi´s last blog ..today I am…
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Hi Debi, thank you. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Do you read graphic novels? There is a series of graphic novels for the Dark Tower that was suggested to me. I will let you know what they are like as I read them as well.
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Great review, Michael! I have read a lot of King, and the Dark Tower books are some of my favorites. He may be considered a master of horror, but I personally believe fantasy is what he does best; this series is a delicious combination of the two.
Have you read “Eyes of the Dragon”? It’s not only my favorite King novel ever, but also one of my top 5 books of all time.
Nicole´s last blog ..Waxing Poetical, and Waning Contentedly
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Michael Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Thanks, Nicole, glad you came by. It is funny that you mention “Eyes of the Dragon” – yes, I did read it, a long time ago, and I was thinking about it again this week. Wasn’t the king in that story named Roland? That stuck in my head, and I was wondering if there was any connection between the two. Unfortunately, my copy of that novel has long since vanished.
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Nicole Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Yep, King Roland is in that book. And the evil magician Flagg. He alludes to that character in other books, as well. In The Stand, I believe he hints that the evil character might be the same Flagg. And it’s been many years since I’ve read any of the Dark Tower series, but if memory serves, I believe Flagg might make an appearance in those books as well.
Nicole´s last blog ..I’m Ready for My Summer Cemetary Reading!
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Michael Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Thanks for confirming, Nicole. As I read the rest of the Dark Tower series, I’ll also keep any eye out for Flagg.
And I’ll be stopping by to catch your review of “The Graveyard Book” next week.
I found your blog in the LT blogging group, and I was glad to see another male doing books because we seem to be a vast minority.
I too have read the entire Dark Tower series and I thought the ending was brilliant—which many readers will disagree with. Apparently, those “many readers” wanted the DT to be written to fantansy formula, but the series was much more than that.
I think the original Gunslinger was some of the finest writing King has ever done. He rewrote it to fill in some backstory, and it wasn’t nearly as good. William Faulkner made a ton of mistakes that he knew about, but he never went back and fixed them—he attributed the errors to normal human forgetfulness.
I like you blog and I’ve stuck my mug up on your followers gallery—just so you’ll know who the ugly guy is.
Charlie´s last blog ..Review: The Lovers
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Michael Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Hi Charlie, thanks for coming by, we’re definitely few and far between. Here’s another one, I just started following this week, from the Baltimore Sun – here.
I haven’t read the revised version of the Gunslinger, so I’ll stick with the original.
I’ve stopped by your blog to be #21, and I’ll catch up with your posts in Google Reader. Very biblical name for the blog, by the way.
Cheers,
Michael
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My husband likes Stephen King and ambigous endings that he can talk about at length! I’ll have to pick this one up for him. Great review.
stacy´s last blog ..We have winners!
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Michael Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Thanks, Stacy. If those two elements are up his alley, then odds are he’ll like this one. He should be prepared that there are a few thousands pages to follow, though.
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