The Dark Tower Gunslinger SC Stephen King Michael Whelan Plume 1st print

Description

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower Ser.) Paperback
by Stephen King (Author)

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba

“An impressive work of mythic magnitude that may turn out to be Stephen King’s greatest literary achievement” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), The Gunslinger is the first volume in the epic Dark Tower Series.

A #1 national bestseller, The Gunslinger introduces readers to one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations, Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.

Inspired in part by the Robert Browning narrative poem, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” The Gunslinger is “a compelling whirlpool of a story that draws one irretrievable to its center” (Milwaukee Sentinel). It is “brilliant and fresh…and will leave you panting for more” (Booklist).

Publisher: Penguin Group (Usa) Incorporated; First Plume Printing edition

I’ve read a number of reviews of the series and have been told by friends how great it is, so I decided to check it out. Reading and understanding the intro/forward King has written in this revised edition helped a great deal. King wrote this book early in his career with the intention of writing a grand epic. He explains the author of this book at the time had not really found his groove so to speak and had spent a little too much time in writing seminars. One particularly revealing comment King makes about himself was that the seminars taught him to favor ambiguity over clarity and simplicity. He also goes on to mention when he revised the book he found many areas for improvement, but was able to leave the writing alone in places where he was seduced into forgetting the writing seminars by a particulary entrancing piece of story.

According to the afterword from this book, it took King twelve years to complete the writings. He wrote the opening line, “The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed” while an undergraduate, the middle portions when “`Salem’s Lot” was going bad, and was inspired with another concurrent writing: “The Stand.” For King to have kept the Gunslinger, the Man in Black, Jake, and the other characters – and really the entire world of the Dark Tower – alive for so long in his mind is a testament to not only the power that this held over the author, but holds over us – his Constant Readers. Moreover, since the first publishing of “The Gunslinger,” around twenty years have passed, a number of newer volumes in this series have come and gone – yet with this first, partially inspired by Robert Browning’s poem, “Childe Roland,” and partially inspired by reams of green paper (read the afterword to the book), you know that this was a very special creation indeed.

This is the first installment of Steven King’s fantasy series, The Dark Tower, which follows the story of the Gunslinger Roland, the equivalent of an Arthurian knight in the world King has created, and his quest to reach the Dark Tower in order to make the world right again.

This installment tells the story of Roland’s search for a mysterious stranger who may be able to help Roland find the Dark Tower. It is long on atmosphere and short on action. Therefore, fans of Steven King’s horror works will find this book a distinct change of pace. However, the book will not disappoint you if you try it, especially if you are a fan of fantasy series such as the Lord of the Rings. Furthermore, you will find in later books that elements of King’s horror world also exist in Roland’s world, and therefore, to have a full understanding of King’s horror villains, you have to read this series.

The Gunslinger offers several intriguing views of Roland’s dying world. The book is not devoid of action; there is a dramatic shoot out for shadowy reasons which one hopes will be better explained in the concluding volumes of the work. There is a lost child who provides the first direct evidence that Roland’s world is connected to our own, and there is the introduction to Roland himself, a man who is capable of fantastic violence but still comes across as human and quite possibly kind (a fact which becomes more clear in later books).

I recommend this book most highly to anyone who enjoys stories involving quests such as Arthurian legends, the Chronicles of Prydain and the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Few stains along edge of pages. Rounding to corners. 1st printing. 0-452-26134-1.

0-7806-4333-X

Case has some wear to the cover. Light wear on disk 1 from normal use.