The Dark Tower I

The Gunslinger

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: George Guidall

“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 listeners 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).

©1993, 2003 Stephen King (P)2003 Penguin Audio and Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"An impressive work of mythic magnitude. May turn out to be Stephen King's greatest literary achievement." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

"A compelling whirlpool of a story that draws one irretrievably to its center." (Milwaukee Sentinel)

"Brilliant, fresh and compelling - will leave you panting for more." (Booklist)

LIKE A DULL AX THROUGH A CALF'S BRAIN

Y IS A CROOKED LETTER AND CAN'T BE MADE STRAIGHT
This recording, which replaced the old recording is, I believe the same, old recording, only with King's introduction taken out. An intro in which King said he did not know where this series was going. For me that showed big time in the feel of the story. I enjoyed the first chapter which was, more of a novelette. After that, the story is told mostly in dreams and remembering. Even the first chapter is Roland telling his story to another man.

DO SOME MEN EVER GROW UP OR ONLY COME OF AGE?
This series has a huge following, but it is more for those who like descriptive language, dreamy wild scenes, but no plot. If horror was a main subject and not a sub of fiction, this would be under Weird Western. Joe R. Lansdale and Jack Ketchum write in that genre a lot. This story was just a little too abstract for my taste.

LONG DAYS, PLEASANT NIGHTS
Guidall is the father of narrators and one of the best still. He makes the story better.

Too Strange

just too difficult to follow the storyline. Perhaps I will get the next book to see if I can catch on. Performance was excellent.

Meh...

I grabbed this book after hearing great things from like-minded friends and seeing it was about to be made into a movie. Perhaps the story develops (in addition to its characters) in a way that is more meaningful, but after this first book I don't feel right urge to make that gamble again.

You will no doubt find people to recommend this to you… We will probably find some people critical of my thought here, but I don't believe that I would recommend this tale to anyone (and am not eager for the movie).

I was expecting better

Would you try another book from Stephen King and/or George Guidall?

Yes, definitely

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I found it an interesting idea, but not detailed enough, for this reason also confusing.

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

Yes, very much. His voice and way of reading made the book better.

Any additional comments?

I started the dark tower series because it was very heavily recommended to me by several people, all avid fantasy/sci-fi fans, so I guess my expectations have been quite high.
But adding everything together at the end I felt it did not live up to these recommendations or expectations.

The story:
What I liked:
- The way of describing the background story of the world and Roland, that the additional information is added in steps and as part of additional small stories. It keeps you interested while keeping good suspense about details.
- The setting of the post apocalyptic wasteland, kind of mad max, fallout style.
- The maturity of the characters and the character development through the book.
- The idea that is described at the end of the book to give answers to the "why's

What could have been better:
- In general besides the end I didn't find too many original ideas. The kind of "burned out" renegade wondering the wasteland alone is far away from being an original character. For this reason also most of his actions and thoughts have been very predictable throughout the book.
- Although interesting at one level the story couldn't really keep my attention and interest through the book, I felt disconnected at times. I felt some scenes were sometimes not making sense or because of the way the told story was inserted into the book, it took me a while to realize why it was particularly put there. This made me feel the story incoherent sometimes.

Fof these reasons although I in general found it was an OK book it for sure didn't motivate me enough to invest the time into the 8 book series, with books getting longer and longer especially.
I would also probably not listen to it again

Apparently they get better

I found this a bit dull, with large chunks of seemingly irrelevant plot. I'm sure it'll make sense eventually, I trust King.

Never gets old!

not sure how many times I've read this through now, each time I find something new and love it even more

Waste of time....

This was the most uneventful boring book.... I’m really staring to like the sequel though, this one was kind of a flop to be honest, very confusing to read and the timeline is all ver the place.

Up and down storyline

I am not sure how I feel about this book exactly. At times it held my attention and I could not stop listening, at other times I lost focus and tuned out because it was so boring. the book dives into a lot of meta thought especially towards the end. certainly some profound ideas for the time it was written however a lot of that detail does not take place until the very end of the book. the book leaves off at a very clear cliffhanger. I will give the second book in the series a try however if it is similar to this book I may not continue the whole series.

Incredible!

This is by far the best audio book I've ever listen to the reader is very engaged and does several voices until the characters have different voices it's absolutely excellent and the storyline the creativity and imagination of Stephen King is on surmountable

Dark Fantasy series ties all Stephen King together

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." If you can resist an opening sentence like that, you have more willpower than I. The Gunslinger begins The Dark Tower series. Roland Deschain, a man driven by ka (destiny) to preserve the Dark Tower in a world which has "moved on" from its civilized glory. He is a man between ka-tets (people bound together by destiny) as the friends of his early life have been killed and the allies for his coming battle have yet to be drawn from times and places in other realities. The Tower is the nexus of all worlds, or the lynchpin holding together an infinite number of parallel universes. Only at the Tower can Roland save his world and all worlds, including our own, from collapsing or flying apart.

What other book might you compare The Gunslinger to and why?

King's goal for the Dark Tower series was to create an epic fantasy tale which merged J. R. R. Tolkien's senses of quest and magic with the Western mythos he discovered in Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Any additional comments?

Nota Bene: This is NOT a horror series or story. King may be best known for writing horror novels, but he is a masterful storyteller and writer in other genres too!