The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)

Dark Tower (1)

by Stephen King

Library Binding

English language

Published Oct. 14, 1999 by Rebound By Sagebrush.

ISBN:: 978-0-8335-3206-0
OCLC Number:: 45605086

View on OpenLibrary

(32 reviews)

[The Dark Tower][1] I

The opening chapter in the epic Dark Tower series. Roland, the last gunslinger, in a world where time has moved on, pursues his nemesis, The Man in Black, across a desert. Roland's ultimate goal is the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes. This mysterious icon's power is failing, threatening everything in existence.

The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction:

"The Gunslinger" (October 1978) "The Way Station" (April 1980) "The Oracle and the Mountains" (February 1981) "The Slow Mutants" (July 1981) "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" (November 1981) ([source][2])

[1]: openlibrary.org/works/OL81600W/The_Dark_Tower_1-7 [2]: stephenking.com/library/novel/dark_tower_the_gunslinger_the.html

63 editions

Parenthesis_Liker reviewed The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower I)

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.

Anthony Burgess reviewed The Dark Tower by Stephen King (The Dark Tower, 1)

I don't get why people like this

2 stars

People say this is a good book and series but I can't agree to that. It's just chaotic and doesn't make any sense, the writing seems overly dramatic and "flowery", meaning he describes things so weird, with weird details and weird metaphors. I couldn't even read it to the end and stopped at like 80 or 90%. I have no interest in reading the other novels in the series, it's just not my type of writing I guess. I never liked any Stephen King books until this one and I read a bunch now. It's not getting any better, maybe I should just give up on trying to like his writing.

PaperbackReader reviewed The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower, #1)

Review of 'The Gunslinger' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book, and the series it starts, have been a part of the public consciousness for a while now. I've never read any of them before, though, so with this being my first time through, I'm aware of how highly it's regarded by some whose opinions matter to me. All of which has led to a certain degree of expectation...and I'm not sure if this book met it.

To be clear: There's a strong sense from this book that there's SO MUCH MORE to come, and you don't (or I didn't) come away feeling ambivalent about the journey. I'm excited, I'm in. I'm just...nervous, maybe? No, more likely cautious.