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axeltheredpanda's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Overall a very good book! I found it a little challenging to read (very flowery text) but that’s likely due to me only reading one book in the last ten years and only just coming back to reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Car accident, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence, Addiction, Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Blood
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Cursing
lvl52_grant's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is by far the oddest of the series, but sets you up for one of the greatest stories told. A mix between western, fantasy, and horror, King builds up and tears down and builds up again his protagonist, Roland the Gunslinger. He travels through a desert at the end of the world, watching people and places slowly decay, never letting anything prevent him from achieving his goal: the Dark Tower. I first read this book as a 19 year old, a number of importance to the series, but I had never read this second publishing. Some of the newer details felt odd, like sprinkling fan-service-y cameos, but it still sets up the protagonist and reader for their journey to the Tower, answering no questions and asking many.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, and Sexism
vermispore's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A really good book if you like Stephan King and can tolerate high fantasy that doesn't explain much right away. Well written and a fun read, but its the kind of book you love or hate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Pregnancy, Child death, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and War
diegor's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sarà molto probabile che dovrò tornare sui miei passi per cambiare il voto che sto dando in questo momento al primo capitolo de La Torre Nera. Da non lettore di King il libro si è subito presentato come molto impegnativo da leggere e comprendere, di sicuro non è una di quelle letture che prende per mano e cerca di spiegare quanto più possibile in modo chiaro e cristallino.
Passato questo scoglio iniziale e cambiato approccio alla lettura, lasciarsi trasportare dalla prosa di King diventa immediatamente un’esperienza unica nel suo genere, magari non per tutti, ma certamente indimenticabile per quelli che potrebbero apprezzarla.
Passato questo scoglio iniziale e cambiato approccio alla lettura, lasciarsi trasportare dalla prosa di King diventa immediatamente un’esperienza unica nel suo genere, magari non per tutti, ma certamente indimenticabile per quelli che potrebbero apprezzarla.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual content, and War
nytephoenyx's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Not the strongest of the series and I don’t blame people for stopping here and not reading the full thing. That said, I’m glad I had people who told me to give it to Book 3. The Gunslinger may be dry and drag, but the Dark Tower series is fantastic. And I will say this for King - the world building is subtle but fabulous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, Death, and Vomit
Minor: Sexual content
lindseylosers's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Not for me.
The ending did start to pick up though and I enjoyed that. This is the first Stephen King book I’ve read and I’m not sure if this is common across all his writing but the female characters are rough. Instead of the classic madonna-whore complex, seems like King has a demon-whore complex where women are either demons or whores or both, there’s no room for traits outside of that limited spectrum. I’m not the type that has to have every female character break gender molds or be saints but the demon-whore depiction of women in The Gunslinger becomes distracting when all I can think about while reading is what Stephen King’s relationship was like with his mom.
The ending did start to pick up though and I enjoyed that. This is the first Stephen King book I’ve read and I’m not sure if this is common across all his writing but the female characters are rough. Instead of the classic madonna-whore complex, seems like King has a demon-whore complex where women are either demons or whores or both, there’s no room for traits outside of that limited spectrum. I’m not the type that has to have every female character break gender molds or be saints but the demon-whore depiction of women in The Gunslinger becomes distracting when all I can think about while reading is what Stephen King’s relationship was like with his mom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Pregnancy and Injury/Injury detail
wager5290's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It's the start of The Dark Tower. It stage in tremendously but is definitely a different beat from the rest of the series. Don't cast off the tower on this book alone. If you hate the main character in this book, give the next book (Drawing of the Three) a shot at least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Death
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.malebrina's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Sexual content
parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Child death
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Animal death
theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
My spouse is going to hate when I tell him I didn’t love this book. He thinks The Dark Tower is the greatest series of books ever written, but book one didn’t do anything for me.
Was it well written? Debatable. Stephen King is a great author and I’ve loved many of his other books, but The Gunslinger isn’t one of them. You jump around a lot between the present and the past, and it was all very confusing for me. It felt like the book had absolutely no flow. Maybe the series gets better as you go but I don’t know if I’m interested enough to read 7 more—and most of them very long—books to find out.
Dystopian and apocalyptic, everyone and everything is dying. A very hard existence in an unsavoury world filled with violence and death.
I also didn’t like a single character.
And literally every character you meet dies, except for Roland, so don’t grow attached to anyone.
Jake, the boy, was a confusing addition. Where did he come from? Our time? How did he get there? Why is he there?
And Roland’s love for and eventual betrayal of Jake was just the worst.
Alice was needy and clingy and portrayed to be ugly due to a facial scar and her age. (40s???)
Sylvia was just a horrible excuse of a human.
The people of Tull all sucked.
But the battle of Tull was hands down my favourite part to read.
The Man in Black… I don’t even know what my thoughts are on him. He was very cryptic and I felt like because he only starts to speak at the end of the book I didn’t get to know him.
I’ve read it. I can say I’ve read it. It wasn’t for me. Might be an unpopular opinion, but there it is.
Was it well written? Debatable. Stephen King is a great author and I’ve loved many of his other books, but The Gunslinger isn’t one of them. You jump around a lot between the present and the past, and it was all very confusing for me. It felt like the book had absolutely no flow. Maybe the series gets better as you go but I don’t know if I’m interested enough to read 7 more—and most of them very long—books to find out.
Dystopian and apocalyptic, everyone and everything is dying. A very hard existence in an unsavoury world filled with violence and death.
I also didn’t like a single character.
Jake, the boy, was a confusing addition. Where did he come from? Our time? How did he get there? Why is he there?
And Roland’s love for and eventual betrayal of Jake was just the worst.
Alice was needy and clingy and portrayed to be ugly due to a facial scar and her age. (40s???)
Sylvia was just a horrible excuse of a human.
The people of Tull all sucked.
The Man in Black… I don’t even know what my thoughts are on him. He was very cryptic and I felt like because he only starts to speak at the end of the book I didn’t get to know him.
I’ve read it. I can say I’ve read it. It wasn’t for me. Might be an unpopular opinion, but there it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Pregnancy