Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

44 reviews

barefootsierra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Addiction, Incest, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, and Violence

thejadedreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Simply eye-opening.

In his forward, King states that the dark tower is not a series exactly but rather one long novel divided into eight parts, and I'm inclined to agree with him. As an introduction to the world, the characters, and what the dark tower is, this novel perfectly captures everything you need to know, and keeps you hooked despite the occasional lull.

I'll refrain from saying more. While I found this novel hugely enjoyable, it is most definitely the beginning of one long journey and I feel it best that I wait until I've seen what the rest hold before properly reviewing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

thecandiegirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Cursing, Child death, Gun violence, and Drug use

celey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Well written, hauntingly strange, dreamlike high fantasy with a grounded touch. Explores the dark side of a world that’s dying, or perhaps already dead. Confusing and hard to follow sometimes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Rape

mlizzi88's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I enjoyed the style and writing of this book but I did feel lost... a good chunk of the time. Like I had no idea what I was reading.  I know that as the series progresses it'll fall into place but for this first read I didn't have the terminology and culture of the world helping me through some of the plot. I'm sure on a re-read that star rating would go up as I understood more of the context.  I'm very excited to read on and see if some of my theories are even remotely close to where this is heading (they are plentiful and wild).

I do have to say, this was the first book in a while that made my former English major self perk up with the possibilities in the symbolism and allusions. There is a heavy (HEAVY) draw on religious symbolism and allusions, some King Arthur shoved in there, some greek myths, etc. HEAVY. PLENTIFUL symbolism lol. 

I think my only real "complaint" was this.. almost young/juvenile view of women (however few of them there were) especially surrounding sexuality and the interactions between men and women. At one time I even commented that it almost felt cartoonish. It is a young man's fantasy of being a man (how many times can we say sensual and refer to one's crotch?). I also find it a little weird that we were reminded about 7 times who Allie was (the woman he bedded in Jethro Tull didn't ya know) and yet other words were slung around with zero clues was to what they were? (Tet for example??).

He also seems irresponsible with his ammunition. The boy is trigger happy with what I assume is a finite resource (bullets). But that's neither here nor there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

efrancart's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.5

Raunchy and gross. Good ideas within about

afterlife and death

but def the worst Steven King I’ve ever read. It feels like the gunslinger is sexualizing the 10-year-old boy. He’s just so beautiful 🤮🤮🤮 of course this was after he used his gun as a dildo on a woman but was careful not to touch her secret flesh. I swear. I just. No. 

No idea why this book and subsequent series is held in high regard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

brogancha's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Murder, Gun violence, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Sexism

raginsagein's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-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? It's complicated

1.5

First real foray into Stephen King, and I wasn’t terribly impressed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Torture, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

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.

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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

prinsessenora4's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very interesting and well written. Quite slow paced (in my opinion). I liked the complexity of the characters and setting, and the deterministic feel of the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide