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ekcd_'s review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
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: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Pregnancy
geeters14's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Blood
redhairedashreads's review against another edition
3.0
This was like one long fever dream. I didn’t love this book but I also didn’t hate it. This was just a weird story that I just kept going “What” while listening to. It was so weird that I kind of want to continue the series to see what actually happens and why. Also, I think this book has one of the best opening lines.
Trigger Warnings: graphic death of children; drug use;
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Drug abuse
pkc's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I think the key to getting the most out of this book is to to pretend like you’re listening to a friend recount the dreams they had the night previous. That’s the level of abstract oddness you can expect, mixed in with a heady dose of action, classic King gore and flawed characters. In short, I LOVED it can’t wait to read the rest of the series. Though, I do hope the rest of the books are a bit less abstract. I’ll take weirdness any day of the week, but fleshed out weirdness please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Car accident
gbyronwilliams's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Drug use and Sexual violence
moonlitemuseum's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
1.5
This book was incredible at putting me to sleep. I would turn on the audiobook (which is beautifully narrated by George Guidall) and let the blandness seep into my body like warm water. There is a lot of indescribably stupid and callous edgelord garbage in this book, which I enjoy on occasion, but it never feels anchored in anything that matters. Roland is a cipher. The women in the book, when they do appear, are there to have sex with or be bible-thumping harlots subject to sexual violence. Jake, probably one of the world's first Isekai protagonists, is a delight—King's strength is in the modern day, with modern things and modern landmarks—but even he feels curiously flat when Roland is using him as an emotional tether.
I really love King books, for the record, and I so want to like this book. His sprawling fantasy. And I do plan on reading the next one. But boy, this was rough. I just finished it and I barely remember anything about it. (I am going to request it from the library again though. Fantastic sleep aid!)
I really love King books, for the record, and I so want to like this book. His sprawling fantasy. And I do plan on reading the next one. But boy, this was rough. I just finished it and I barely remember anything about it. (I am going to request it from the library again though. Fantastic sleep aid!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, and Murder
Minor: Fatphobia
Whatever the hell is going on with that woman who is given a thing she is not allowed to ask about, with the knowledge that she will have to ask about it. No neat content warning for that, but it was weird and unpleasant.midnightgremlin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Racism
kia_y_k's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
zakcebulski's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
52! This is it! My fifty-second book of the year! That is super thrilling to me. It is also my first step into the world of Stephen King's far reaching saga the Dark Tower. And I found it.... fine.
Let me explain.
Now, I have a bit of a storied history with King's works. I find myself gravitating more toward his "less" popular books, and finding less enjoyment out of the titans for which he is known so fucking well.
That is to say, I prefer 'Salem's Lot to Pet Sematary and I prefer the Green Mile to something like It - I am fully aware that these are not totally equivalent comparisons, but, damn, I just like his comparatively less popular books.
But, as a largely new fan of King, I felt like it was time for me to embark on this story which has its hands in so many different King stories.
The story of this book follows the titular gunslinger- Roland Deschain as he tracks with feverish dedication the man in black toward the Dark Tower. I have to say that from the start, the book is set up amazingly with such a concise sentence that tells us everything that we need to know as a foundation. "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed". I truly think that this has to be one of the best opening lines which I have ever read- it immediately hooks the reader in, and informs us that the main character has his goal.
I thought that this was exemplary, to be completely honest.
The rest of the book follows the gunslinger (as he is referred to, and as I will refer to him here) as he continues pursuing the man in black. Throughout the story we learn tidbits about the gunslinger's back story and how he came to be the last remaining gunslinger.
I thought that this was interesting to a point, though I admittedly did find this book to drag on here and there. I found instances in the past to not be as interesting to me as reading through the current goal of the gunslinger.
One big thing which I have to commend King for is how the backstory of the gunslinger is illustrated in flashbacks, however, the personality of the gunslinger is written in a way that I love. He is shown to be cold and calculating, and possessing a "by any means necessary" mindset, which I think makes him so fucking interesting. When he meets a boy in his travels-Jake- who is already dead, and who is the "key" to the man in black, and thus to the Tower, we learn that the gunslinger will kill the boy as a means to justify the end- which is exactly what happens. We also learn in a flashback how he willingly sacrificed a bird who he befriended as a means to pass a trial. I thought that this illustration of his personality was fantastic and it truly makes me more interested in reading how his character develops in the future.
I have always liked the man in black as a villain- who we all know as different names. I love the feeling of evil omnipotence that he exudes puts him at a level above the gunslinger. I love that this shows the disparity between the gunslinger and the man in black wherein we question if the gunslinger is on a fool's errand in trying to complete his goal.
I did find most of the characters not totally memorable, in my view. I didn't really care about the characters from the gunslinger's past, and I didn't even much care for the boy, Jake. He truly just seemed like a character who was introduced to die and show what a stone cold bastard Roland is.
I am hopeful that the rest of the books in this series are more fleshed out, as I am sure that they will be, because, as of now, I don't have much of an investment in learning more about any of the characters which were mentioned.
I am fully aware that this book is commonly listed as one of the weakest entries into the Dark Tower series. I don't think that that gives a pass to any of the issues which I felt I encountered while reading. But, I will return to the Dark Tower series. I feel like if I had no knowledge about the rest of this series, and the promise that it was going to get better and more interesting, then I would have viewed this as a fine albeit forgettable book in King's canon. I am mainly interested to read how this series plays in to so many other books by King- I am a person who fucking loves some goddamn fan service or cross book references.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, and Sexual content