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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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Rape
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
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Cursing, and Death
Minor: Torture, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
wondawilson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
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
yoolia's review against another edition
dark
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
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Misogyny
draven_deathcrush's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gun violence
Moderate: Misogyny and Drug use
Minor: Child death and Sexual content
sharebear431's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Misogyny
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
I am not the biggest Stephen King fan. He’s definitely a good writer, but I’m not very into the horror genre and that’s what he’s famous for. I didn’t know what this book was about going in or even if it was horror or not, but one of my friends has been going on and on about how awesome this series is and I figured I might as well give it a shot.
I have yet to see a description for this book that actually says much about what the book is about, instead of something like “the first volume in King’s magnum opus” or some other such praise that tells me nothing about the story. The story is about the gunslinger, whose name we later learn is Roland, tracking the mysterious “man in black” across a desert wasteland. Along the way he reflects on his past and tells some of his story to people he meets, so you slowly put together some of his backstory, what this world is, and why he’s chasing the man in black, although the book ends before the puzzle is anywhere close to complete.
That’s really all there is to the plot. Roland is traveling across the desert wasteland and we the reader get stories and flashbacks to orient ourselves to the world (and the characters, to a point) as we go. Even the mysterious Dark Tower that gives the series its name doesn’t get mentioned until the end and I have no idea why Roland wants to find it so bad. I actually have very little idea about Roland himself – the book contains a lot of things that he did or that happened to him, but very little about who he is as a person. He kept his thoughts and feelings tightly under wraps and that prevented me from connecting with him as a character. I didn’t dislike him, but I didn’t know enough about him to like him, either.
The Gunslinger grabbed me right out of the gate with questions: who this gunslinger is (he doesn’t get a name until quite a ways in), why he’s chasing the man in black, who the man in black is, and whether the gunslinger is just traveling through a desert or if the whole world is some apocalyptic desert wasteland. But then it doesn’t make much of an attempt to answer the questions. Even though it’s long enough to be a complete novel, the whole book feels like the first bit of a longer story – the part where the protagonist may have a goal but everything is relatively normal, and the reader is getting oriented to the world before everything goes sideways and the plot starts. I have to imagine this was intentional and Stephen wanted to make the whole series feel like a single story split into multiple volumes, but it was absolutely bizarre to read a whole book that felt like a beginning. It technically is a self-contained story, but the whole book had a feeling of waiting for the plot to start.
If I was just reading on my own, I probably wouldn’t continue the series. This book was reasonably interesting, but it wasn’t enough to grab me and leave me begging for book two. But I had a great time discussing this book with my friend, and my library has the whole series on audiobook. So I’ll probably read book two eventually, if for no other reason than discussing it with my friend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, and Gun violence
Moderate: Gore, Excrement, and Sexual content
Minor: Misogyny and Infidelity
ggcd1981's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
3.75
TRIGER WARNING: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual Assault, Miscarriage, Child death, Violence, Sexual content, Misogyny, Objectification of female characters, Murder
Eu comecei The gunslinger com baixas expectativas, pois eu vi vários Booktubers tendo problemas com esse livro. Além disso soube que o próprio Stephen King, em edições posteriores a primeira publicação do livro, escreveu uma Intro meio que se “desculpando” pelos problemas do livro. Dessa forma eu não tinha grandes esperanças para o início da série The dark tower, mas como todo o meu projeto para ler King foi para ler esta série, eu prossegui. Para minha surpresa eu gostei. Não é ótimo mas a escrita e história de King foram interessantes e originais o suficiente para me entreter, mesmo nos momentos “estranhos” e “viajados” da narrativa. Acredito que depois de 3 livros e 1 conto posso afirmar que gosto da escrita de King. The gunslinger é o terceiro livro do autor que leio (por enquanto não tenho um preferido) mas a leitura de The gunslinger foi mais fácil e fluída que Eyes of the dragon ou The stand. Posso dizer até que gostei dos momentos mais “viajados” (e houveram diversos) pois a escrita flui. A cena inteira em que Roland confronta the dark man e contempla a criação do universo e a possibilidade deste ser apenas um átomo numa folha de grama em um universo maior foi extremamente complexa porém nenhum pouco maçante, fluiu perfeitamente e foi bastante intrigante.
Não tenho muito o que dizer em termos de pontos negativos ou positivos pois este é apenas o livro introdutório da série (apesar disso foi nada informativo sobre o universo da história). Como pontos negativos aponto apenas: a objetificação dos personagens femininos, que nesta primeira obra existiram apenas para serem sexualizadas; a violência gráfica contra animais (este é sempre um gatilho para mim); e a total ausência de explicação a respeito do universo da série The Dark tower, dos personagens e os papeis que desempenham (ler esse livro é como começar um filme pela metade). Os pontos positivos até o momento são: como já mencionado a escrita de King; os personagens são bastante intrigantes (Roland, Jake, The dark man), são mistérios a serem descobertos; O mundo e história são tão inesperados e misteriosos para Fantasia ou terror que é inevitável querer saber o que raios está acontecendo e porquê.
Não tenho muito o que dizer em termos de pontos negativos ou positivos pois este é apenas o livro introdutório da série (apesar disso foi nada informativo sobre o universo da história). Como pontos negativos aponto apenas: a objetificação dos personagens femininos, que nesta primeira obra existiram apenas para serem sexualizadas; a violência gráfica contra animais (este é sempre um gatilho para mim); e a total ausência de explicação a respeito do universo da série The Dark tower, dos personagens e os papeis que desempenham (ler esse livro é como começar um filme pela metade). Os pontos positivos até o momento são: como já mencionado a escrita de King; os personagens são bastante intrigantes (Roland, Jake, The dark man), são mistérios a serem descobertos; O mundo e história são tão inesperados e misteriosos para Fantasia ou terror que é inevitável querer saber o que raios está acontecendo e porquê.
Em geral gostei da obra e continuarei com a série. Apesar dos problemas apontados é um sólido 3.75 estrelas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, and Pregnancy