Reviews tagging 'Blood'

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

chaptereleven's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

luciawolfie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

It feels like a fever dream that lasts too long

Content Warnings

permanentlei's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-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

5.0

This is my second time reading this book and I was drawn up into the story just like the first time.

The book is confusing for sure, but I like confusing. I don't mind not understanding everything that's going on. I enjoy getting tidbits and facts that have absolutely no context because it could connect later or it couldn't but it adds something to the characters or the worldbuilding.

This story has a place in my heart. Roland is such an interesting character to me and I hate him but I don't. For what he did to Jake, poor John Jake "There are other worlds than these" Chambers. For going and going towards a goal no matter what. I don't understand him but I want to follow his story.

The world, and the concept of being a blade of grass in someone else's world which is a blade of grass on another, interests me. I want to know more.

I'm planning to follow Roland's story this year. I want to see this world, and this story and these characters, expand. Whether I understand Roland's motivations or not (cause I don't). But I got to know where this is going.

UPDATE THREAD (spoilers) BELOW:

February 16, 2021

Started Reading

February 16, 2021 – page 32

Interesting world. Interesting characters. Interesting lore.

February 16, 2021 – page 74

Roland really and truly went blam blam blam. Wow

February 16, 2021 – page 79

Oh no I think this man bout to meet Jake again and I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT TO THIS LIL BOY

February 16, 2021 – page 85

"I don't like people. They fuck me up."
- John "Jake" Chambers.

boi, same

February 16, 2021 – page 93

He is too young to have learned to hate himself yet, but that seed is already there; given time, it will grow, and bear bitter fruit.

First of all this is a personal attack. Please loose me.

February 17, 2021 – page 104

It occurred to him later that this was when he began to love the boy - which was, of course, what the man in black must have planned all along. Was there ever a trap to match the trap of love?

February 17, 2021 – page 132

February 17, 2021 – page 135

Time's the thief of memory.

Another attack on my person.

February 17, 2021 – page 146

His teeth felt strange in his head, tiny tombstone set in pink moist earth.

EW EW EW EW i hate this imagery why

February 17, 2021 – page 178 %

"Neat, huh?" the boy said, and his voice was full of loathing. The silence was deep. Roland could hear his organs at work in his body, and the drip of the water, and nothing else.

The mental separation between Jake and Roland when Roland catch he feelings for Jake despite knowing he gonna kill him soon was so sudden and complete for a moment I didn't even realise Roland wasn't calling this boy Jake no more.

February 17, 2021 – page 179

February 17, 2021 – page 178

So I pretty sure I deleted all of my progress on this book

February 18, 2021 – page 218

Sometimes Roland refers to Jake by his name and it also catches me off guard cause his mind separated him to the boy. Which shows that Roland's feelings for Jake is stronger than his foolproof mind.

And he still gone let his young boy go. Muddoe.

February 18, 2021 – page 222 88.45%

"Go there. There are other worlds than these."

Jake words be so powerful man."

February 18, 2021 – page 222

..he twisted his head back, for a moment in his agony striving to be Janus - but there was nothing, only plummeting silence, for the boy made no cry as he fell.

ROLAND, HOW YOU DO THAT.

Bey I still as mad and as angry as the first time I read this. I still can't BELIEVE, but then I also can cause that's who Roland is but wow bey wow.

Let's hear it for Jake tho cause he truly is that one. Not a single sound.

February 18, 2021 – page 243

I hate hate hate reading things that theorize that the world and universe itself is small and just a part of a larger whole, a blade of grass in someone else's universe which is a blade of grass in another person's universe. I don't need to be thinking this hard.

But a fascinating concept nonetheless."

February 18, 2021

Finished Reading

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