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Book Review of The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
reviewed on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, the last gunslinger. Nothing will ever be the same. Roland's quest for the Dark Tower takes readers on a wildly epic ride - through parallel worlds and across time. A classic tale of colossal scope - crossing over terrain from the Strand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, Salem's Lot, and other family King haunts - the adventure takes hold with the turn of each page.

This heroic fantasy is set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace that is a dark mirror of our own. A spellbinding tale of good versus evil, it features one of Stephen King's most powerful creations - the gunslinger, a haunting figure who embodies the qualities of the lone hero through the ages, from ancient myth to frontier Western legend.

The gunslinger's quest involves the pursuit of the man in black, a liaison with the sexually ravenous Alice, and a friendship with the boy from New York called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The gunslinger is stunning proof of Stephen King's storytelling sorcery.

"A compelling whirlpool of a story that draws one irretrievably to its center." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel