The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
by Stephen King, George Guidall
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Book Summary Information
Author: George Guidall, Stephen KingEdition: Audio Cassette
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 2003-06-24
ISBN: 0142800368
Number of pages: 4
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Book Reviews of The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
Book Review: Not Free SF Reader
Summary: 5 Stars
Guns, sorcery and more.
Here is what Stephen King wrote in the afterword for this book, in the early eighties:
"The foregoing tale, which is almost (but not quite!) complete in itself, is the first stanza in a much longer work called The Dark Tower. Some of the work beyond this segment has been completed, but there is much more to be done -- my brief synopsis of the action to follow suggests a length approaching 3000 pages, perhaps more. That probably sounds as if my plans for the story have passed beyond mere ambition and into the land of lunacy...
...
"Most of the other poems had fallen out of my consciousness in the period between, but that one, gorgeous and rich and inexplicable, remained.., and it remains still. That poem was "Childe Roland," by Robert Browning."
A strange story that has another world, lower technology, with the feel of a dark western, yet people from our world are able to cross and become characters, as Roland, the Gunslinger, trails a sorcerer to his destiny after the death of his father.
Really good, eerie and sometimes horrific stuff here, with possession, murder, decay, and monsters.
The five stories that make up this collection are:
Gunslinger : The Gunslinger - Stephen King
Gunslinger : The Way Station - Stephen King
Gunslinger : The Oracle and the Mountains - Stephen King
Gunslinger : The Slow Mutants - Stephen King
Gunslinger : The Gunslinger and the Dark Man - Stephen King
Shooting up the town.
5 out of 5
Remember the demon bits.
3.5 out of 5
Prophecy, gates and a Dark Tower.
4 out of 5
Hawk trials and handcars.
4.5 out of 5
Readings and revelations.
4 out of 5
Summary of The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
Thirty-three years, a horrific and life-altering accident, and thousands of desperately rabid fans in the making, Stephen King's quest to complete his magnum opus rivals the quest of Roland and his band of gunslingers who inhabit the Dark Tower series. Loyal DT fans and new readers alike will appreciate this revised edition of The Gunslinger, which breathes new life into Roland of Gilead, and offers readers a "clearer start and slightly easier entry into Roland's world."King writes both a new introduction and foreword to this revised edition, and the ever-patient, ever-loyal "constant reader" is rewarded with secrets to the series's inception. That a "magic" ream of green paper and a Robert Browning poem, came together to reveal to King his "ka" is no real surprise (this is King after all), but who would have thought that the squinty-eyed trio of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach would set the author on his true path to the Tower? While King credits Tolkien for inspiring the "quest and magic" that pervades the series, it was Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that helped create the epic proportions and "almost absurdly majestic western backdrop" of Roland's world.
To King, The Gunslinger demanded revision because once the series was complete it became obvious that "the beginning was out of sync with the ending." While the revision adds only 35 pages, Dark Tower purists will notice the changes to Allie's fate and Roland's interaction with Cort, Jake, and the Man in Black--all stellar scenes that will reignite the hunger for the rest of the series. Newcomers will appreciate the details and insight into Roland's life. The revised Roland of Gilead (nee Deschain) is embodied with more humanity--he loves, he pities, he regrets. What DT fans might miss is the same ambiguity and mystery of the original that gave the original its pulpy underground feel (back when King himself awaited word from Roland's world). --Daphne Durham
"An impressive work of mythic magnitude. May turn out to be Stephen King's greatest literary achievement." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
"Brilliant, fresh, and compelling...will leave you panting for more." (Booklist)
Filled with ominous landscapes and macabre menace, Stephen King's latest mass market novel features The Gunslinger, a haunting figure in combat with The Man in Black in an epic battle of good versus evil. A spellbinding tale that is both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike
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