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Summary: Gunslinger: Special Edition?
Review: In the forward to this new edition, King seems almost apologetic for the pretentious choices of his younger self. I agree that the language and feel of the first book never really gelled with the subsequent books, but I never saw that as a bad thing. Ultimately I don't think the changes make the book any better because I personally never thought it was "broken" to begin with. The added "easter eggs" are a treat, but the tone of the book seems less dark and Roland less ruthless. There are never any Greedo shoots first moments or anything, but King's attempts to make Roland a little more sympathetic are the moments I liked the least. I don't want to spoil anything, but the hard uncompromising, and yes, noble murderer portrayed in the original telling has softened a bit too early in this new one making his redemption seem slightly less significant to me. I understand the reasoning behind many of the changes and King's desire to get new readers into the series, and honestly, I still love the work as a whole. Of course I've read this book so many times over the last dozen or so years that I'm probably more than a little resistant to change, but my first impression remains luke-warm. New readers that haven't already read this or any of the other books in the series should do so immediately. While I may be ambiguous to my preference, either version of this great book is better than 99% of what passes for fantasy these days. This series is America's Lord of the Rings and so much more. I won't be surprised if years from now kids are painting "Roland lives" in subway stations around the world.
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Summary: Like Hemingway?
Review: There is really something great about this. There is a bare bones emphasis on dialogue and scenery that his extremely well done. The characters are very interesting. The major action is de-emphasized. Clearly something for the fiction buff in the long, hot summer, but has something great and beyond just escape fiction in the telling.
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Summary: The best Saga
Review: This is sthepen King best Saga, this series will get you in a world of mistery, horror and adventure, this is a true master piece, Sthepen King's still the Best, The Gunslinger is the First of Seven Book, this is the begining of the End, absolutly full of power, you will stuned and wating for the next one, This Saga will make History.
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Summary: the land of nineteen
Review: DARK TOWER FANS ARE IN FOR A TREAT.A NEW AND REVISED EDITION CONTAINING THREE NEW SCENES,NEW DIALOGUE,AND A NARATIVE THAT MOVES AT BREAK NECK PACE.
ONE OF THE NEW SCENES REFERS TO A LAND CALLED NINETEEN.THE MAN IN BLACK LEFT THIS MYSTERY FOR ALICE,THE WOMAN WHOM ROLAND BEDDED TO GET INFORMATION ON THE MAN IN BLACK...
AND MUCH.MUCH MORE.
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF THE DARK TOWER I RECOMEND PICKING THIS VERSION UP.IT NOW FITS PERFECTLY AS FAR AS THE FUTURE DARK TOWER BOOKS ARE CONCERNED.
A GREAT READ FROM ONE OF THE GREATEST AUTHOURS OF OUR TIME.
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Summary: deep allegorical fantasy
Review: Roland Deschain of Gilead knows he is obsessed over finding the Dark Tower, but does not care. He will follow the Man in Black wherever he goes and for how long it takes even into eternity until he catches this person, if he is a person, and force him to reveal the locale of the Dark Tower. If others die at his hands after meeting the Gunslinger so be it. Currently he tracks his prey across a desert stopping at a way station where he meets a child whom he thought at first was his target, albeit two feet shorter. The kid is John "Jake" Chambers from 1977 New York City wherever in hell that place is. Shockingly to the solitary Deschain, instead of his usual killing or just another soul left behind, Roland allows Jake to accompany him on his trek towards the mountains, the Man in Black, and ultimately the Black Tower. This is somewhat of a reprint, but Stephen King has added back in edited out sections and rewritten some passages. The story line retains the strange, deep allegorical fantasy reminiscent of the cult movie El Topo with less gore and Michael Whelans' drawings add to that overall eerie feeling. The desert looms so vast and is so critical to the plot that the audience will see it as a character unto itself. The other key players fit in this TS Eliot Wasteland meets the Stand environs. Fans of the horror master and those who appreciate a powerful parable fantasy will join the Gunslinger and Jake on their quest. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: Can't wait to read the new publication
Review: The Dark Tower series is crucial to the reading and understanding of Steven King's world. This addition has been revisited and expanded buy King to better tie in with the rest of the series. I am waiting in agony for all 4 Dark Tower books to be published in a couple of days, even if my bank account is empty after that. Other amazing books are The Talisman and Black House, cowritten by Peter Straub, with are also important to the Dark Tower, along with The Stand, and just about every other King book. Each book has a suspenseful ending that will make you need the next book ready and waiting for you to finish.
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Summary: Addictive!
Review: This is just the beginning of an awesome journey! I actually began this series out of order, but once you start you can't stop! I'm jonesin' for they newest installment of the saga! This is the kind of King only the fans know about, not all out horror he's so popular for. This is a great work of fantasy, and there are hints of it in other stories that all link together for what is already a masterpiece though has not concluded! It's very addictive, I've went back and read each book in the series twice.
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Summary: A slow start to an impressive undertaking
Review: In this first installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower epic we meet Roland, the center of the ka-tet on its way to the Dark Tower. In this chapter, Roland is on the tail of the man in black, chasing him across a vast wasteland in order to confront him. This series is Stephen King's masterpiece. In my mind, Stephen King's multiverse rivals, but of course, cannot surpass, Tokien's Middle Earth. This first book is a bit slow at the start, but is worth working through for the mind-bending ending and of course the following books, which, in my mind, each surpass the previous book. King's series is an immense undertaking, which he has, sadly, said might be his last works.
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Summary: the greatest series ever writen
Review: obviously this book was writen so many years agoand doesn't compare to his brillant writing now, but this book properly kicks of the dark tower series. anyone who loves his work will find when they finish book one, you have to finish the series. starting with the gunslinger and moving through to number four (wizard and glass)you'll find it so addicting that books 5-7 can't come out on print fast enough. i loved the adventure this series took me on and found myself upset that it ended. you'll want it to keep going. out of all is books (which i've read and own) these were the best and hardest to put down. i recomend this book to all of those fans that love to get lost in a stephen king book.
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Summary: This is one of those kind of novels.
Review: Sometimes something grabs you about a book. You are not sure what, you are not sure how. Somehow a writer just is able to captivate and create something that is awe inspiring. I remember the first time I heard whispers of the Gunslinger. This was during middle school and I had read so many of Stephen King's books by that time. Yet this one was not anywhere to be found. Yet long and hard I searched, thought of, dreamed of, this mysterious book called the Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. Finally Plum came out with a trade paperback edition of this book. I got it RIGHT AWAY. I looked at the picture of the front. There, the man, Roland, the Gunslinger and that bird on his shoulder. I dont know how it caught me, but it did. My parents and I got into the van and started back home, a fifteen to twenty minute drive. During those fifteen minutes I was silent, a ghost, in the back seat, reading the first part, the Gunslinger, of this novel (the novel itself is a collection of a group of short stories S. K. wrote for a magazine and then was published as a limited edition hardback by Donald M. Grant publishing company). "The Man in Black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed." That was/is the first sentence of this novel. It was like reading the Bible for me (as a Strong Christian, I am one who will hang on every word or at least strive to as I read the Bible), it was that captivating, it took me into a world that I had only fantasized about. Of course unlike the Bible, this book is fiction (which is too bad since after reading this book my friends and I started a Gunslinger reading club and we all wanted to be like Roland). A fantasy realm that is in my opinion just as good as the Lord of the Ring series. In fact, I will stand up and say very proudly and with much ernest that out of the whole 20th century, the only two series that are worth anything are LotR and the Dark Tower. King and Tolkien are the two masters of the 20th century literature. And I would fight the hounds of hell against anyone who thinks otherwise. Stephen King created a universe, that slowly but surely was connected to most of S.K.s other books. The Gunslinger is probably the greatest Male figure in all of literature of the fantastique. He is strong, but he is a romantic; he is intense, but he knows how to crack a smile; he is heroic, but he is not without his achiles heel. This is how a man should be, in life and in soul. If you want to read a book that with captivate you, that will bring you into a ghostly realm of action, adventure, romance, betrayal, theology, philosophy...then read the Dark Tower series, starting with this book. Your breath will be taken away and you will be launched into one of the second greatest epics known to literature. I will let you know that Stephen King has come out with a redone version of the Gunslinger. You can keep or take it, I really love it, but I also have to say...I love the haunting mystique of the original version that I got so long ago. The new version is somewhat changed here and there, there is a new way of introducing the first chapter of the first part. There are new revisions of characters. Still...like I said...that one version so long ago...was what really captured me and made me see that the Gunslinger is the greatest novel of the 20th century.
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