Rating: 
Summary: Great Beginning to a Great Story!!
Review: This book was an excellent read!! I could not put it down. I just ordered "the coming of the three". Read Gunslinger, you will love it. King is at his best!!
Rating: 
Summary: Bland and overrated on its own merits
Review: Don't get me wrong, this book is an easy read and you will be turning the pages trying to get the story to develop. But it doesn't in this book. As I've been told, taken as a part of the whole series, the book may be good. But I believe that even in a series, each of the books should stand on its own merits. Dune, for example, was a great book individually and as part of the greater Dune series. Gunslinger is rather inadequate in this regard. There is a thin veneer of a story and it frankly doesn't progress any more than a one sentence summary couldn't have sufficed.So, if you are willing to consider this book a 300pg preface to the series, you may enjoy it (I haven't gotten to 2 and not sure if I want to after this). If you think a series should consist of reasonably self-contained stories with an overall plot arc that runs through each "episode", you most likely will be disappointed with Book 1. To each their own.
Rating: 
Summary: Get through this one. You'll be happy you did.
Review: This is the first in a wonderous series about Roland the Gunslinger. Roland hails from Gilead, an ancient or possibly future civilization where the blood-line of King Arthur Eld is highly regarded as protectors of the world. Unfortunately, by the time we meet up with Roland, the world has moved on.
Roland is following the man in black. We don't know who this mysterious figure is until the end of the book, but we do know that he holds the first clues for Roland on the quest for the Dark Tower. What is the Dark Tower? Amazingly enough, a lot of it is explained in this book, though it's hard to grasp the concept until one has read further into the series. The series opens us up to the concept of multiple worlds in multiple universes, all held together with beams, which are breaking and thus, the Tower is being destroyed. The Dark Tower series is also held together by beams. These beams are other King works. Any King fan should read this series because it opens up so many treats for the "constant reader." There are tie-ins everywhere. The Gunslinger is linked to the rest of the books in the series, which are linked to other King books such as Salem's Lot, The Stand, Insomnia, From a Buick 8, and Rose Madder (which is linked to Desperation and Regulators). Wow! All this depth and a great story to boot! As we follow Roland, his quest becomes our quest. Every journey starts with one step. The first step is "The Gunslinger."
Rating:
Summary: A classic first entry in the dark tower series
Review: 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.' Never has a single phrase been as good at describing the crux of an entire novel. Stephen King's first dark tower installment takes place in a desolate landscape of a world that mirrors our own. Roland, the last Gunslinger, chases after the man in black who holds the answers to get to the dark tower, a mission Roland has been on his entire adult life. As he travels around the vast desert hot on the tail of the man in black, Roland stumbles upon few sights along the way including the town of Tull, where he meets the sexually ravenous Alice and the god-worshipping Sylvia Pittston. It is after leaving Tull that Roland will meet the one person who will most help him fulfill his quest; the little boy Jake. Jake becomes the Gunslinger's travel companion as they chase the man in black through this desolate world of sand, mountains and a whole lot of nothing. The Gunslinger is a terrific start to the series, a surreal adventure of boundaryless imagination. I get the impression much of the series is fantasy instead of King's trademark horror but this first installment reads more like a western than anything else. The chapters where Roland rests in the town of Tull are the best part of the book, as King injects the town with truly bizarre and fascinating characters and a final showdon between Roland and the residents of Tull that results in a blaze of gunsmoke and firepower. This book is packed with action from start to finish but as a reader the utmost concentration must be kept at all times since The Gunslinger does not read in linear fashion; it is a book of many flashbacks, dreams and hallucinations. Amazingly, although the first installment of a series that contains several entries, The Gunslinger stands very well on its own as a singular tale. The ending is satisfying but of course many things are left unresolved such as two very fundamental questions; What is it that really lies within the dark tower? Who is Roland really and why is he doing this? After this excellent start, I'm looking very much forward to reading the other entries in the series. If the subsequent novels are anything like The Gunslinger, than I'm in for an amazing journey.
Rating:
Summary: The mysterious beginning
Review: A wonderful and now rather lengthy tale, the Dark Tower series is Stephen King's greatest achievement. With the final two installments due out this year, I highly recommend you begin this engaging tale. It is complex, and begins rather mysteriously with little to no explanation for the current events, it is still well worth reading. HIGHLY recommended.
Rating:
Summary: West Hell
Review: The Gunslinger is a great book by Stephen King. I really liked the story behind all the twisting words on the pages. A man who is known as The Gunslinger sets off in hunt for a mysterious man referred to as "the man in black", and finds himself in the presence of a young boy named Jake. Stephen King really gives us a sense of character in The Gunslinger, whether it be from the hard-nosed Gunslinger, the young boy Jake, or the mysterious man in black. When Jake is introduced into the story everything really begins to come together. Before we meet Jake, King keeps the reader guessing at why things are happening in the story. He doesn't take the first few chapters to introduce the characters. He cuts straight to the chase, and begins with the story; we have to get to know the characters as we read the book. I believe that this is what makes Stephen King such a good writer. And if you really like The Gunslinger, there are sequels like Book 2 in The Dark Tower series The Drawing of Three; book 3 The Waste Lands; book 4 Wizard and Glass; and book 5 Wolves of the Calla. The Gunslinger all in all a great book for any mature audience, as well as The Dark Tower series.
Rating:
Summary: Most Original fantasy world since Tolkien----Incredible book
Review: I recently read the new and revised version of "The Gunslinger", having read the original a few years ago. This new version is easier to read and foreshadows the other books much better than the original. Its an incredible work, and I recommend this series to anyone interested in Fantasy, Science Fiction, or even fans of King's horror. The Gunslinger is at heart a fantasy epic tale, but it is set in a western/fantasy world with science fiction elements. I know that sounds vague but once you read the book you will realize how accurate it is. It is impossible to classify as a single genre because the world King has created is so original. Very Dynamic characters (who change over time and are not just painted black and white) with great characterization, interesting character interactions, moral issues raised, and the fact that this is the beginning of a series which only gets better and better instead of worse and worse, make this book a must have for any fan of SF, Fantasy, or King's work in general. Unlike a lot of the other Fantasy epic series out there, This one has an end in sight. All of the books will be out by september of 2004, so no worrying about when the series will finish. Also, don't think that this is going to be horror just because it is written by King. He sprinkles in some scenes where they are appropriate, but this book is very different from most of his other works in that regard. Roland, the main character, uses his guns and wits to pursue Walter, the man in black (a wizard or priest or something else?) across the great desert. He must catch Walter to interrogate him about Roland's greater goal: The Dark Tower, Lynchpin of time and space, which happens to be falling apart. Along the way, he deals with many problems, some simply from the terrain and some which are traps laid by the man in black. To tell more would give things away. The Gunslinger (and the whole series for that matter) has something for everyone. It has great characters, a moving story, one of the most original worlds since Tolkien, and of course the beautiful prose which has made S. King the world's best selling author. It has pistol wielding cowboys, chivalrous medieval societies, wizards, demons, interdimensional travel, mutants, ancient machines from the great societies of the past and much much more. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It will open up your imagination and change how you look at the originality of fantasy/Sci-Fi literature. As many other reviewers have mentioned, you will appreciate it more after reading its sequels, but this revised edition is still worthy of 5 stars as a stand alone text.
Rating:
Summary: This book sucks...
Review: There I said it. So why 5 stars? Because this book is not meant to stand alone. If you read just this book, you will probably hate it to death. However, pair it with the second book in the series and you will probably think that Stephen King is a genius. So I give it 5 stars, not because it earns them by itself, but because the overall series is worth 5 stars and this is but a part of it (though for what it's worth, the rest of the books are easily 5 stars on their own). So if you pick this up, be sure to plan on reading the second as well. If you don't enjoy that one, then the series isn't for you and you can stop.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Must Read
Review: We all know Stephen King and his works, however, this series by far is the greatest I've ever read. I cannot wait to read the next page, the next chapter, the next book. This book starts out a little difficult to follow, but stick with it. If you've ever read Tolkein's Hobbit, you will understand the need to keep reading. This is masterful and quite unlike King's absolute horror books. Keep reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Fantasy
Review: This is only reguarding the first book of the Dark Tower series because I haven't read any others. It was very poorly done. King doesn't inspire any loyalty to any of the characters and nothing in the book makes you want to keep reading besides the fact it is so short. I read it all in one sitting and was glad I did because there was no way I would have read it all if I had anything else to do with my time. I read lots of fantasy and Gunslinger appears to be a cross over book for many people. Most of the fans of this book that I know don't like the fantasy genre and therefore don't read many other fantasy authors or books. It is my opinion that if you are an avid fantasy reader or thoroughly enjoyed any other fantasy or sci/fi book DO NOT READ "Gunslinger" because it will disappoint you. The world created has no depth, there is no connection between the reader and the character, no development or continuity of story line nothing. And for those who don't know this book is a FANTASY book not a horror or mystery and if you want to read a good fantasy book read Dune by Herbert or for something new read George R.R. Martin's "A song of ice and fire" series. Anyways Gunslinger was poorly written that constantly left me wondering "what" "huh" "why" to such a degree I haven't bothered with the rest of the series.
| 
