Rating: 
Summary: I DON'T GET IT?!
Review: ---Now First of All I Want to Say I Don't Mean Any Offense By This Review---- Ok, so i picked up The Gunslinger at the library and was eager to check it out since I read all the wonderful reviews given to the book on Amazon. I took the book home and began reading. The chapters are easy and the pages fly.
Well, I got to about page 200 and by then I was so confused and frustrated that I had to stop reading the book.
There was so much background knowledge which the characters refer to and which King doesn't tell the reader that while reading I found myself saying "What. I don't understand."
I think I mainly didn't like The Gunslinger because it just wasn't the type of book I like. I loved Lord of the Rings, but this book is NOT like LTR no matter what anyone says. It's Louis L'Amor meets The Stand, except unlike in The Stand, King doesn't really allow the reader to get to know the characters.
So, if you're a traditional Stephen King fan and enjoy his novels such as The Shining, Salem's Lot, Christine, etc. don't read the Gunslinger.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm hooked
Review: I had never heard of the Dark Tower series until I saw this one sitting on a store shelf. Having always been a King fan I picked up the paperback and decided to give it a try. From the very opening of the book I was hooked. Since then I've picked up The Gunslinger on hardcover and finished up to book four. If you're a fan of any epic story, this is a series for you. The Roland character lives up to every classic hero and even adds some twists. While at first it seemed that King "rambled" on here and there about things, I've found that his terse explanations have painted an incredibly vivid picture that won't go away.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, so what's the deal here?
Review: Although I don't care for the horror genre Stephen King usually writes, I have still been convinced for a while that he is in fact a good writer and as The Dark Tower series has been getting a little press recently it drew my attention, and of course as a big Tolkien fan I was curious after learning it was inspired to some degree by the Lord of the Rings. Now, knowing who Stephen King is, I was hardly expecting some Tolkien knock-off obviously. But I was expecting coherency. This book is, quite frankly, very poorly-written. Things happen (like the Slow Mutants) for absolutely no reason and have no impact on the plot, characters, or tension level, and feel like some sort of gratuitous wandering monster in a D&D game. A key and mysterious character of Jake is handled very poorly, never generating any interest or sympathy and the relationships are never developed; Jake's eventual fate is unmoving and unsatisfying (ok, sorry about this but I'll break it to you: Jake dies. I think. But it's hard to care too much as this section is poorly-written and the relationship between Jake and the Gunslinger never really is as compelling as I think the author thought it was). But, that's not all. The book clearly comes in two parts, and are completely disjointed; the first part could, in fact, be safely deleted in its entirety. The flashback sequences are often jarring and disconcerting. The book often gives you the feeling of simply being jerked around, as the author is witholding information because he simply can't think of a better way to generate tension. Now, there is some good stuff in here, mostly in the realm of atmosphere. The whole post-apocolyptic "is it earth or not?" is fairly compelling. Jake's origins are facinating to consider, if meaningless in the scope of the book because they are never developed. The setup surrounding "19" is interesting, although again there is zero payoff. On balance some neat stuff, but it just doesn't go anywhere. Anyway, I am torn as to whether to bother with the second book. I'm told the series improves dramtically, and there was some stuff in the first book that I'd like to see where he's going with. On balance, though, I really don't want to get sucked into a massive 5-book epic that I'll end up reading simply out of spite to see how it turns out. So I dunno. I'll probably end up reading more, but as of now it's against my better judgement.
Rating:
Summary: The only thing Stephen King has written that I like!
Review: I grew up reading alot of Stevie's old horror books and even back then I found them goofy and badly written. When I was a freshman in high school I needed something to read during the finals. Around that time, The Wastelands had just come out. I took a chance and grabbed the paperback version of The Gunslinger. I was blown away by what I read! I devoured the first book in one day and I had to buy the next two installments. One of the things I really like about this book is how the world of the Dark Tower brings desperate elements together. From westerns to old English knights of the roundtable. Even eastern religion and philosophy are covered in this series and are apart of Roland's world. String that together with King's renowned ability for characterization and you have a true masterpiece of fantasy fiction. I thought Stephen King was a bad writer, but through this series I realized how wrong I was. The entire series is a tribute to all things horror and fantasy and fiction in general. The series gets much better after this first volume, but it was this book that drew me in. I can't comment on the revised material. I myself am against revising the old content. All I know is if you love fiction and fantasy you can't do much better than this book.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: After reading many of King's books throughout high school and later into college, I readily tired of the visual allegory attempted by a writing style that I associated more with script writing. The Gunslinger, however, completely changed my expectations of all science fiction and fantasy authors. The unusual writing style, the changing mental patterns and awareness of the characters is stunning and creates a challenge to read and understand. For those tiring of the Forgotten Realms style drivel, immerse yourself in a book that has the power to change your perceptions of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Why it works......
Review: I read this sometime after it came out, back in the day when word of mouth was probably the best way to find a good read. This qualified immediately. There's a reason that this book worked for me. I think every American my age (40's) was exposed to the cowboy myth while growing up. This book expanded the myth into a legend. It was the first (and to date only) "western fantasy/supernatural" novel, though it was predated by "High Planes Drifter" which has the same tone. Roland struck me as a fully developed character. The author knew who he was, but exposed him almost miserly. This kept the interest and tension high through out the book. I would highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to blend the cowboy myth and fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King is brilliant to say the least!!!
Review: Well when I first heard about The Gunslinger, and the whole Dark Tower series I was pretty skeptical and wondered where Stephen King was going with the whole idea. But, being that I am a big King fan, I thought that I should go ahead and read The Gunslinger to see just how good it is. That was one of the best decisions that I have ever made(as far as reading is concerned). It is hard to say whether this book is one of literature, western, fantasy, or just another one of Stephen King's amazing craftmanships. The only disappointment that I had with the book is just how slow-moving it is, and how it seems to be holding off alot for the future. On the other hand, that is what makes this book work so well and nearly impossible to put down. I will definately read the next couple of books in the Dark Tower series hoping to get another great response from them. If any of you are curious about how good it is, you might as well just go ahead and read it to see what I mean. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!! Well I guess you could be if you know nothing about books. :)
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Here's the sum of this novel: The gunslinger travels across the desert after the man in black. That's it. Along the way, he has some little 'adventures' i guess you could say, but they're completely pointless to the story. He stops at a village. Decides it's cool, and stays there for awhile, bedding the tavernkeeper in the meantime... romance you say? If that's what you call romance, i feel sorry for your significant other. Then the whole town turns on him for no apparent reason, and he kills everybody in the town. Ooook. He meets a boy names Jake across the desert. Now is his bond with the kid suppose to be meaningful to us? Are we suppose to feel the tender and loving side of the Gunslinger? If so, i never did. Are we suppose to feel that Jake's death at the end of the novel was a sacrifice that should tear our heart and makes us weep? It sure didn't do it to me. Infact, i never felt a single emotion between their relationship. I'm not a big reader of Stephen King, but if this is reflective of his ability do develop characters and their relationships, then i'm seriously clueless as to how and why he is so popular. I admit, i may have enjoyed this book if was 15 years younger and a teen or younger, but i'm not. It literally took me 3 tries to complete this book. I gave up on it the first time after reading only a hundred pages or so... second time was about a year later, and i didn't get much further. This time i was adamant on reading it, since apparently he has another installment coming out soon, and everybody's been raving about it, and i did force myself to finish it, but was completely disappointed. The other books in the series are *somewhat* better, but still don't deserve anything more than a 2. I'll be reviewing those other books as well.
Rating:
Summary: Young Stephen King fumbles his way into an epic
Review: This was a disappointing book. Although people complain about Stephen King's need for an editor, I think he works best with 800-page novels. This one is too short. Roland the gunslinger is interesting, but his backstory isn't. I enjoyed reading about his adventures in the town of Tull, but I laughed reading about being trained by a tough old Yoda-guy in a castle. And why does Roland love the boy? There's no explanation. He just DOES. Surprisingly, the story picks up at the end. The train in the mountain and the mutants are good. So is the conversation with the man in black. It ends suddenly, but with a promise that the next installment in the series will be much better.
Rating:
Summary: Best King ever
Review: It has been a very long time since I sat down with a Stephen King book. The last book of his that I had read where the Bachman Books which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was never a big fan of his wordy drawn out descriptions of objects, people and scenery. A friend of mine kept bugging me to read the Gunslinger. He said that it was nothing like any of Kings work I had ever read. He was right. This is definitely Kings masterpiece. From cover to cover you are emerged in the story. It took me 2 days to read the entire thing. Since then I have read the Drawing of the Three, which is a little slower than the Gunslinger but still great. Tonight I will begin my journey through the wastelands. If you are looking for a book to just casually read this is not for you. However if you are looking to start an adventure that you will never forget I suggest picking up this book. The man in black fled across the desert and I followed.
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