Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Fable for Modern Times
Review: The gunslinger, Roland, moves through a world that has "moved on." This is not a typical gunslinger story a la spaghetti western or Louis Lamour; it is a story of a quest, more of a knight's tale of morality, adventure and hardship. Most importantly, it is the first door to a fascinating series of stories making up the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. This series is, in my opinion, his best work, and "The Gunslinger" is the first in the series.Each of the characters in "The Gunslinger" is well established and fully created. The situations encountered by them draw you into their individual stories, and you also grasp their importance in Roland's quest, to a point. There is much foreshadowing, although you won't know this until you read the subsequent novels in the series. The book stands well on its own, although you will be drawn to continuing with Roalnd's quest in the following novels. After all, Ka will lead you to finishing the series if you are a knight at heart. This book has it all, interesting characters, a fascinating plot, creative setting, and a cast of characters you can both identify with at some level and really care about as you travel with Roland on his quest for the Dark Tower. The CD version is particularly good for listening to as you travel or just sit and enjoy the creative swtory-telling skills of Stephen King. Although George Guidall's performance in reading "The Gunslinger" is very good, I would have preferred hearing Frank Muller, who reads subsequent novels in the series.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing epic, excellent starting point for new King fans
Review: I have never been into Stephen King's better-known horror stories, and in fact, until reading The Gunslinger, I was never a fan of Stephen King. Boy, was I missing out. The Dark Tower series is truly an amazing epic. This is a classic that will endure far beyond other books, and I think this is also one of the most creative and imaginative in modern writing history. Imagine a world that is very far in the future but in many ways resembles the medieval era. The last Gunslinger came from a great kingdom, that has now fallen, and everyone he knows and loves is dead. Instead of knights, the kingdom was defended by gunslingers, and the hero of the story is the last one. The world has "moved on" as people say, and nothing in the world seems right anymore. The Gunslinger now relentlessly pursues a man in black across the desert, and an unknown future awaits. The mystery surrounding the story keeps you reading when other books have long ceased to be interesting. There is so much about the Gunslinger's past that the reader doesn't know about, and there is so much ahead of the gunslinger, that one cannot stop reading this book. I think what really seperates this book, and what seperates Stephen King from other writers, is the excellent attention to detail. Some of the words used in this book come from the gunslinger's time, so the reader at first may not understand everything, but overtime, you feel almost as if you can speak the language. Also the culture of the gunslinger's world is very different, with a mix of magic, and technology, all in a wasteland. Its really hard to express how great this book is, so I can only recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a great epic. You will simply not be disappointed, nor will you be bored. If you have never read a Stephen King novel, this is the place to start, just as I did. In summary, few epic series will match this book, if any. Read this book! :)
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Beginning.
Review: Let's face it: King is just too good an author, has too much going on, to simply stick to writing novels his whole career. I'm not saying that his stand-alone novels aren't good, far from it,(even though I've only read two) but it is even better for King to do something bigger - in a word, a masterpiece. These Dark Tower Dark books appear to be just that. I guess, at the core of the story, its a fantasy. It has all the elements - a quest, final battle approaching, a great civilization now gone to ruin, etc... But I'm sure this is unlike any fantasy that you've ever read. It's got a definite western setting, but to classify it as a western would probably be just as bad as the other. I'd say its a fantasy/western, with smatterings of science fiction and horror as well. But, when it really boils down to it, its an epic. It definately has some strangness, but its strange in a good way. There's something extremely evocative and intriguing about the whole setting that makes me eager to finish the tale. The book opens with the gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, chasing the man in black across the desert in a world that has "moved on." The author is intentionally vague about what that phrase means, as well as who the gunslinger is and what his purpose is. More will be revealed throughout the book, in pieces, but only a little, because there'e six more books to go. Since it starts off this way, it may take a little getting into, because at first all you know is that this guy is chasing another guy, but it definately gets enjoyable pretty soon. There are flashbacks throughout the book, but they don't slow the plot down. Part of the beauty of the story is discovering all the back history piece by piece. This book really was quite enthralling. The ending will definately throw you for a loop; it gives a hint of just how big the whole story is, but at the same time I found it very anticlamatic, and when the story ended I was left with a sort of emptiness that I did not like. But, aside from the very beginning and very end, this book was quite good. Now, on to Round Two...
Rating:
Summary: The good, the bad, and the lonely...
Review: The Dark Tower series is one of the best things I've ever read. "The Gunslinger" is the first part and a little slower than the rest (also much shorter), but remember that it's just the beginning. Each step in the series is better than the last. Read "The Gunslinger" today and begin your journey to the Tower.
Rating:
Summary: the gunslinger
Review: the first line of the first chapter caught my attention at the library but after going home and starting the book, i grudingly went on to the last page; only because i've never not finished a book when started. i've never liked stephen king when i was younger but now, i've lightly grasped what makes him such a good writer. i say only read this book so that you can get into the second, third and fourth. after each, i craved to read the next. i didn't crave into obsession, but still, this series was good enough to go on. the characters are genuine but the main one, the best.
Rating:
Summary: "There are other worlds than these."
Review: Apart from being extremely jealous of Stephen King at the moment, because he has finished writing the Dark Tower series and knows how it ends, I am also deeply impressed at the continued depth and power he has placed in these stories of Roland, the last Gunslinger is a world that has moved on. The first time I read "The Gunslinger" I was in high school, and my young imagination was enticed and utterly enthralled by the world King had begun to build. Now, in this new revised edition of the book, King has done the same thing once again. He has added tantalizing new hints of foreshadowing to the Dark Tower story, and has really brought the first book of the series more in line with the rest of the volumes, sharpening up the language and providing more insights into the world (worlds?) Roland is travelling. In the new edition of "The Gunslinger," there are subtle twists in the story from the first page on. Readers already familiar with the world of the Dark Tower will find plenty of fresh meat to chew on here until the new books in the series are published. I believe that readers who are new to the series will begin with an even stronger sense of immersion into this story, as the expansions of plot King made will serve as a stronger bridge leading into the rest of the story. It is a deceptively simple story: Roland, the last hero of a dead way of life, pursues a mysterious Man in Black across a great desert. Along the way, we learn about some of the hardships he has faced along the way, even as the story continues with new adventures. Through this simple device, King begins the arduous, painstaking work of building the most complex world he has ever developed, and populating it with many interesting characters. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the revised edition is a new mystery which King presents us, in the form of the number 19. The number becomes a minor plot point in this revised edition, with strong hints that it will have significance later in the series. Apart from the mystery of 19, we have new insights into Roland's past, further explanation of who the Man in Black is and why Roland is pursuing him so resolutely, and more hints as to what lies ahead. King's Dark Tower series is a fantasy epic on the same scale as Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," and it is every bit as compelling. "The Gunslinger," as the Man in Black reminds us in the final chapter of the book, is not really the beginning of the story. It is, rather, the end of the beginning. There is still a great deal of story to be told, but this revised edition of "The Gunslinger" is a stronger, clearer, more powerful way to enter the incredible world King has made for us. Highly recommended, Constant Reader.
Rating:
Summary: Middle Earth Meets Sergio Leone
Review: I don't know what took me so long to start this series. Perhaps in my mind I was thinking Western novel. Knowing very little about it I found it strange, hypnotic, similar, and yet nothing like any other Stephen King book.
The novel introduces Roland, a gunslinger chasing the man in black, in a world like ours, but not our world.
The book has a new introduction by King where he explains the origins of the novel as well as why he revised the book.For newcomers, it's the beginning of a planned seven book odyssey. Looking forward to reading book 2.
Rating:
Summary: A Strong Hero
Review: I've been a Stephen King fan all my life, and The Gunslinger was no dissapointment. The main character was very strong and memorable, and I'm looking forward reading the rest of the series. He reminded me a lot of the main character in the scifi novel, Twilight, by N. Stember, a character also thrust into a time and place out of the ordinary. I wholeheartedly recommend The Gunslinger.
Rating:
Summary: Great Vision ... Fair Execution
Review: Unbelievable vision of a world that has moved on ... the vision is incredible, and as part of the dark tower series is an excellant introduction. it is interesting to see how King's writing evolves over the course of the narrative. it starts in this one, sparse, and quite uneven -- though his additions and expansions have addressed the worst of it -- but by the time the wastelands rolls arounds, he is literally writing classics. all in all, read the series, and to do so, read this one first.
Rating:
Summary: A good book but it could have had more action
Review: I read this book after hearing that this was the universe to which all of Stephen Kings other universes were connected to and that in a way this was Stephen Kings central Universe. While this was true I kind of over expected what it was the book was about. What I expected out of was a western story with a Clint Eastwood style character which in plenty of ways it was, I kind of expected a young man in his thirties who had little emotion rarely said much except to ask questions and had the kind of amazing superhuman reflexes that allowed him to pull out a gun in a split second and had sharp enough eyes to quickly take in his surroundings.
I realized it was a sort of futuristic western and its main character could quickly pull out a gun and his eyes were sharp I also realized he wasn't as young as I had expected him to be. Though his age really made little difference. The story itself was good and you start to wonder about Roland's world and some of its connections to Stephen Kings other books the book could have had a bit more action. I'm not usually an action fanatic but I did expect some more action when the main character was packing two western style pistols. But there are some good action scenes and the story does hook you while you read it and after you read it.
The characters are done well enough and Roland's almost Fatherlike love for Jake the boy he meets at the way station is well done. But Roland's journey to the Dark Tower and his willingness to give up everything to get to it is one of his more defining emotions especially close to the end. The end however is the part where I expected some sort of battle between Roland and the Man In Black but instead they had a sort of conversation where they discussed the tower and other issues. In the end however Roland learns that he will have to "draw" three people from another world into his to aid him in his quest.
Even though I thought it could have used more action it still ended up being a good book and an enjoyable read and I would highly advise people read it as it's quite entertaining in many ways. All in all a good book.
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