Yesterday I finally finished The Gunslinger. I've been meaning to really get started on The Dark Tower series for a little over a year now, but stopped after reading 'It.' I've finally truly begun though, and I'm already hooked. The general consensus on 'The Gunslinger' is that it's one of, if not the weakest book in the series. I've seen many people say that it's a struggle to get through and turned them off to the series for a long while. So going into this book I had pretty low expectations, and I'm glad I did because it exceeded said expectations immensely.
I totally understand why people don't care for this installment. The story both begins and ends very vaguely and a lot of the book almost seems like King was making things up as he went along with no real plan. On top of that, a lot of events and characters aren't explained properly, making it difficult to get a grip on what's really going on. Matter of fact, there's really only three characters in this novel which are really properly fleshed out. They would be Roland or "The Gunslinger," The Man in Black, and the young boy Jake. And even with those three it at times can be hard to really get a grip on them as individuals. All of this makes it seem as if I didn't care for the book, but that's just not true.
I actually really enjoyed 'The Gunslinger,' especially the second half of it. It's hard to put into words what exactly enthralled me about it, but from the first 10 or so pages alone I was all in. The world this story takes place in interested me very much, and left me wanting to get to the rest of the series as quickly as possible just to get the bigger picture. I thought the flashback sequences to Roland's experiences training and fighting his master were executed perfectly, coming in at nearly the exact point in time that I was longing for his character to have more depth. There's just a certain charm to this book which I absolutely loved, despite it's issues. What was perhaps my favorite bit was the ending. It subverted my expectations completely with Roland sacrificing Jake and simply conversing with The Man in Black.
Throughout the whole ride I was expecting some large showdown between the two characters, but I didn't get that. At first it left me slightly disappointed as I thought it to be anticlimactic, but as it went on I began to see the genius of it. The ending is a perfect bait and hook to read the rest of the series. Roland traversing throughout the entire planet, then the solar system, then the greater universe, then... a blade of grass? Left me ecstatic to read the whole story.
I cannot wait for The Drawing of Three, The Stand, and Salem's lot to arrive at my local library, and for that reason I believe 'The Gunslinger' did it's job. While in essence it felt more like a prologue to a greater story than it's own entity, it drew me in while still being enjoyable in it's own right. Which is a lot more than I expected to get from it. While it does have a fair amount of issues, for me the positives outweigh the negatives.
3.5/5