This
heroic fantasy is set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace that
is a dark mirror of our own. A spellbinding tale of good versus evil, it
features one of Stephen King’s most powerful creation – The Gunslinger, a
haunting figure who embodies the qualities of the lone hero through the ages
from ancient myth to frontier western legend. His pursuit of The Man in Black,
his liaison with the sexually ravenous Alice, his friendship with the kid from
Earth called Jake, are part of a drama that is both grippingly realistic and
eerily dreamlike, an alchemy of storytelling sorcery.
I’ll let you know right up front
that I struggled to read this book. It wasn’t the writing or the content…it was
that I am usually not interested in this type of book. However, I have been
wanting to read this book for pretty close to ten years. So, I sat my butt down
and got through reading it.
I am pleased to say that for the
most part it was a good story. The story starts with Roland, for the most part
the nameless gunslinger, walking across the desert in pursuit of the Man in
Black, Walter. I was surprised that even through Stephen King gives you the
names of the characters, he really preferred you focus the fact that it was the
Gunslinger versus the Man in Black. Usually authors want you to get invested in
the feelings and emotions of the characters. In this case he uses flashbacks to
bring us up to date on what has happened in the characters pasts.
The side characters are generally
not much to talk about. However, I was really saddened by the events with the
little boy, Jake. His end made me so sad I almost quit reading. Yet I knew that
it was important that it happened the way it did. Still, Stephen King I don’t
like his ending! Perhaps if I read more of the series there is a chance that
Jake will be brought back or perhaps he changed worlds…like how he was brought
to this one.
The pace of this story felt
grueling. Just like the characters journey. I guess that makes an ironic sort
of sense. It’s not bad just not quick paced. There was one part of the story
when the gunslinger meets the man in black and they are talking that the man in
black gets very philosophical. He’s talking about the universe and relativity
and size. If you have ever taken a religious studies class and found it
enjoyable you would like this section. Perhaps two or three pages, it was very
informative and deep.
In the end I am rating this book 3
stars. It was good but just not my flavor. I’m sure many other people would
rate this closer to 5. I could see how they would but in personal preference,
my rating was slightly lower.
Publisher: Nal Penguin, Inc.
ISBN: 0-452-26134-1
Price: $10.95 (cover)
Color Illustrations by Michael Whelan
www.stephenking.com
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