The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower 1) by Stephen King - Book Review

The man in black fled across the dessert, and the gunslinger followed. Thus, begins a tale of discovery as Roland Deschain, the last of the legendary gunslingers from a land called Gilead, pursues his arch-nemesis, the evil Martin.

While in pursuit of the man in black, Roland meets Jake Chambers, a boy from another universe, unknowingly pulled into Roland’s world.

After encountering a demon who provides Roland with a vision of the Dark Tower, they begin a journey that will encompass many adventures in many worlds.

But to reach the fabled tower, Roland will have to face challenges that will test him many times, in ways he could never have imagined. What begins as a simple quest will ultimately turn into the journey of a lifetime. 

The book that started it all. The Gunslinger is seen as the perfect introduction to what some consider to be King’s greatest story. The Dark Tower universe has many entry points, several seemingly non-related books from King surprising many with references to the story.

But for me, it took several attempts to read it. The language used reminded me of an old Shakespeare book I had to read in high school. There is a revised version which isn’t as difficult as the original, but I still struggled through it.

While it is true that this book is the doorway to the dark tower series, I was glad when the last page was turned. It’s not one of my favourites and I’m genuinely sad to give it a low score.