The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower series #1 by Stephen King (novel #235)

The Gunslinger is first in the 8-volume The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It is dark fantasy, set in Earth’s future. Physical and Metaphysical laws are greatly altered. There is some collective memory of the old world, and characters describe the present state as a world that has “moved on.” King says it was inspired by two works: “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” a poem by Robert Browning, and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. It resembles Browning’s poem in some specific points and The Lord of the Rings very little, except as an epic fantasy.

 

The gunslinger, the last gunslinger is Roland Deschain. The novel opens on Roland’s miserable and seemingly hopeless trek across a bleak desert in pursuit of The Man in Black, a wizard or demon, or something else?

 

The reader assumes Roland is the good guy and the Man in Black must be the bad guy, but bit by bit, as King narrates Roland’s quest, the reader learns very little is quite so narrowly defined in the world that has moved on. The Gunslinger is at least admirable for his dogged commitment to his quest. You get the impression Roland would just as soon sit down and die, but he’s taken an oath, or bound to a mission, or just stubborn and will not relent. Also, bit by bit, the reader learns that the Man in Black is not the quest; he is just the key to Roland’s true mission, which is to discover the Dark Tower.

 

I’ve wanted to read this for years, but I’ve also been reluctant because I feared reading the first in the series would necessitate reading the entire series. My fears were realized as I am now captivated. Book #1 does not satisfy by itself. So, I’m in it for the long haul.

 

As a single volume, The Gunslinger is compelling and maddening. King references mysteries of the world that has moved on without explanation only later to give a clue or, presumably, in later volumes, sudden clarity. It's maddening and clever. I’d resent this if I felt it was only a gimmick to sell books, but King teases so masterfully it just feels like great storytelling. But it's still a little maddening.

 

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

 

There was a satisfying, albeit puzzling, allusion to a classic novel. The gunslinger sees some rabbits emerge from their holes.

 

Three rabbits came, and once they were at silflay the gunslinger pulled leather. [shot them]

 

"Silflay" is a word in Rabbit speech from the novel Watership Down that means for Rabbits to go above ground to feed. Perhaps there were allusions to other writings and I’m not well-read enough to have caught them. I did feel a little smug at getting this one.

 

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