The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger

by Stephen King

The first in The Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger follows the main character, Roland Deschains, through a desert wasteland of the End World in search of the man in black, who he hopes to kill, and who can point him towards the location of the Tower where he is to make his final battle. Roland comes from a wealthy and important family and became a gunslinger at the age of fourteen by besting his teacher in a bloody battle.

Along the way he encounters a man brought back to life by the man in black, a woman who runs a saloon who uses him for sex in exchange for answers, and a town full of people who try to kill him. Then Roland finds a 12-year-old boy named Jake who seems to come from our contemporary world, but who had been run over by a car and killed, ending up waking in the End World. Jake has been staying in an abandoned building in the desert, and Roland takes him along on the journey, but ultimately sacrifices the boy in order to reach the man in black.

Once Roland catches up to the man in black they talk about some mystical ideas of what the universe is and what the End World's place is within it. At the end, the gunslinger wakes, the man in black has been reduced to bones, and ten years has passed. Roland makes his way west to the ocean, the end of the world, where he is supposed to begin, and where he will learn to draw.

This was an interesting story, and I was continually reminded of the wasteland that the world becomes in The Stand, where no one is around and the man in black is the sinister "bad guy." The man in black constantly made me think of Randall Flagg in The Stand, with his jolly nature and sinister grin, thoroughly enjoying his games and mental torment of Roland. I feel like the End World is hell, or some variation of it. An allusion was made that he who dwelt in the Tower was the devil, but there is "one who is greater than him." The whole story is filled with biblical references and God is spoken of often.

It was interesting that Roland and Jake both come form different time periods, but are now in the same place and "time." The world is also populated with hideous creatures, an Egyptian-like man-bird, and zombie-esque half-humans. It seems like hell to me.

I have a hard time rating this book. The writing was not at all in the usual King voice, but loftier and more removed from a natural voice narration. At times it felt like it was trying to by fantastical and whimsical. I did like the story, the western/fantasy hybrid idea is interesting. The characters are deep and well-drawn. I think I will tentatively give The Gunslinger 3.5 stars for now. This may change based on the rest of the series.