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published 1982; trade paperback 1996; paperback 1982, Plume
The Gunslinger is the first in a series of six or seven books (as of March 1998, books one through four are complete) in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, inspired by Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." Begun during Stephen King's college years, The Gunslinger was completed over a period of twelve years of intermittent work, during which Stephen King published his early novels and began to earn a reputation as the greatest horror authors of history, and one of the best-selling authors of our time.
Yet The Gunslinger is not a tale of horror. It is a tale of honor and determination, weaving traditional fantasy elements (wizards, magic, strange creatures, doors between worlds) into a story that is perfectly at home on the fantasy shelf.
The main character is a Clint Eastwood-style gunslinger who would have fit in well in our idealized "wild west." Yet the world he lives in is not ours, but a dying world which has "moved on," a vision of what our world could one day become. Cold, driven, honor-bound, and emotionless, the gunslinger makes his impassive way along the trail of an elusive sorcerer, "the man in black," and an even more elusive goal, "the dark tower." The gunslinger knows little of the dark tower, but knows that there he can save himself and his world. Only death can stop him, and he flirts with it often, from death by mob at the sorcery-crazed town of Tull, to death by thirst in the great desert he must cross.
While crossing the desert, the gunslinger comes across Jake, a boy who died in our world beneath the wheels of a New York Cadillac, apparently deliberately pushed into the street by the man in black. How his death in our world led to his appearance in the desert of the gunslinger's is a mystery, but the gunslinger is not prone to metaphysical speculation, and he and the boy move on. They begin a terrifying journey in utter darkness through a mountain train tunnel, and at the end the gunslinger's honor and purpose are put to test as he is forced to choose between the boy's life and his pursuit of the dark tower.
The Gunslinger is an emotionally dry book, due to its main character-- the gunslinger is single-minded almost to the point of being uninteresting. His name is Roland, but he is usually referred to as "the gunslinger," appropriate for his generic character. Occasionally flashes of depth surface, but for the most part he is an aggravating companion. Jake provides the plot with fresh opinion and passion, bringing needed color to what would otherwise be an unbearably bleak read. Even with Jake, it's tough going at times.
This book contains the early work of not one but two creative geniuses-- in additional to Stephen King's story, the cover and interior illustrations are drawn by the award-winning fantasy illustrator Michael Whelan. As with all of Whelan's work, the illustrations are amazing.
Even more so than most first-of-a-series books, The Gunslinger is light on plot and heavy on unexplained references. Later books should explain more about the gunslinger's teacher Cort, his fellow gunslingers, his lover Susannah, the sorcerer Marten, and the circumstances that led to his 20-year quest. The Gunslinger provides some background, but for the most part leaves these subplots unexplored as the taciturn gunslinger travels in silence. All in all, The Gunslinger is a fine beginning to a promising series.
Review by Greg Ferrar
Reviewed May 20, 1998
ISBN 0-452-27960-7
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