Review: The Gunslinger – Stephen King

Hi! So we are fast approaching the end of June and that makes us halfway through the year already!! Now isn’t that scary…
As promised in my last post, here is a review of The Gunslinger, the first installment of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Before this, I have only read one other book of King’s, being The Green Mile (I’ve decided this is my all-time favourite book), so I was curious to try some of his other works.
The Gunslinger takes a very Western/Apocalyptic style. We learn about Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger, whilst he seeks the man in black, following him through a quaint little town and expansive desert; danger always looming over him and any that happen to accompany him. The other somewhat prominent characters are Alice, a bar maid, and Jake, a small boy from New York city. The Gunslinger has not met these individuals by chance; the man in black has made sure of that.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the book at first. You are drawn in by the Gunslinger describing his path and you discover he is tracking somebody, described only as the man in black. Very ominous sounding, right? You find out he is his arch-nemesis. Are you biting your nails in anticipation yet? I was.
Then for me when The Gunslinger met Alice it went a bit flat for a while for me. Why, I hear you ask? Because to my mind, if the Gunslinger had been chasing after his nemesis for so long and found himself closer than ever to catching him, WHY WOULD YOU STOP? He had his fill of all his needs, (and I really do mean ALL of them), so then why wouldn’t he carry on? Alas he didn’t, but resulted in some mean shooting action so I shouldn’t complain really. He isn’t called the gunslinger for nothing!!
I didn’t mind so much when Jake came along, as he journeyed with the Gunslinger so progress was always being made. At this point we lose a little of the mystery of this gun wielding, gun flipping dead shot as we discover more about his upbringing and training as a boy. We learn he is the last Gunslinger, yet equally see the human side of him in his love of Jake and the lengths he will go to in order to protect him.
Once Roland leaves Tull the book really picked up for me. Put it this way, I started the book on Thursday night, read some more Friday when I wasn’t at work and I finished it on Saturday afternoon. Despite the “slow” start, I loved it overall and it gets a 4* rating from me. I can’t wait to continue the series!
I also discovered not too long ago that this is being released as a film in the US in November this year, starring Idris Elba as the Gunslinger himself. I couldn’t be happier about this – if anyone has seen the TV series “Luther” (in which Idris Elba plays a slightly unconventional police detective) I think you will agree with me that he is perfect for the role.
That isn’t for another five months yet and not even in the UK, so I’ll have to hold my horses. In the meantime, there is lots of reading to do! My next read, which incidentally I have also managed to get through far quicker than expected is To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I was expecting this to be the last book I squished in this month as I hadn’t originally planned this in by June TBR, but turns out I was as keen as mustard and got through that too!
That being said, I really am squeezing just one more book in before the end of this month – Animal Farm by George Orwell. After thisΒ  quick spurt of classics any followers who happen to be fantasy readers will be delighted to know the next three books are of that genre at least. I’m going to publish a full list shortly so watch this space!
Rebecca Β  πŸ™‚