The Dark Tower I : The Gunslinger by Stephen King (Book Review)

The Dark Tower I : The Gunslinger
By Stephen King
Published by Viking Penguin Books, 2003
Ebook Price: $8.99

The plot of The Gunslinger is pretty straightforward. An ancient pistol bearing warrior named Roland Deschain is seeking revenge on The Man in Black, an evil sorcerer who destroyed his family and country. The world through which he seeks him is in a state of decay and mutation (whether magic or radiation induced is not clear). There are vestiges of our world in Roland's, for example the song "Hey Jude" by the Beatles is mentioned and there are buildings and machinery in ruins that have somehow slipped between our world and his.

It's not clear what The Man in Black's purpose is except that he seems to delight in laying traps for Roland, whether they are physical, mental, or spiritual. Roland believes that the Man in Black's latest attempt to ensnare or torture him is the arrival of a young boy named Jake Chambers. Jake appears to be from our version of Earth. Apparently, the Man in Black pushed him in front of a car back in our reality and killed him and Jake awoke in Roland's world. Jake's memory has been mostly lost so he doesn't really know why or how he got there. Having no other reasonable options, Jake decides to accompany the Gunslinger on his quest to kill The Man in Black. What makes Jake really conflicted is that he begins to have the feeling that Roland, the supposed good guy, is simply using him as a tool or plans to sacrifice him in order to kill The Man in Black.

Even though I really like his books, it has been a LONG while since I read a Stephen King novel, probably the last one I read was Dreamcatcher way back in 2001! But knowing the new Dark Tower movie was coming out sorta galvanized me into reading this first book in the series.

What I really liked about this first volume was that it did not reveal too much  about Roland's past or why Jake appeared, what The Man in Black's ultimate aim is, or what happened to Roland's world. I ENJOYED the mystery of it all. It reminded me a bit of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones novels. The worldbuilding is done in little pieces as the action is taking place. Heroes and events from an earlier time are alluded to or mentioned but it's only gradually over time that Martin begins to flesh out the backgrounds of the various families and conflicts. Essentially, what led up to the current events.

Stephen King does the same with the Dark Tower and Roland. Every once in a while we get flashbacks to a young Roland to see the world he grew up in and which is now long gone. We get mentions of a woman he once loved, and the chaos and deceit that brought about the downfall of his homeland. But in the end there aren't a lot of info dumps or explicit information given. I think this first novel's function is really like an overture to an opera. This is the Gunslinger, these are his motivations, his quest. This is what his world is like, this is the atmosphere, these the overarching conflicts. I think it's really going to take off in the succeeding installments. It's so short, just think of this volume as an introduction to the series.

The setting and ambience of the first book was really great. King reminds me a little of HP Lovecraft in that respect. There are horrible creatures existing in Roland's world and the sense of danger inherent in that and the melancholy of a world's lost glory really inform the novel. These are not Dungeons and Dragons monsters. Also, as in so many of King's works, they may not look scary, but the humans in this first book that the Gunslinger encounters can be just as bad or worse.

I definitely see this first book as just an introduction to a much bigger world and will for sure read the next volume in the series.

My Grade: A-