The Gunslinger tells the story of the gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, and his quest to catch the man in black, the first of many steps towards his ultimate destination – the Dark Tower. The main story takes place in a world that is somewhat similar to the Old West but exists in an alternate time frame or parallel universe to ours.
When I first attempted to read this book, a good few years ago, I gave up shortly after starting, as I am not really a fan of westerns and just could not get into it, boy did I make a mistake there.
I kept seeing posts from people who really liked this book and the Dark Tower series as a whole and there was always part of me that kept thinking there was something I was missing, so with a fresh, hopefully more mature eyes, I returned and I was glad I did.
Yes, the book begins with a very strong western vibe, but after 50 or so pages of cast/character development, the book swiftly moves onto much more interesting things.
The Gunslinger starts off the journey as quite an isolated figure, he seems focused on only one thing finding the Man in Black, but as he travels along, he picks up a young boy named Jake and soon becomes very protective over him and even goes as far as changing part of his quest to allow him to continue on with his journey.
As I knew very little about the series before I started reading it again, I was quite surprised that The Gunslinger managed to catch up with the Man in Black, I expected him to be just out of reach for the duration of the book and for it all to come to a head in the last book, however he does catch up with him towards the end of the book, but things don’t quite go to plan for all concerned.
I don’t know if i am supposed to like the Gunslinger or not, as he seems quite selfish in some of his decisions, but there are also signs of a more caring side, so I am still on the fence until I travel into this world a little further.
Looking back to what I have read about how “marmite” this book is for people and knowing that I thoroughly enjoyed it I am very much looking forward to where this journey is going to be taking me.
Apparently there is quite a lot of foreshadowing going on in this first instalment, hopefully I can remember this book when I reach the end of the trip and can look back myself with such fond memories and feelings of “ah yes, I remember that and it all makes sense to me now”.
Overall Rating – 4.0 / 5.0
