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The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:47 pm
by VicCast
I have always wanted to read the entire Dark Tower series and I have deemed this Summer as good as any to get started. So far I love it and cannot wait to start book 2!

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:27 am
by Cattleman
I have read all seven books... Took me a while, but I made it. The opening of the first book is (to me) one of the greatest 'hook' lines in literature...

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed..."

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:50 am
by VicCast
Cattleman wrote:I have read all seven books... Took me a while, but I made it. The opening of the first book is (to me) one of the greatest 'hook' lines in literature...

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed..."
Right?! How could you not want to find out who the man in black is and why he is being followed. So good.

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 7:42 pm
by Wade Garret
It was good. Wished the end had sorted itself out another way, but that's just me.
I read the comics too.
Enjoy.

wjgarret.blogspot.com

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:37 pm
by VicCast
Wade Garret wrote:It was good. Wished the end had sorted itself out another way, but that's just me.
I read the comics too.
Enjoy.

wjgarret.blogspot.com
I actually just looked at the comics on my iPad the other day. I'll check them out after I'm done with the books.

As for the ending, I'll let you know my thoughts when I finish the series.

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:07 am
by johnson1010
If you are enjoying the gunslinger, then you are in for a treat.

I really thought the gunslinger was the weakest of this series. He wrote that one when he was 19, so it doesn't benefit from the experience he gained between that and "drawing of the three". It really picks up in that book.

The series is a little un-even, given how long he was working on it, and where he was coming from at all those different times in his life, but i still consider the dark tower and the interplay between that story and all the rest of his work, to be SK's master work.

It's fun to read other SK work and find all the references to the dark tower.

Are you familiar with the connections to his other work, like the stand, insomnia, the mist, talisman, dragon's eyes, salem's lot and the rest?

That's what i really enjoyed, was discovering all those little (and not so little) connections.

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 1:08 pm
by VicCast
johnson1010 wrote:If you are enjoying the gunslinger, then you are in for a treat.

Are you familiar with the connections to his other work, like the stand, insomnia, the mist, talisman, dragon's eyes, salem's lot and the rest?

That's what i really enjoyed, was discovering all those little (and not so little) connections.
Hello johnson1010.

If the Gunslinger is the weakest of the series I may just explode when I read the rest of the books. lol.

I have heard about there being 'connections' but I have no idea what they are exactly. I do look forward to finding them out at some point. Thanks for giving me a starting point with the books mentioned above.

I guess I have a lot of reading ahead of me!

Thanks for all your insight johnson1010.

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:28 pm
by Interbane
I'm currently listening to The Stand on audiobook, and wonder at the wandering man, Randall Flagg. Is he the man in black? My memory of the Dark Tower has faded, perhaps I need to reread them all.

Re: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 9:07 am
by johnson1010
Stephen king spoilers below.




Randal Flag is the man in black, and that character has shown up in a few of SK's works.

I didn't like how he was handled toward the end of the Dark Tower. A bit of sound and fury signifying nothing there...