The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Title: The Gunslinger

Author: Stephen King

ASIN: B003BVFZ46

Author’s web site: Stephen King

Genre: Fantasy Western

Print Length: 340 Pages

Plot synopsis: It is claimed that The Dark Tower series is Stephen King's most visionary feat of storytelling. It is a mix of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The Gunslinger introduces the enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man, but he seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

Cover: I like the colour very much. It is dramatic and sets your expectations.

I started off really enjoying this novel. I found the narrative colourful and very engaging. The characterisation and dialogue is, as you would expect from a master novelist, strong and the settings dramatically described. So why did I give up? I am one of those readers that will give up on a book, if it does not engage me. I will always give a novel at least four or five chapters to make my decision, indeed I read 74% of The Gunslinger before I gave up. The problem was I simply got bored. What started off as a very promising plot, degraded into a long draw-out journey – I don’t do novels that have long journeys in them, which is why I never got on with The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Since I did not complete the story I have not rated it.

What do others think?

At the time of writing there were 504 reviews on Amazon.co.uk, 453 of which were 3* or above, giving an average rating of 4.2*. On Amazon.com, there were 2,069 reviews, with 89% being 3* or above, giving an average rating of 4.2*. On Goodreads.com there were 336,776 ratings (including 11,010 reviews), of which 89% were 3* or more, giving an average rating of 4.0*

Even though I did not finish the novel, it did inspire me to write a short story, Outlaw's Trail to Nowhere. This is available free to members of my Readers' Club, for more details follow this LINK.