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The Gunslinger by Stephen King


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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.

Other books By the same author (Click image to go to the Amazon book Store)

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