Dark Tower: The Gunslinger

K

Karkow

Still Mildly Glowing
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger

I’ve bought this Stephen Kings’ book today. I’ve wanted to read all the books of the Dark Tower for awhile now. I’ve read a few books of Stephen King, I own about 8 of them and probably re-read Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia and Bag of Bones about 3 or 4 times already, so when I knew about this epic I was naturally curious.

My question is to anyone who has read this book or even the collection of Dark Tower:

What did you though about it?

Please no spoilers.
 
It is well worth the read, although the series does kinda peak at part IV. There's not really much else that I can say without including spoilers.
Just a quick question though, do you have the original version, or the reworked one? The original is probably a better book, but the reworked one has been tweaked a little to fit in better with the later books (there are no major changes though).

It's also probably worth getting "The Stand" and "Hearts in Atlantis" (and a few others) as they kinda tie in to the series. (Hope that wasn't a spoiler there.)
 
i read the original 1 through 3 or 4

they are pretty good yeah, but they arent really stephen kings ussual style

so if you dont like stephen kings work, you might like the series, or the other way around

has this series ever been finished big t uk ?
last time i checked (years ago) he still had to write a bunch of books in the series.

might consider reading them all again if the series is finished now.

(sorry if the post makes no sense, i'm drunk)
 
SuAside said:
has this series ever been finished big t uk ?
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Not yet. He's just released book VI (The Song of Susannah), and book VII (The Dark Tower) is due September the 21st.

I was gonna ask if your "Shift" key was broken until I noticed the "I'm Drunk" part of your post. :lol:

There are a few other readers of the DT series here at NMA. I know that KoC is one. And Murdoch and Randall Flagg of the Order.
 
The revised one...

I own “Hearts in Atlantis” (the movie was a biiig dissolution) and it's one of those books I must've read about 3 times now: strange, magical, great book. The connection to the Dark Tower is in the first story, right? The story about Ted which is being hunted by yellow-jacketed men… I remember some references to a Tower, in that book, as well as right at the end of Insomnia (don’t want to spoil anything…) “The Stand” I’ve hear a lot about it, people say it’s his best one..

Gonna start it now…


SuAside, I know it’s not his usual type of work. Neither was “Eyes of the Dragon” But still it’s a great book. I’m looking forward to this one…

…and hey! I’m permanently drunk…
 
sorry about that... :(

will the dark tower be a real ending or will he leave it open ? because i remember him saying he (stephen king) would prolly be dead before he gets to the end of the story...
 
Karkow said:
I own “Hearts in Atlantis” (the movie was a biiig dissolution) and it's one of those books I must've read about 3 times now: strange, magical, great book. The connection to the Dark Tower is in the first story, right?
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Yep. I never saw the movie, but after hearing the changes they made to the story, I didn't want to. It also never made sense that they called it "Hearts in Atlantis", as that part was really the main story about the guy in Uni.
right at the end of Insomnia (don’t want to spoil anything…) “The Stand” I’ve hear a lot about it, people say it’s his best one..
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Never read Insomnia, but I'll have to at some point. The Stand is a great book.
I know it’s not his usual type of work. Neither was “Eyes of the Dragon” But still it’s a great book. I’m looking forward to this one…
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I'm not really a fan of his "Horror" books, although they do kind of overlap with the fantasy ones. I did, however, think "Eyes of the Dragon" was mediocre. :( sorry.
Suicide said:
will the dark tower be a real ending or will he leave it open ? because i remember him saying he (stephen king) would prolly be dead before he gets to the end of the story...
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He's already finished it, it's just waiting to be released. He has also said a couple of times that he is going to retire after DT, though I personally doubt that. If you look at the sheer volume of books he has written, I don't think he can bottle that up.
 
I enjoy the Dark Tower series thoroughly.

He has also said a couple of times that he is going to retire after DT, though I personally doubt that. If you look at the sheer volume of books he has written, I don't think he can bottle that up.
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I'm pretty sure he's going to retire. He's getting old, growing blind, and he's running out of ideas. Seriously, the books he's released in the past 7 years or so are sub-par at best. Plus, he just released a book that is...well...pretty much Christine with a different name. He even admitted it.

I still think the Night Shift collection is home to his best work.
 
The Dark Tower series is probably one of my favorite series of books ever. I'm almost done reading Song of Susannah, which is the 6th book in the series. The 7th book will be out on September 21.

But if you're really interested in the books (which you should be) i highly recommend this website : The Dark Tower.net
I frequent that site A LOT. They always have very good, up to date news, and they have a whole slew of goodies, including a booksearch.

The Dark Tower Compendium is also a very good Dark Tower website, as they are endorsed by Stephen King himself.

Oh yeah, the image in my sig is from the Dark Tower series, but you won't read about that till 6 books in! Have a good read!
 
I must admit i thought that the Gunslinger series was the best by King. I have not had the opportunity to read The Song of Susannah yet, but i am looking forward to it.
I think of those books so far, Wizard and Glass was the best, but i did like the way he surprised me with who the wolves turned out to be in The Wolves of the Calla. 8)




Cheers Thorgrimm
 
DT7 COUNTDOWN: 84 days

Would someone please kick me in the ribs when it's available?

thx
 
If you are interested, the mythical world of the Dark Tower shows up elsewhere- there is a lot of it in The Talisman and it's sequel. There is some of it also in Desperation.
 
I also read the DT series, and I agree with Thorgrimm tht Wizard and Glass was the best, although I enjoyed the Drawing of the Three as well.

Wolves of the Calla was pretty good, although I thought the revelation of who the wolves actually were was pretty predictable.


This series is the only one I've actually gotten collectors editions of, from grantbooks.com.
 
They just did a Salem's Lot on TNT, some interesting changes from the story, but the book is still better.

I get the feeling that the incorporation of Salem's Lot and the Stand into the Dark Tower series is only done by after-thought. That those were initially books that stood alone.
 
Since we're talking about it...
The following books by Stephen King are in some way connected to the Dark Tower:
Salem's Lot
The Stand
The Talisman
It
The Eyes of the Dragon
Insomnia
Rose Madder
Desperation
Black House
Bag of Bones
From a Buick 8
The Regulators
Skeleton Crew
Hearts in Atlantis
Everything's Eventual

The Dark Tower.net takes a stab at explaining the connections here
 
welsh said:
I get the feeling that the incorporation of Salem's Lot and the Stand into the Dark Tower series is only done by after-thought. That those were initially books that stood alone.
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Hmm? I don't quite get your meaning.

Salem's Lot is directly connected to the Dark Tower because of Father Callahan. Granted, Salem's Lot was written long before, but the character is the same.

The Stand is of course connected because of Randall Flagg, who pops up in so many other Stephen King novels in one way or another.
 
Yes, remember in Salem's Lot, the character kind of runs away. In one of the Dark Tower, King mentions that he's bringing that character back. SO it's more like an afterthough to the original story.

Kind of like, he had a spare character and wanted to see him again.

it seems King is trying to set up something of his own mythos- like Lovecraft did with his Old Ones/Cthulu mythos.

Not sure if it's such a good idea, really.

But you're right, there are a lot of references to other characters in his book. For instance in Salem's Lot one of the dogs is named Cujo. Mark Petrie also shows up in one of the stories of Different Seasons, I think.
 
Meh. That's part of the charm about the Dark Tower series. There's so many different whens and wheres that he can put anyone he wants in there. I love revisiting characters, especially the ones that he's picked. Randall Flagg has always been one of my favorite King characters. Same with Mother Abigail, who I think might make an appearance before the end. Father Callahan, too.

I like the way the whole ka-tet thing pops up every so often in his novels, as well. Kind of ties the universe together.
 
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