I just began my journey to the Tower

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The Walkin' Dude

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
47
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Charlotte, NC
I've been reading SK for over a decade now and figured it was finally time to take a shot at The Dark Tower series. I just finished reading The Gunslinger, and I liked it much more than I expected. I've read over and over how many people don't particularly enjoy this first book, but I got really sucked into the story and world as much as I could.

I think the amount of foreshadowing and references to things we don't yet know or fully understand becomes a little overbearing and bogs the book down a bit / makes it harder to enjoy as a standalone story. I know that the Dark Tower books are not meant to be standalone stories, but I still think each book should hold up on their own.

Nonetheless, I greatly enjoyed The Gunslinger and I think the conversation between Roland and the Man in Black at the end of the book is one of the greatest things I've ever read.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I was one of those folks who knew nothing of The Gunslinger book until Pet Semetary came out in hardback and I saw it listed in the front of the book in the column of books by Stephen King. Took me two years to track a copy down (this was before the internet!). I will always remember the sense of awe I felt while reading it- it was unlike anything I had ever read before and certainly unlike anything King had written up to that point. I was mesmerized. I was spellbound. I was in love with this desolate tale. I wanted MORE!!! I love that the writing is so sparse and, pardon me, but dry. The 'voice' that King used here is so far away from what we (his fans) were used to. It was like reading a book written by someone whom was channeling Steve. So very different. So, now you can move onto the next book, which brings Steve's 'voice' back into play. The first one is the hardest to get thru and you made it! You've such sights to see and experience!!! I always envy a person's first journey to the Tower. Yes, it's your first but it won't be your last. Many of us have made the journey numerous times (I've traveled with Roland and crew 5 times now!) and each time we see more than the last. Enjoy!!!
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
Hang on. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Part of the reason I had a difficult time getting into The Gunslinger
I was certain Roland was a "bad guy" character....and I liked him. I kept trying not to. It was difficult for me to let go of my preconceived notion of who he was supposed to be, and just let him be.

Eventually an on-line friend convinced me to just read it. It's a short book, so just read it and. And if I wasn't hooked by the second chapter of Drawing of the Three....we'll never mind if, I would be hooked.

By the second paragraph of Drawing I was hooked.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
Welcome to the Tower. Just put your life on hold and do nothing but read. It's quite a journey. For me The Gunslinger was the hardest to get into. As a matter of fact, I bought it in 1987 (88?) and never could read it. Left it in a previous life. Picked it up again in 2013 and couldn't get through the series fast enough.
Okay, I've read the first three before and did not continue. I just downloaded the audiobook because I have to complete series before the movie comes out.
 

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
4,416
44
Aguascalientes, Mexico
I am at this point, as well, just having read the first book.

I loved it. I find it weird that many people say they can't get into it.

I think I was more "designed" to like it because I like "quest" stories (think the first part of Dragon Ball, when Goku and Bulma go on an adventure to find the Dragon Balls and meet different people along the way). This book only has a few events included in it, each one in one of the different "books". It reminded me of old RPGs, which were short and only had few goals before the end.

To anyone who needs a reason to hate Roland (in a friendly way), they just need to witness
Jake's repeated pleas to not abandon him, and see the knowledge in the boy's mind that he will be abandoned,
because Roland cannot be any other way.
 

staropeace

Richard Bachman's love child
Nov 28, 2006
15,210
48,848
Alberta,Canada
I am at this point, as well, just having read the first book.

I loved it. I find it weird that many people say they can't get into it.

I think I was more "designed" to like it because I like "quest" stories (think the first part of Dragon Ball, when Goku and Bulma go on an adventure to find the Dragon Balls and meet different people along the way). This book only has a few events included in it, each one in one of the different "books". It reminded me of old RPGs, which were short and only had few goals before the end.

To anyone who needs a reason to hate Roland (in a friendly way), they just need to witness
Jake's repeated pleas to not abandon him, and see the knowledge in the boy's mind that he will be abandoned,
because Roland cannot be any other way.
You will understand why folks did not fancy this book after reading Drawing. That book will blow your socks off. This is the book where we all officially become KaTet....and there is no turning back.
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
29,655
139,785
Behind you
The Drawing of the Three next! hoo boys!

Don't read any spoilers.
You will understand why folks did not fancy this book after reading Drawing. That book will blow your socks off. This is the book where we all officially become KaTet....and there is no turning back.

You say true, Staro. I bow and tap my throat three times towards you.
Or chest, we are female.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Loving the responses, you guys have me super excited to continue. I'm stopping to read a couple more of his other novels before I begin Drawing of the Three, but I'll be sure to make another post once I'm there!
I think it's best to take a break between each Tower novel. It'll help you to digest what you've just read and also will cleanse the pallet for the next book. Some of us were there at the beginning and had to wait years before the next installment was published. That was torture, to say the least.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
82,822
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United States
I think it's best to take a break between each Tower novel. It'll help you to digest what you've just read and also will cleanse the pallet for the next book. Some of us were there at the beginning and had to wait years before the next installment was published. That was torture, to say the least.
Actually, that's very good advice.
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
I love the first book. Feels like a dry, dusty, and appropriately trippy seventies Peckinpah flick, with a touch of Robert E. Howard, Josie Wales, and I Am Legend. Makes ya think, "what the hell is this?" You get to that second book, yer like, oh...I kinda get it. But by the third book, when they cross that bridge into Lud (say sorry if'n that's a spoiler--which I don't think--it's an inticer)...well, sir, at least for me, that's when it all sorta jells, and yer like...hell yeah. Alright alright alright...
 

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
4,416
44
Aguascalientes, Mexico
I think it's best to take a break between each Tower novel. It'll help you to digest what you've just read and also will cleanse the pallet for the next book. Some of us were there at the beginning and had to wait years before the next installment was published. That was torture, to say the least.

Actually, that's very good advice.

I know I went to "Cujo" after I finished "The Gunslinger", so I got to say I agree with this, even though I just started my journey, but...

Part of me wonders if you would like to share that torture down to us DT newbies. :glare: :D
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
I know I went to "Cujo" after I finished "The Gunslinger", so I got to say I agree with this, even though I just started my journey, but...

Part of me wonders if you would like to share that torture down to us DT newbies. :glare: :D
....no complex mystery bubba, it was the original interval between releases of the novels.....once hooked by the story....it was nigh on impossible to wait out the next installment.....