The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger by Stephen King is hands down, my favourite book of all time. The first sentence of the novel hooked me right away “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed”. That line has always been remembered fondly. The Gunslinger begins Stephen King’s magnum opus The Dark Tower. King begins and completes the Dark Tower saga in 6 six novels spanning almost 30 years between his writing the first and last novel. Even more intriguing, one can find connections to the Dark Tower series in numerous other Stephen King novels. The Dark Tower tells the story of the Gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, who is on a quest to reach the fabled Dark Tower (what exactly is the Dark Tower and what purpose does it serve, I cannot tell you without revealing too much). The gunslinger has been on this journey for a very long time in a world eerily similar to ours but has “moved on”. Coinciding with his quest for the Dark Tower, Roland is also pursuing the mysterious man in black for reasons that will be made clear as the novel progresses. King, normally known for writing horror, crosses multiple genres with this tale. One part fantasy, another western and one part horror, King paints a true masterpiece for readers to enjoy and lose themselves in. I generally read books only once; however, this cannot be said about the Dark Tower series. I loved it so much that I have found myself periodically going back to the saga of Roland… the Last Gunslinger.