The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
By Stephen King
Arguably the greatest introduction to a series of all time with a tale about the most enigmatic character in all of Stephen King’s novels. Roland of Gilead introduces us to The Dark Tower world and to his role as The Last Gunslinger. As a gunslinger he is equivalent to a knight only instead of a sword he wields a gun. In his travels he is after The Man in Black, an evil force that haunts him every waking minute, but comes across friends from other worlds like the Kid from Earth Jake. In this staggeringly brilliant fantasy series, Roland’s introduction brings us into a world that seems too far fetched to be our own, but as we soon learn is actually just one of many worlds that make up our entire existence. Stephen King’s magnum opus: The Dark Tower series was made into a movie directed by Nikolaj Arcel and starring Idris Elba as Roland and Matthew McConaughey as The Man in Black.
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
Thoughts
Easily the best introduction to a series than any other I have read. As you begin you don’t realize how screwed you are. Screwed because after you start this series you are committing about six months of your life to finishing all eight books that King has so graciously brought into the world. Roland of Gilead is one of the most troubled and badass characters ever created. Like a true knight he holds his values close, and all of his actions are in service of Gilead, the forgotten land where he grew up. Now as the last of his kind he needs to defend his people’s legacy, and find The Man in Black and the sinister Dark Tower. Little does he know there are other worlds adjacent to the one we are brought into in this first installment that are also affected by Roland’s decisions. The beauty to this intro is that it pulls you into this strange story with such mystery, but a sense of realism because it incorporates the “real world” with characters like Jake. As a true introduction to a layered series it provides the backdrop and brings more questions than it does answers. And because of that it fully takes you into Roland’s world. You rally behind his journey although you don’t really know why. And trust me you won’t know until you carry on into the other books. They made a god awful movie about this with Idris Elba (Roland) and Matthew McConaughey (The Man in Black) in 2017 that was heartbreaking to watch, but if you are looking for something to rival Game of Thrones it is this series. Next question.
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