Genre: Dark Fantasy, Adventure

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Rating: 3.5/5

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The Gunslinger, despite all of its flaws, is an energizing adventure that once again reaffirmed King’s mastery in storytelling, and his sheer creativity. 

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

Anyone who is the slightest bit involved in the literary community would know that Stephen King is almost a legend when it comes to writing. He is arguably the best author in the horror genre currently living, and his sheer quality and quantity of writing over the decades, exploring countless ideas and narratives, has rightfully given him that status. For me personally, all three of his books I’ve read so far (The Stand, 11/22/63, and The Talisman) have absolutely struck me as the epitome of what fictional stories should always strive to be: engaging, unique, and creative all in different ways. Therefore, going into this book, saying I was excited would have been an understatement. And well, the experience was definitely not what I was expecting. 

Before going into the rest of my review, I would like to say, outright, that this was my least favorite King book I’ve read. Although it still had that classic characteristic of all of his books (which I will touch on later), I felt like it ultimately lacked the focus and drive that I’ve naturally come to expect. A lot of the plot points seemed pointless in the way it was presented, and the rest only seemed to serve as foreshadowing for later books. Most of the time, it personally came across as a very long prologue than anything else. Additionally, the constant flashbacks to our main protagonist’s past, while interesting, stalled the pacing to the point where there was no progression and development of the story until the last 50 pages. And all the interesting elements I remember (the witch in the town, the oracle, the beasts in the railroad) didn’t feel very well fleshed out. If I had to sum up my criticisms in one sentence, it would be that this book was too short, and too quick for its own good. I think it could have been better as a first chapter of a more comprehensive arc of the gunslinger. 

But the man in black persisted as if Roland hadn’t spoken. “Shall there be truth between us, as two men? Not as friends, but as equals? There is an offer you will get rarely, Roland. Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of regard. How tiresome!”

However, this, by no means, indicates that I didn’t enjoy reading this book. I absolutely adored how King was able to bring this world to life in just 200 pages; the desert, and town where Ronald had to kill all of the inhabitants, the befriending of Jake, and the mystery of it all were all plot points I thoroughly enjoyed despite my criticism. The town arc especially heavily reminded me of a specific part of The Talisman that I loved, so it was great to see such similar elements in different contexts. One thing I think that King does the best is creating a setting where everything is just so… weird. His creativity never fails to amaze me, and how it pushes the boundaries of fantasy and science fiction will always find a fan in me. 

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.”

One last thing I want to talk about is the death of Jake. Despite the fact that his eventual demise was literally prophesied for a long time, I guess I just didn’t realize King would kill off a character that seemed to hold such importance to our main character. Despite only being with him for about 100 pages, his childlike innocence and strength made me hate to see him go.  
In conclusion, The Gunslinger, despite all of its flaws, was an energizing adventure that once again reaffirmed King’s mastery in storytelling. But more than anything, I’m excited by where the subsequent novels would lead Ronald to. 3.5/5.

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”