The Gunslinger - Dark Tower Series

[TekDragon]

Well i just got through reading King's "The Gunslinger", part 1 of his Dark Tower series.

All i can say is: Holy Shit!

This is definately one of his better peices. Not quite "The Stand" quality but thats not a problem since nothing has EVER beat "The Stand" (except possibly Tolkein's Ring series).

Absolutely enthralling from beginning to end. It completely absorbed my attention. The way King brings the scenes to life is unbelievable. Every single part of the story I felt i was right there, despite the fact that this is a story so fictional it could come from a dream (or a nightmare).

I absolutely loved this book and im stoping by "Borders" tomorrow to grab the second in the series.

Discuss?

[Glaynor]

Well, the series is as of now incomplete and Stephen King is retiring. The good news is that he said that he was going to finish the series before he does quit.

The series is absolutely phenomenal. The nice thing is also that, if memory serves me correct, each book has a prologue which goes over what happens in the prior ones so you are up to date.

To note also, various other books have tie-ins to this series including Hearts in Atlantis the Black House. King wrote two books with Peter Straub, the Talisman and the Black House. Each books have the same main character. In the first he is a child and in the second he is an adult. I know that the Black House (the second book) is a tie-in about the Crimnson King and the Breakers. It is about a bunch of children being kidnapped and what ensues. I'm not sure if the first book is a tie in or not, I read it years and years ago, however you can read the second book without having to read the first book to understand what is going on.

A bunch of Kings other books also tie in to the Crimson King. Randall Flagg is the main protagonist in most of Kings books and a lot of them allude to the Crimson King. In the Stand he is the most pronounced, but in Needful Things (the book deals with the destruction of Derry) there are allusions to him having been known as many names, one of which may have been an alliases of Randall Flagg.

His books always tie in together, and many are centered around Derry. In Needful Things they talk about instances from IT (in my mind the greatest book), Cujo and a few other books.

Oh, I also just remembered, in A Buick 9 Mile, or something like that, it is about a possessed car. The car is left in town by a person who is described as one of the Crimson King's Minions. It is a character used in Hearts in Atlantis and the car is described in the same way as the vehicles the bad guys in Hearts in Atlantis are.

Anyway, I hope I didn't confuse you any more. I haven't talked about Stephen King in a long time and it is by far one of my favorite subjects. Hope to keep this post going.

[Trol]

Wait until you read "The Drawing of the Three"...

[Sm00ve]

I have never read King. And NO I do not live under a rock. But I hate horror. Never liked it. Having an over active imagination I have never been able to not have nightmars. (sorry for poor grammar). I am in my 20s to boot.

A great set of books I have read are called "A Song of Fire and Ice" by George RR Martin. Its a fantasy series thats not done yet.

Its very different than any other Fantasy that I have read. Completly differant than Tolken.

It focuses more on character development and dialog than 'world building'.

It is a mature series too. The f word is in it a few places as well as some sexually graphic parts. They are few though.

When I read them my PC did NOT get turned on for the 3 weeks it took me to read the books. There are only 3 books out the forth is scheduled for this fall and 1 or 2 more to finish the series.

[Glaynor]

The Gunslinger series is not a horror series. It is nothing like IT or anyting like that. I would have to say it is almost a Fantasy series. It is about a parallel universe of sorts. From what you posted, you should check out the series, it is very very very good.

[Happy lil Elf]

Gunslinger is a good series. Aside from "Eye's of the Dragon" they're probably the only Stephen King works I can stand.