Guest Post from the BF – The Dark Tower Series

This post is roughly 10 years in the making.  10 years. Seven books. 4,250 pages. Stephen King’s self-described magnum opus The Dark Tower series is a beast.

A beast set in a world that would be right at home in the child of a Sergio Leone/Akira Kurosawa film and The Lord of the Rings.   There are monsters, witches, and a near immortal gunslinger running through parallel worlds attempting to reach the Dark Tower that supports the weight of the universe, all universes on its back.

From the first line of the first book The Gunslinger (how cool is that title by the way?), “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,” I was hooked.  I followed Roland Deschain, of Gilead, across many miles as he gathered his troupe of a heroin junky, a legless pro-rights activist, and a mentally troubled pre-teen  in his chase of his crazy dream to save the tower and its supporting beams for eight books.  Some of them were great, others were slow, but in true King style, all had suspense and a sense of the supernatural.

King weaves the latter tales in and out of his other stories that were contemporaries of this series.  He even places himself in the story as a sort of mouthpiece of a god-like character.  It was interesting literary device that under normal circumstances would be annoying.  It wasn’t here.

While there were many tragic, frustrating, and slow moments through out the long arc of the story, I was overall very pleased with it.  The ending was very clever, and if you get to it, really ask yourself if you should stop when he gives you a chance.

In the end, if you are a fan of King, have a lot of time and willpower to dedicate to a long literary endeavor, I would heartily recommend this series.  At least give The Gunslinger a try.  He meant it to be a standalone short story to begin with so you won’t be frustrated if you leave it at that.  Whether it takes you one year or 15, I think it is a worthwhile adventure.  It took King over 30 to write it.

This post is roughly 10 years in the making.  10 years. Seven books. 4,250 pages. Stephen King’s self-described magnum opus The Dark Tower series is a beast.

A beast set in a world that would be right at home in the child of a Sergio Leone/Akira Kurosawa film and The Lord of the Rings.   There are monsters, witches, and a near immortal gunslinger running through parallel worlds attempting to reach the Dark Tower that supports the weight of the universe, all universes on its back.

From the first line of the first book The Gunslinger (how cool is that title by the way?), “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,” I was hooked.  I followed Roland Deschain, of Gilead, across many miles as he gathered his troupe of a heroin junky, a legless pro-rights activist, and a mentally troubled pre-teen  in his chase of his crazy dream to save the tower and its supporting beams for eight books.  Some of them were great, others were slow, but in true King style, all had suspense and a sense of the supernatural.

King weaves the latter tales in and out of his other stories that were contemporaries of this series.  He even places himself in the story as a sort of mouthpiece of a god-like character.  It was interesting literary device that under normal circumstances would be annoying.  It wasn’t here.

While there were many tragic, frustrating, and slow moments through out the long arc of the story, I was overall very pleased with it.  The ending was very clever, and if you get to it, really ask yourself if you should stop when he gives you a chance.
In the end, if you are a fan of King, have a lot of time and willpower to dedicate to a long literary endeavor, I would heartily recommend this series.  At least give The Gunslinger a try.  He meant it to be a standalone short story to begin with so you won’t be frustrated if you leave it at that.  Whether it takes you one year or 15, I think it is a worthwhile adventure.  It took King over 30 to write it.