Conway: Review of the Gunslinger

This is from Joe Conway, who is reviewing the Stephen King books in order.  He's just posted his review of The Gunslinger and graciously allowed me to repost it  here.

Check out his blog at www.joeconwayrsk.blogspot.com

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Stephen King started writing this novel in 1970 on a ream of bright green paper that he found at the library. The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction:

• "The Gunslinger" (October 1978)
• "The Way Station" (April 1980)
• "The Oracle and the Mountains" (February 1981)
• "The Slow Mutants" (July 1981)
• "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" (November 1981)

It took King twelve and a half years to finish the novel. The finished product was first published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as a limited edition in 1982. In 1988, Plume released it in trade paperback form. In 2003 the novel was reissued in a revised and expanded version with modified language and added and changed scenes intended to resolve inconsistencies with the later books in the series. More on this version later.

Synopsis:
The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. So begins Book I of Stephen King’s iconic fantasy series, The Dark Tower. Part sci-fi novel, part futuristic dystopia, part spaghetti Western, and part high fantasy vision, The Gunslinger tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is tracking an enigmatic magician known only as the man in black. Following his quarry across the demon-infested Mohaine Desert, Roland confronts a mad preacher woman and her murderous flock, holds palaver with a speaking demon, and finally befriends a young boy from our world named Jake Chambers. Jake joins Roland on his quest, but while Roland travels with his young companion Jake, the man in black travels with Roland’s soul in his pocket.

Personal Thoughts

Ahh… The Dark Tower… This is the first leg of King’s magnum opus. Some people don’t like this book and they say it is tough to get through. I like it. The writing in this version is good; it is very poetic, which I like. By the time this was published, I don’t know how much of The Drawing of the Three was written, but I get the sense that King knew at least a little bit of what was going to happen. Also I think The Man in Black gives an awesome description of The Dark Tower in the last chapter and sadly it is never really told like that again in the series. This is a good book, but it is rare; the expanded version is the one in print now. I can’t compare them yet, but I get the feeling that I think the expanded will be a bit contrived, like The Wind Through The Keyhole, but much more on that later.

The Audiobook

This audiobook is read by Frank Muller, widely considered to be the best narrator of audiobooks, and rightly so. Are there narrators that match him? Yes, Roy Dotrice, John Lee, George Guidall, and others, but he is definitely one of the best who ever lived. He has narrated a number of King audiobooks, starting with Different Seasons. I don’t know when this book was recorded because The Gunslinger was published before Different Seasons. This was ripped from tape, so it is old, but it is great quality. Any Frank Muller recording is great quality, regardless of the quality of the recording because they are usually the best. This is the case with The Mist, which is terrible quality, but the extremely rare Frank Muller recording, which I have, is the best quality available. I did not like Muller’s reading of All The Pretty Horses by Cormmac McCarthy; I thought he took it too slow, but when I review Different Seasons next, I’ll talk about the difference in some Muller recordings. This is a great audiobook, which is now unavailable.