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View Full Version : Bracket #3: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)



mae
03-08-2010, 08:39 AM
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, 1982
http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/510/medium/GUNSLINGER_face.jpg

Please vote for The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower:_The_Gunslinger) using the following scale:

5: I loved it
4: It was good
3: Average
2: Only so-so
1: I didn't like it

If you haven't read this book yet, please vote Never Read. Feel free to discuss your votes in this thread.

You may base your vote on the 2003 revised version as well as the 1982 original. Please base your vote only on this book's own merits, not how it fits into the series as a whole.

Sam
03-08-2010, 09:33 AM
I give this one an Average.

Hannah
03-08-2010, 09:55 AM
It was good. Good enough to get me to be interested in reading the next six. I mean, that deserves at least a 4 imo.

Jean
03-08-2010, 10:36 AM
I didn't really like it, but I think it is good; then, in the light of further developments it does make some more sense. A 4.

DoctorDodge
03-08-2010, 02:40 PM
I gave it a 4. I found it pretty good and very surreal, and certainly unlike any book I've ever read, but it only got me interested in the other Dark Tower books. Let's face it, it's only with volume 2 that it really begins to kick off!

Ageless Stranger
03-08-2010, 03:47 PM
Um, 5? I loved The Gunslinger. But, I'll agree that the story really gets moving in book II.

mae
03-08-2010, 03:52 PM
But, I'll agree that the story really gets moving in book II.

Which is why I placed a notice in the poll advising to judge the book solely on its own merits.

DoctorDodge
03-08-2010, 04:27 PM
Well, I spose i could say "I loved it!", but even judging it on its own merits, I wouldn't have given it a 5. That I usually reserve for the best of the best stuff. A fantastic read, but not perfect, and a little hard going, sometimes.

gsvec
03-08-2010, 04:48 PM
I had to give this one a 3. It was one of the very few SK books that I couldn't originally get through. I must've started it 4 or 5 times and couldn't make it anywhere near half way. I continued to buy the subsequent books as they came out, but it wasn't until I got DT VII that I finally pushed my way through it. Once I made it past the point I'd quit all those times, I did enjoy it. And it was the beginning of a wonderful read!

And yes - I did a marathon read of I - VII over the span of just over a week!!

Ageless Stranger
03-08-2010, 04:56 PM
But, I'll agree that the story really gets moving in book II.

Which is why I placed a notice in the poll advising to judge the book solely on its own merits.

Yeah, I saw that after I had posted. I was agreeing with the two posts above me. I still give it a 5. I loved the book.

divemaster
03-08-2010, 05:57 PM
I gave it a 4. I found it pretty good and very surreal, and certainly unlike any book I've ever read, but it only got me interested in the other Dark Tower books. Let's face it, it's only with volume 2 that it really begins to kick off!

That's about it for me, except that puts it in my "3" category.

cody44
03-08-2010, 09:18 PM
I liked it a bunch. It really had me on edge wanting more, so for me it gets a 4.

Tatts4Life
03-09-2010, 05:49 AM
as somebody who didn't start reading the series until the revised version was out, What's the added material in the new book? I voted loved it. I loved every book in the series.

Daghain
03-09-2010, 07:21 AM
It was good. Good enough to get me to be interested in reading the next six. I mean, that deserves at least a 4 imo.

This, exactly.

High_Desert_Gunslinger
03-09-2010, 08:12 AM
as somebody who didn't start reading the series until the revised version was out, What's the added material in the new book? I voted loved it. I loved every book in the series.

I have always wondered the same thing.

But anyway I gave it a 5. I was hooked with the first one

Brice
03-09-2010, 08:15 AM
It would be so very strange to see someone vote never read. I mean it could happen, but still...

Imo, the differences between the two versions are substantial. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't read the original do so.

candy
03-09-2010, 11:18 AM
i gave it a 5, on first read it was enough to get hooked and looking for the other books in the series, and unlike some of the others in the series i have never got bored re-reading this one

Hannah
03-09-2010, 11:23 AM
It would be so very strange to see someone vote never read. I mean it could happen, but still...

Imo, the differences between the two versions are substantial. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't read the original do so.

That would be weird considering where we are and stuff. :lol:

Brice
03-09-2010, 02:42 PM
I know, right? :lol:

DoctorDodge
03-09-2010, 03:25 PM
Although not entirely strange. Some people might join just because they're Stephen King fans and want to know what the Dark Tower is like, or just to talk about Stephen King books in general.

And we do have the best online community in the world! (Certainly one of the nicest, as far as this cat's concerned (i really need to stop saying that!)) Hell, i come on here less for discussing Dark Tower (although I always feel a need to discuss when reading) and more for the random discussion! Our combined awesomeness is bound to attract more awesomeness, whether they've read Dark Tower or not!

Dagavidiab
03-10-2010, 05:06 AM
I only readed the original version... And iīm giving it a 4. To me, it was kind of slow, but interesting enough to read the next book (and the other 5 to!)

pathoftheturtle
03-10-2010, 07:23 AM
I gave it a 4. I found it pretty good and very surreal, and certainly unlike any book I've ever read, but it only got me interested in the other Dark Tower books. Let's face it, it's only with volume 2 that it really begins to kick off!

That's about it for me, except that puts it in my "3" category.

"Pretty good and very surreal, and certainly unlike any book I've ever read" doesn't put it above average?
As a kid, I absolutely loved it. However, this--
You may base your vote on the 2003 revised version as well as the 1982 original.-- brought my vote down to a 4.

Brice
03-10-2010, 07:29 AM
Personally, I'd have preferred two separate polls for the original and revised. They are vastly different, imo

pathoftheturtle
03-10-2010, 07:48 AM
Hm. What I'd favor, if it's not too abstract a concept, would be a poll for the existing The Dark Tower series as a single work, considered separately from the individual volumes.

Brice
03-10-2010, 07:56 AM
As in TDT counting as one book?

mae
03-10-2010, 08:11 AM
I don't believe that would be fair. The purpose of these polls is to determine the Best Stephen King Book.

mae
03-10-2010, 08:14 AM
As a kid, I absolutely loved it. However, this--
You may base your vote on the 2003 revised version as well as the 1982 original.-- brought my vote down to a 4.

How so?

pathoftheturtle
03-10-2010, 08:21 AM
As in TDT counting as one book?
As one story... :| ah, forget it. Definitely too abstract. <_<


As a kid, I absolutely loved it. However, this--
You may base your vote on the 2003 revised version as well as the 1982 original.-- brought my vote down to a 4.

How so?Well, you know... I just happen to like the original The Gunslinger better as a work in it's own right than as it's been revisioned. Just my opinion. Still do much like the 2003 edition, though, in its own way.

mae
03-10-2010, 08:39 AM
So it's your right to vote on the original only.

pathoftheturtle
03-10-2010, 01:03 PM
No, thanks. I kind of wish that it weren't so complicated, but I can't just pretend.
Besides, not even the original deserved to be ranked the same as The Waste Lands.

mae
03-10-2010, 02:12 PM
That I agree with. I gave this one a 3, myself.

BROWNINGS CHILDE
03-10-2010, 05:18 PM
Hm. What I'd favor, if it's not too abstract a concept, would be a poll for the existing The Dark Tower series as a single work, considered separately from the individual volumes.

Maybe we should have a poll like this:

would you rather:
1. have the DT series

or

2. All other SK works

This would be quite easy for me, but I don't know about everyone else.

As to DT 1, I gave it a 3.

vacant lot
03-10-2010, 05:28 PM
Read both the original and revised. It hooked me from the beginning. Have read it several times and it still hooks me- so a 5.

Brice
03-10-2010, 05:30 PM
I don't believe that would be fair. The purpose of these polls is to determine the Best Stephen King Book.

Oh, it would be fair. The guy who wrote it considers it as one book (several volumes) and so do I. Splitting it up to me is like voting chapters in a book against each other.

I do think it'd be interesting to see how the original or revised would or wouldn't advance against the other though...how they would place separately.

mae
03-10-2010, 06:22 PM
Well, perhaps a dedicated Dark Tower poll could be held :)

Brice
03-10-2010, 07:56 PM
:thumbsup:

Jean
03-11-2010, 01:12 AM
Hm. What I'd favor, if it's not too abstract a concept, would be a poll for the existing The Dark Tower series as a single work, considered separately from the individual volumes.
oh yes, yes!!! I was going to suggest the same last time we did it, and then chickened out, because I knew that most people (unlike bears) considered it a series rather than a 7-volume book, and the suggestion would entail a discussion I wasn't ready to face single-handed.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bearheart.gif


Oh, it would be fair. The guy who wrote it considers it as one book (several volumes) and so do I. Splitting it up to me is like voting chapters in a book against each other.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bearmood_friendly.gif

Ageless Stranger
03-11-2010, 03:07 AM
It would be so very strange to see someone vote never read. I mean it could happen, but still...

Imo, the differences between the two versions are substantial. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't read the original do so.

I have never read the original, but I'd like to.

Brice
03-11-2010, 03:28 AM
Luckily I have a bunch of homeless original gunslingers if you feel like PMing an address.

Jean, I'd like to cast my vote for chapter 7. Make it so, please. :cyclops:

Dagavidiab
03-11-2010, 05:09 AM
Oh, it would be fair. The guy who wrote it considers it as one book (several volumes) and so do I. Splitting it up to me is like voting chapters in a book against each other.

I do think it'd be interesting to see how the original or revised would or wouldn't advance against the other though...how they would place separately.

Every book in TDT were wrote years apart... Thatīs what make it different books to me. Even the style is quite different between each other, and more important, "the guy who wrote it" has change (yeah, almost died by a car could do it) by all the experience in his life

Jean
03-11-2010, 05:25 AM
well, I believe it might take people years and decades to write novels

Brice: too late. I've already voted the forty-eighth passage and won by default

Brice
03-11-2010, 05:29 AM
<_<

Ageless Stranger
03-11-2010, 06:11 AM
Luckily I have a bunch of homeless original gunslingers if you feel like PMing an address.

I cringe at the thought of shipping costs from Fatu Hiva. Seriously though, I may just take you up on that.

Brice
03-11-2010, 06:29 AM
Luckily I have a bunch of homeless original gunslingers if you feel like PMing an address.

I cringe at the thought of shipping costs from Fatu Hiva. Seriously though, I may just take you up on that.

Oh, it's not too bad....just a couple hundred million rocks if I don't send it express.

Kronz
03-11-2010, 07:53 AM
This has always been one of my favorite books by ANYONE. That even most Dark Tower fans are lukewarm on it is just sad to me. So much atmosphere and slow character development really makes a perfect foundation for the books that followed. The only thing that ever bothered me on the first reading was the childhood flashbacks which really only start to become interesting after reading Wizard and Glass. Still, those odd flashes of a green and eager Roland grew on me a lot. I've probably read this book half a dozen times by now.

edit: Also I am one of the few who thinks King did a great job fixing the book in 2003. He was right about the language sounding naive and self important in the original.

pathoftheturtle
03-12-2010, 01:51 PM
...
Maybe we should have a poll like this:

would you rather:
1. have the DT series

or

2. All other SK works

This would be quite easy for me, but I don't know about everyone else.

...Sure, quite easy. I love TDT, but I'd have to pick #2. Of course.



This has always been one of my favorite books by ANYONE. That even most Dark Tower fans are lukewarm on it is just sad to me. So much atmosphere and slow character development really makes a perfect foundation for the books that followed. ...:couple: You & me both, bub. Just sad and pitiful...
...The only thing that ever bothered me on the first reading was the childhood flashbacks which really only start to become interesting after reading Wizard and Glass. ...Now you've lost me. I like Wizard and Glass a lot, but I do think Jean was onto something when he once said...

Once you had finished Wizard and Glass, did your feelings about The Gunslinger change?
Yes. I admired how King managed to tell us so much about Roland as a young boy and the process of his development in a few short flashbacks; I might not have thought about that if later it wasn't set against the endlessly long, and mostly pointless, W&G. The Gunslinger was multum in parvo, while W&G, if you pardon the expression, parvum in multo - so it helped me greatly to better appreciate The Gunslinger and somewhat improve my otherwise low opinion of it.(Please do go on and add to that thread, Kronz, if you'd care to.)
...Also I am one of the few who thinks King did a great job fixing the book in 2003. He was right about the language sounding naive and self important in the original.Yes, there is some truth to that, he did a good job of making the book's language more mature. Again, I like the revised, as a different entity. Yet, I am one of the few who just don't think that the original was really broken. The original, to me, is still The Gunslinger. The revised I prefer to think of as "The Dark Tower: Volume I." Thus, I kind of feel that it could represent the series as realized if we added only this --
...I do think it'd be interesting to see how the original or revised would or wouldn't advance against the other though...how they would place separately.When it comes to the more complicated suggestions, tho, I don't think that recognizing the concept of the series as one story necessarily excludes the idea of each volume as a book in it's own right. Viewed this way, none of them is exactly complete, but that's not always a bad thing... I could name a number of unfinished works which I love, and some intentionally partial ones. Thus, I personally feel comfortable saying "this book is better than King's official TDT, but that one is not as good."

I don't believe that would be fair. The purpose of these polls is to determine the Best Stephen King Book.

Oh, it would be fair. The guy who wrote it considers it as one book (several volumes) and so do I. ...Yet, for a relevant other example, I can't regard The Green Mile in quite the same way that I'd look at a novel that was produced more typically.

Cuthbert Heath
03-12-2010, 02:26 PM
like what others have said i kind of found it slow but i have to say i loved it because i was def hooked...

cebsf
03-13-2010, 02:21 PM
i haven't finished it yet but i will give a 5 so far in my mind i can see the story unfolding i have waited 10 years to staert the trek now i wait to finish it

fernandito
03-15-2010, 07:15 AM
A resounding, euphoric : 5 !

mae
03-15-2010, 09:11 AM
The poll has closed. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger has earned a FAS (final average score) of 4.556338028 or 91.13%, placing 1st (winner) in this bracket. It will be moving on to Round 2. In 2009, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger placed 2nd (runner-up) with a FAS of 4.186440678, so it gained 0.369897350 (+8.84%) this time.

fernandito
03-15-2010, 09:35 AM
Cool. :fairy:

Mrs. Underwood
03-16-2010, 06:13 AM
From the moment I picked this book up, I was entranced. And I've been obsessed with this world and these characters ever since. A definite 5.