Bracket #3: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)

[Jean]

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.

[frik]

Loved it - duh!!

sk

[Jon]

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. The man in black fled across the desert, the Gunslinger followed.

Gen. 1:1


I read this in 1983 and began a journey that is yet to be finished. It has lead to great times within my imagination and in the late 90's it lead me to great people at a website. Later in the 90's I met many of these folks in N.H. for a great time. To this day I still meet, in person, great folks from time to time (Hi Mike.)
This journey was the bane of the High School Wrestling, Basketball, Track and Cross Country coaches as I refused their invitations to the respective teams in order to read.

This book ranks just short of The Stand as a pure read. As to impact on my life, there is no other. A 5 for this read.

[Jean]

The first post in this thread goes, as tradition wills it:

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.

I personally do not thing the books can be considered separately: I view the DT as a seven-volume-long novel, not a series. But since such has been our tradition all along, I have to judge The Gunslinger separately, and as such give it a 1... well ok, a 2, it isn't entirely without some redeeming features, although "I didn't like it" is how I would describe it.

As part of the big novel, though, it is perfect and would totally deserve a 5.

[blavigne]

For the same reasons that Bears stated above, I gave it a 5
Not my favorite of the series by far but as part of the whole, it is the beginning........that to me is worth a 5+

[Jean]

wait, wait! we're not supposed to vote on part of the whole!..

[divemaster]

As a standalone, I voted 3. There's not much character depth and the story you can tell was written by a young author trying something experimental.

Upon re-read, after having read the series, I liked it better but that's because I had come to know Roland and Jake so well.

[mae]

This one is easy to vote on based on its own merit, because most of us read this book first, obviously. So, based on my feelings after finishing the book, I'd say that I would rate that a four, which I did. I really enjoyed it, I didn't get a lack of depth etc that other have commented on. It was a solid and pretty exciting read.

[Garrell]

I gave it a 2, I feel guilty I didn't give it a 1. The others books in the series affected my vote I guess. Only reason I continued the series (and loved it) was SK. Any other author and I would not have continued.

[mae]

That's pretty harsh.

[alkanto]

I gave it a 5. I genuinely enjoyed this book, and I started it without knowing it was part of a series....I tore through it. It was only the 3rd King book I read. It was awesome :D

[Girlystevedave]

Loved it. The first few times I tried to read it, I just couldn't get it. The language. the setting, it was all different. And a bit much to absorb.
When I finally got hooked on it, I appreciated it on a totally different level, perhaps it was just the perfect time in my life to read it. Anyway, I've read it many times since then.
Changed my life. :wub:

[alkanto]

it absolutely changed my life. What an impact, really...it's insane. :)

[Garrell]

I gave it a 2, I feel guilty I didn't give it a 1. The others books in the series affected my vote I guess. Only reason I continued the series (and loved it) was SK. Any other author and I would not have continued.

I say that and then realize my favorite signed book is my Gunslinger 1st/1st signed in person. Reason is even though I didn't like the book itself, it is my all time favorite series of any books, tv series or movies:)

[Jean]

I gave it a 2, I feel guilty I didn't give it a 1. The others books in the series affected my vote I guess. Only reason I continued the series (and loved it) was SK. Any other author and I would not have continued.


That's pretty harsh.

yes, but that's how bears too feel about it. I would have stopped in the middle had I not been in hospital with nothing else to read, and I would have never come back to it hadn't Alexander brought me volume 2 on the next day to the same hospital.

[pathoftheturtle]

There's not much character depth and the story you can tell was written by a young author trying something experimental.Yes, but a great experiment, mixing techniques and making a unique expression. And I don't need much character depth in every work. Work of fiction in general, I mean: I've no problem alternately viewing the different DT books as separate entities. Still love The Gunslinger.

ETA:
And, Jean: I would guess that what Jon was saying about all that followed from reading this book was to underscore his genuine strong response at that time, not to substitute for the lack of any.

[Iwritecode]

I gave it a 4. I debated between 3 and 4 but I do think this book is slightly above average. I know it's the start of a greater series but it just barely scratches the surface as far as what's to come.

There are people I've tried to get interested in the DT books and I always tell them, it gets better with the second book.

[Jean]

Mike: I know; I was posting before Jon edited his post, not as a reply.



There are people I've tried to get interested in the DT books and I always tell them, it gets better with the second book.So do I. I actually tell them it gets much better - nothing like the first one.

[fernandito]

I absolutely love this novel. Loved it from the first time I read it. I've gone through it probably a dozen times. True, it doesn't have the embellishments or the refined prose of the later novels, but I love this book for it's raw power and hints at something bigger lying beneath the surface. The shootout at Tull is probably one of my favorite segments from any book ever, and I love how it juggles the minimalistic sensibilites of a western film with the enigmatic elements of a sci-fi novel. It's the book that introduced me to one of my most cherished anti-heros, and the start of one of my favorite authors' magnum opus.

5.

[pathoftheturtle]

Mike: I know; I was posting before Jon edited his post, not as a reply.Okay, then. My bad.

feev: Not really a novel anyway; funny that this series of big novels started as a series of choppy stories. But if DT II is "refined prose" then I think I prefer the unrefined kind.

[candy]

Its a strange one this, as a stand alone book i would say its a 3 - quite average.

AND YET..... I did want to know what became of the errant gunslinger and the dark man that he had chased across a desert. I voted 3 in this round, but it doesn't sit right, as i was mega excited when I saw the next book in the series. **shrugs shoulders** The law is the law though and i have to rate it alone

[Patrick]

My first "read" of this book was listening to Stephen King reading the book on audiocassette during an 775-mile drive back around 1991 or 1992. Nothing Compares 2 U, SK.

5

[Shannon]

3! A unique introduction to great character and series of books, but man oh man was this thing rough getting through. Almost ZERO character development. It felt like you just got thrown into the middle of the story, which I guess, is how you were supposed to feel. The writing and plotline was good, of course, but not one of the Man's best.

[Mattrick]

I agree with Jean. I will probably not vote for a single dark tower novel in these because it's really just one big novel released in volumes. As a whole it's it's his greatest work, I just feel because all the books complete their story and then transist into the next novel (except for Song of Susannah was really a novel full of transition) I can't view them as complete works. However the Gunsliger feels the most complete as a nice little stand alone novel.

I'm saving my votes for his stand alone novels. My favourite stand alone being Bag of Bones so that's what I'll be supporting!

[Jean]

I wish we would one day vote The Dark Tower as a novel. I wonder how it will compare to The Stand. I really really want to know this Battle Royale some time in the future.

[mae]

There would be no need to hold any polls in that case. The Dark Tower as a single novel will get all 100% :)

[Jean]

do you think it would easily beat The Stand?

[mae]

I think so. Most people here, in my estimation, are Dark Tower fans first and King fans second. I may be wrong, but that's my sense when this question came up a couple times. Not me, though, I'm the other way around. I didn't start reading The Dark Tower until just a few years ago, with quite a sizable chunk of King books already read.

[Heather19]

On this site I'm sure it would. As Pablo said, I think a majority of people here are more DT fans, than King fans. But if you did a poll elsewhere I think it would be the opposite, with a lot of people never having read The Dark Tower. Most people I know have never even heard of it, and the few friends that I have that do read King, have not read it.

[Jean]

maybe we should some day have this event excluding the Dark Tower. To see how other books compete without it.

[mae]

That's actually an intriguing idea. However, for better or worse, I bet The Stand will still win :grumble-grumble:

[pathoftheturtle]

I wish we would one day vote The Dark Tower as a novel. I wonder how it will compare to The Stand. I really really want to know this Battle Royale some time in the future.Well, in any case, it would be one of the few novels that could top The Stand at the weigh-in.

[Jean]

last chance to vote! the poll is closing!

[Forge of the King]

last chance to vote! the poll is closing!

I'm glad I made it in on time :cowboy:

[Garrell]

I will say that almost every SK I have read is a 5 with maybe 5 or 6 rating lower and a few still yet to be read. I started reading SK when Salem's Lot came out as a paperback and still have yet to read Carrie and The Shining(I do own 1st/1st of both, hehe). Not sure what the hang up is there.

[candy]

There would be no need to hold any polls in that case. The Dark Tower as a single novel will get all 100% :)


do you think it would easily beat The Stand?

I don't think it would get the 100% (very close mind) for me as a complete work The Stand does seem a better all round novel that didn't let up for one instance (sorry Pablo)

As a complete novel, i think DT sagged in some places (Drawing, wastelands 10/10 from me, wizard, susannah not so much so)

As to whether it would beat The Stand, I agree with Heather that it would on this site, however in the wider arena I don't think so as a lot of SK readers adore the Stand and weren't that blown away with DT

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

If I were judging the Dark Tower as a whole instead of each installment, I would still vote for "IT".

[Jean]

as would bears

[pathoftheturtle]

As a complete novel, i think DT sagged in some places (Drawing, wastelands 10/10 from me, wizard, susannah not so much so)I agree with this. In my opinion, TDT as a single novel would beat a lot of SK's other books, but if it could even be put into direct competition with it's own individual volumes, it would not win against every one of those.

[Heather19]

If I were judging the Dark Tower as a whole instead of each installment, I would still vote for "IT".


as would bears

:grouphug:

[mae]

The poll has closed. The Gunslinger has earned a FAS (final average score) of 4.439024390 or 88.78%, placing 2nd (runner-up) in this bracket. It will be moving on to Round 2.