Review for The Gunslinger (Dark Tower 1) by Stephen King

3 Stars. Slow Start to what I've Heard is a Great Series. I've been a Stephen King fan for a long time, and I went into reading The Gunslinger knowing (from other readers) that book one sets up the series and is a little bit lackluster in comparison to the rest of the books. But still, it fell a little short for me.

The Dark Tower moves a little slow at first, which didn't bother me too much as I'm used to the slow build that King's books often have. But, I was disappointed by the ending. I felt like that slow build didn't amount to a satisfying conclusion.

Roland himself isn't as fleshed out as King's other characters and I wasn't as drawn into his relationships with other characters as I wanted to be. I really liked Jake, and when he entered the story I got sucked in a lot more. Maybe that's because he reminded me of Jack from The Talisman. I found Jake made Roland a more interesting character, but I really felt like Roland let Jake down and because of that, I cared less about the ending.

Knowing what other people have said about the series, I might still pick up the next book down the road, but not right now.