The Dark Tower series by Stephen King - Starting June 1st 2017

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1978, the publication of Stephen King's epic work of fantasy -- what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus -- has spanned a quarter of a century.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is King's most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement.

Book I
In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

This new edition of The Gunslinger has been revised and expanded throughout by King, with new story material, in addition to a new introduction and foreword. It also includes four full-color illustrations in the hardcover and trade paperback formats.

[Maddie]

Gunslinger, Chapter 4. So this is weird... The language is quite complex, and I really feel like we're missing something. I mean, who's the (view spoiler)[man in black and why is he chasing him? And what's a gunslinger? (hide spoiler)] Maybe it's meant to be a mystery, but it feels wrong XD

[Maddie]

Gunslinger, Chapter 6. It's kind of reminding me of the show Westworld. I loved that show! (view spoiler)[Wonder what the heck's up with this weed man! Seems strange... And who the heck is this man in black that can do all of this stuff?? (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Gunslinger, Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[What's this weird shit with the man in black and Nort? So he just brought him back to life somehow by jumping over his body...? (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Gunslinger, Chapter 12 (view spoiler)[I'm confused with when this book is set. I feel like it's in the past, but at times I feel like it's the future. Idk.

I like how detailed and graphic this is.
(hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

End of Gunslinger (view spoiler)[Wellllll that was totally crazy. I love how unpredictable he is. I think Allie called him Roland? Do we have a real name for him yet?? He just killed the whole town.. And I thought the Interloper was the man in black, not him. (hide spoiler)]

[Justine]

Maddison wrote: "End of Gunslinger [spoilers removed]"
I just finished this book and I had to reread several sections of it to fully grasp what was going on.

[Maddie]

By the way when I say 'end of Gunslinger', I just meant end of that section. There's multiple sections of the book. Sorry for the confusion.

[Maddie]

Way Station, Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[Still confused with time zones XD The boy spoke of tv and New York and the Statue of Liberty, and shops and cars and cities, and the gunslinger knows nothing about it?? Is this like another world?

Lol Jake obviously doesn't know about coke :p

Okay waaaiiiit is this the land of the dead, seeing as Jake's died? Doesn't make much sense though, seeing as gunslinger just killed the whole town.

Almost feel as if that first part of the book was useless, when I tried to differentiate characters and their names.

And how did that body have Alice's voice?
(hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Way Station, Chapter 12 (view spoiler)[Didn't realise that Roland was a boy in Chapter 8. I thought he was an adult and there were 2 extra boys.
(hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

The Oracle and the Mountains, Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[What a freaky dream!

And what held Jake?
(hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Sure can :D We'd love to have you!! Read my spoilers when you get to them and update if you want XD This is definitely a book we can discuss. Pretty complex.

[Maddie]

No worries! Btw we aren't exactly reading this fast, as you can see :p It's definitely not taking priority right now.

[Maddie]

Yeah that's what I thought/think too. Still not sure.

Assuming you're on the first part still Myriam?

[Maddie]

(view spoiler)[Yeah I have no idea either tbh. It's super confusing. And he killed all those people... (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Made the whole part useless, especially as I was having trouble differentiating the characters.

[Maddie]

From where I'm up to so far, it starts getting explained (I think) and then it goes away from the explanation so I'm even more confused XD

[Maddie]

It'll be an interesting movie.

[Maddie]

Not up to there yet.

[Maddie]

Alright reading a few more pages now. Up to 70%.

[Maddie]

The Slow Mutants, Chapter 8 (view spoiler)[Oh wow, so his mother was cheating with Marten, and now he's getting back at his teacher by trying to become an apprentice early? Why is he doing that? (hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Picking this one up again finally. Hoping to finish tomorrow if not tonight.

[Maddie]

Finished The Slow Mutants (view spoiler)[Okay so now Jake is dead? That was an interesting underground adventure they had. Jake was super brave!!
(hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Finished (view spoiler)[Oh wow the Man in Black was Marten, the woman who Roland's mother cheated with!

This is such a confusing book... What the heck was that vision and how? What did that reading mean? And why is Man in Black acting like a teacher? Thought they wanted to kill each other..

Size is all.. That's an interesting theory.

Okay so they were in that talk for 10 years... And the Man in Black's body's dead? What the heck..
(hide spoiler)]

[Maddie]

Review: So I finally finished this book after 2 months, and I just want to say what the heck did I just read. That made no sense. I'm so much more confused now than I was when I started. I was really excited to read this series, but this book left me with soooo much to be desired! I have no idea what's going on. The complex language, the descriptive paragraphs, the theories. The imagination and comprehension and focus needed for this book is pretty crazy. It actually might just be me that thinks this, but I know I was really confused, and half of this book was pointless. The only thing that I feel I understood was (view spoiler)[the death of Jake.. (hide spoiler)] I swear that's it. I mean, (view spoiler)[what's the point of the whole start of the book set in the town, only to have Roland kill everyone in it later on? And then going into those caves with those creepy people, following the Man in Black, who may not even be a man? All of that talk with Jake about old lands? Are they in the apocalypse or something? Another dimension? Reality? How come Roland doesn't know about it? Did Jake time-travel or something? I have no idea. And then at the end, that 10-year-long night time? I thought Man in Black and Roland wanted to kill each other, and then they just spend the whole time talking about 'size' and shit. What the????? (hide spoiler)] So yeah, sorry for that rant in that spoiler. Pretty crazy. Not too keen to continue, but I shall, seeing as I bought them and I want to see if this makes any more sense. Just sucks because the books get longer (I think up to like 900 pages at some point....) That'll be the day...