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The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger By Stephen King   Visit the official Dark Tower website Just the fact that there is an official Dark Tower website probably should tell us all we need to know about the popularity of the character of  the last gunslinger, Roland of Gilead. In Roland, Stephen King has created a hero of such a following that, when the author was nearly killed in a road accident (1999), many of his fans were equally as worried over the prospect that The Dark Tower series would never be finished, as they were about the fate of the author himself.   The first of The Dark Tower books is called The Gunslinger and in it we meet Roland for the first time, as he traverses a desert, on foot, and in pursuit of the elusive Man in Black. Along his way the gunslinger encounters a dweller, named Brown, and his talking pet raven, Zoltan, that greets Roland with a croaky, "Screw you!" He also has a romantic interlude with a barmaid named Alice, and befriends a boy called Jake. Always, though, there is The Man in Black and Roland is ceaseless in his pursuit.   I've got to say that, personally, I see Roland as being a sort of cross between a six-gun-toting-cowboy and a Knight of The Round Table. That's how I see him; if you decide to read the book yourself you can formulate your own opinions. Needless to say, it is well written, and is never boring.   At 238 pages - my version was, anyway - it is relatively short by the King's standards, and I read it in only 3 sittings. Apart from the 238 pages of gun-slinging adventure, there is also both an introduction, and a forward by the author. Then, at the end of the book, there is an extract from The Drawing Of The Three - the second book of The Dark Tower Series. This adds a further 28 pages to the book. I must mention that the version of The Gunslinger that I read was printed in 2003, and had been reedited by the author. So if you end up reading an earlier version, there might be slight differences in your copy.   This is one hell of a book and one of the things that I love most about the character, Roland, has got to be the way he speaks: "Would it please ya."  If you want to experience any more of his lingo, though, you will have to read the book yourself and see if it does, indeed, "Do please ya."   List of Stephen King books reviewed on this site HOME