The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger by Stephen King is the first book of his Dark Towers series.  The story follows the life of the lead character, the Gunslinger (Roland), and his journey to find the “tower” and its meaning.  Roland is the last living descendant of the knightly order of Gunslingers.  The book is a sci-fi/western style story mixing genres and is placed in the “old West” mentality where shooting others and seeking revenge are paramount, as is finding the missing secret. During his early travails, he runs through a village in the outskirts of the desert and kills a village in pursuit of the “Man in Black” who evades him for the vast majority of the book.  The Gunslinger stops along the desert and meets a man who exchanges information about the Man in Black but provides little answers, only more questions.  Roland is also unsure of whom to trust and who may be the enemy, though he knows the Man in Black is the enemy of all enemies.  Later in his search he meets up with a boy, Jake, who serves as a younger brother/son for him.   The two continue the search and are always one step behind the Man in Black thinking they just might actually find him.  The search takes them on a ride through the mountain on a handcart being chased by some type of skeletal creatures where Jake is in fear for his life at every moment.  The first book of the Gunslinger concludes with a confrontation between the Man in Black and the Gunslinger.   Having only read the first book of the series (which I hear goes for seven books in total!), there are clearly questions unanswered.  Hard to respond completely to how good or not so good this book is as it really only scratches the surface of Roland’s journey, but one can’t deny King’s ability to tell a story, that’s for sure!  He is one of the great writers of the weird, the watch out around the corner, and finding multiple meanings within a story.  If anyone else has read the complete series, please post a comment on this one.  I’ll reserve final judgment until the day I read the final six books!