 | “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” That’s how the Dark Tower tale begins, with Roland, the gunslinger in the middle of a desert. which is (to quote the book) the apotheosis of all deserts, following Walter, the magician. This beginning line, will always remain in my head. It’s (to me at least) become synonymous with the ethos of the Dark Tower universe, immediately bringing to mind, guns, roses, demons, the whole lot. Over the weekend, I finally finished the last installment of the long, Dark Tower tale, thus bringing an end to a reading journey which I must have started when I was in college when I first read the Gunslinger, the first of the Dark Tower series by the master of horror, Stephen King. Since then, I’ve read (and re-read) the subsequent parts of the series and waited for the final three installments of the series to be released. Well, all I can say is, he kept us waiting, but it was sure worth it. Having read the entire series, I can still say that my favourite book of the series remains to be Book one, The Gunslinger. The simple no-nonsense way of Roland, the last gunslinger is best felt in the first book, in my opinion. That said, Book two, The Drawing of the Three, deserves a mention due to it’s fast paced narration, filled with action and tension throughout the book. My favorite monster from the book would have to be Blaine the mono, Stephen King’s take on Charlie the choo choo, gone mad. Roland, Eddie, Susanah, Jake and Oy’s experience of riding the Barony coach of the monorail train named Blaine was a gripping experience, to say the least. My Cheers go out to all the people who are planning to read or are already reading the Dark Tower series. May it be as fulfilling a reading experience for you as it was for me. I sum it all up with my second most favourite line from the series, the one that Jake utters when falling to his death – Go then, there are other worlds than these. Check out the excellent Dark Tower sub site on Stephen King’s web site for further info. |