The Gunslinger is the first book in King’s epic Dark Tower series, and opens with the Gunslinger chasing the Man in Black across the desert. As the chase goes on we get small glimpses into the Gunslinger’s past, why he’s after The Man in Black, and the mysterious Dark Tower. This book is mostly setup for the rest of the Dark Tower series, and compared to the other books… it’s quite small. There is not a lot that actually happens, and instead we get flashbacks and other visions during the Gunslinger’s journey.

There is really only one important thing that happens here, that is relevant to the rest of the series. As a result, we don’t even get to know that much about the Gunslinger, including his name, until the end of the book. So it creates more questions than it answers, and I don’t think it does the best job of setting up this world, or the rest of the Dark Tower series.

I did however like how mysterious The Man in Black was. Fans of King’s other works some similarities between him and other well known villains. I know that there are better things to come in this series, so I’m happy to be moving on to the next book.