Stephen King's The Dark Tower

etchazz

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The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.
Yeah, one of the best opening sentences ever for a novel. I thought "The Gunslinger" was one of King's best works. Don't know why "Wizard and Glass" is getting so much love. That was the book that put me off for the rest of the series.
 

Urgoslav

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Gunslinger seems underrated. Most people I've talked to about the series said that the first novel was boring, but the atmosphere of the book is solid.
 

Mist

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Wizard and Glass was definitely the bestwrittenof the series. Like, by a mile. He was channeling the best of classic New England romantic era fiction, and did it masterfully.
 

Chukzombi

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Gunslinger seems underrated. Most people I've talked to about the series said that the first novel was boring, but the atmosphere of the book is solid.
that book had some of the best distopian(sp) scenes. my favorite of course is the slow zombies in the abandoned subway, i swear that parts of half life copied that scene. then there is jake's final scene which was just awesome. "go then! there are other worlds than these!"

@etchazz
i feel you man, i had a lot of hate for that book for years, and it didnt help that king was being such a cock about it in some of his references to readers criticisms to book 4 and that the story is not moving at all. i love king's books, but if i knew him in real life i would probably punch him in his fucking face.

i am at the point now that i can accept wizard and glass as a very good story and at least he filled that 12 year void in story progression with other dark tower related books. insomnia, hearts in atlantis, black house, the regulators and from a buick 8 were all great stuff with satisfying endings
 

Oatlord_sl

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Off topic, but....And I guess spoiler alert for those who haven't read the last book....But the artist guy, Patrick, who helped draw out of existence the Crimson King.....What other series was that character from? I could never find out via Google, but I swear there was a made for tv movie with that character that I remember watching as a kid.

How wrong am I about that?

Also, I think Netflix needs to pick this up. Forget movies. I think this story belongs on a competent "network" not in the theaters unless you're showing me completely new material.
 

Evernothing

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Gunslinger seems underrated. Most people I've talked to about the series said that the first novel was boring, but the atmosphere of the book is solid.
I just finished Gunslinger two days ago, and about 100 pages into The Drawing of the Three right now. I completely agree on Gunslinger having great atmosphere, but it's probably underrated because some of the prose and language is somewhat obtuse at times. Although you can't find fault in that, as King started writing it at 23.

So far I have found The Drawing of the Three much easier to get into, and not put down.
 
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Off topic, but....And I guess spoiler alert for those who haven't read the last book....But the artist guy, Patrick, who helped draw out of existence the Crimson King.....What other series was that character from? I could never find out via Google, but I swear there was a made for tv movie with that character that I remember watching as a kid.

How wrong am I about that?

Also, I think Netflix needs to pick this up. Forget movies. I think this story belongs on a competent "network" not in the theaters unless you're showing me completely new material.
patrick danville was in insomnia.
 

Chukzombi

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Off topic, but....And I guess spoiler alert for those who haven't read the last book....But the artist guy, Patrick, who helped draw out of existence the Crimson King.....What other series was that character from? I could never find out via Google, but I swear there was a made for tv movie with that character that I remember watching as a kid.

How wrong am I about that?

Also, I think Netflix needs to pick this up. Forget movies. I think this story belongs on a competent "network" not in the theaters unless you're showing me completely new material.
patrick is an extremely minor character in Insomnia and i think he is just a little kid in it.

I just finished Gunslinger two days ago, and about 100 pages into The Drawing of the Three right now. I completely agree on Gunslinger having great atmosphere, but it's probably underrated because some of the prose and language is somewhat obtuse at times. Although you can't find fault in that, as King started writing it at 23.

So far I have found The Drawing of the Three much easier to get into, and not put down.
that book is damned near impossible to put down, i read it when i was 15 and whenever i re-read it its like i opened a door to my own past. i probably finished that book in a few days
 

bixxby

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Yeah, one of the best opening sentences ever for a novel. I thought "The Gunslinger" was one of King's best works. Don't know why "Wizard and Glass" is getting so much love. That was the book that put me off for the rest of the series.
Wizard and Glass was much better on my second read through of the series. First time through I agree with you, didn't really like it because it didn't continue the story.

Also the books on tape for books 1-4 I think are good as shit. The narrator for them was in an accident and didn't finish the series though, the new guy wasn't near as good.
 

Evernothing

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that book is damned near impossible to put down, i read it when i was 15 and whenever i re-read it its like i opened a door to my own past. i probably finished that book in a few days
Which are you referring to here? Gunslinger or Drawing of the Three?
 

Grimmlokk

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Which are you referring to here? Gunslinger or Drawing of the Three?
Obviously Drawing. CONTEXT MOTHERFUCKER!


I love Wizard and Glass and did from the first read. Love the story and writing all on it's own,lovethe backstory on gunslingers and the world.

If any of you haven't you should definitely pick up at least the first Marvel Gunslinger Born trade paperback, it's the W&G story. Gorgeous art by Jae Lee, the Susan Delgado cover is one of my favorites ever.

Dark_tower_the_gunslinger_born6.jpg
 

Devlin

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I can't say that I'd be looking forward to this being adapted for the big screen.
The first few books were awesome but absolutely went to shit and when a King story goes to shit he goes all out.
 
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I can't say that I'd be looking forward to this being adapted for the big screen.
The first few books were awesome but absolutely went to shit and when a King story goes to shit he goes all out.
The only bad book in the series was Song of Susannah. The ending blew chunks, but king flat out told us not to read it so I guess that gets a pass from me.
 

reavor

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I think wolves of the calla was still fairly decent, but after that the books went downhill fast. if the author basically apologizes for the ending in advance, that seems to me as a huge red flag, indicating he wasn't happy with what he wrote but didn't want to bother to change it. the whole crimson king and mordred stuff was just disappointment after disappointment.
 

Devlin

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Was that the one where King gave himself a part?

Because that was awful, I think I've deleted a lot of it from my memory.
 

etchazz

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King definitely painted himself into a corner with that series. He obviously had no idea where he wanted to take that story. As I've never read the last two, I don't know how it ends, but everyone that I've spoken to who has finished the series, said it was fucking terrible.
 

Arakkis

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Yeah a lot of people don't like the end, but I'm not one of them. I think the ending was fine. Hell I don't even mind that King wrote himself into the book. He kind of portrayed himself as an asshole anyway.
 

Dyvim

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Yeah a lot of people don't like the end, but I'm not one of them. I think the ending was fine. Hell I don't even mind that King wrote himself into the book. He kind of portrayed himself as an asshole anyway.
I liked the ending too, while i think song of susannah is the weakest book, i loved that he wrote himself in the story line and basically painted himself as the addicted asshole he was.
Largely getting back to work on the tower by divine intervention, and so the story of finally ending the books comes full circle as well.
The ultimate build up to the great finale brought me to tears, heck even thinking about it gets the job done. -oy
 

Alexzander

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I understand why some didn't like the ending (though I did) but I really don't get the hate on Wolves of Calla or Wizard and Glass. They were my two favorites of the series.