Book #5 is 11/22/63 by Stephen King.
I'm not entirely sure why I decided to read this book, other than it was lying around the house because my cousin lent it to me. I was still feeling some... King hesitation left over from my time with the Dark Tower, and we all know that I HATE time travel... and yet, I ended up picking it up.
The time travel really makes no sense, and I'm not sure I understand it's internal consistency, but it's simple, and I appreciate that. Main character Jake Epping, a recently divorced English teacher in the year 2011, is shown the 'rabbit hole' in Al's Diner, a weird breach in the time stream that leads to 1958. And no matter when you come back up the rabbit hole, only two minutes have passed in 2011, and the past immediately 'resets' itself.
Al, the original discovery of the rabbit hole, does some experiments with changing the past, has some success, and decides that a big change needs to be made; stopping the assassination of JFK on Nov. 22, 1963. But, Al ends up with cancer and cannot fulfill his destiny.
He recruits Jake Epping.
I started off with being slightly miffed at this book. Mainly because of Jake's repeated comments on how he majored in English, so doesn't know much about American history. This actually drove me nuts. Maybe I'm weird in that I have an English degree, but I like history. A lot. English literature is tied to it's history, so I guess I find the idea of being ignorant of history just because you read a lot of books to be complete bunk. (I will come clean though that in university, I took quite a few history courses, and a couple of them were on American history as I find the time period of post-war America to be really fascinating, so I do know just enough about the 50s and 60s in the US to be dangerous).
Once I got past Jake's ignorance though, I liked the story. I liked Jake's first experiment in changing the past, I liked the return to Derry. I liked him settling into his life in the past as he waited for the past to 'catch up'. I liked that the past is obdurate and fights change. I liked that the past fought change very violently leading up to the assassination.
I didn't like that the ending though, felt rather rushed despite the book feeling over long. I'm not sure we needed all the minutiae of Jake's plans and his stalking of Lee Harvey Oswald. I think I would've liked a bit more time spent in the changed present.
But anyway, I did enjoy this, time travel, historical ignorance, and everything.
Showing posts with label Stephen King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen King. Show all posts
Monday, February 09, 2015
Friday, August 09, 2013
MORE catchup!
I don't know why I'm finding it so hard to update this thing this year, but I am. So here's a whole whack of books I've read and only a little bit about them. Sigh. I need to get back on the timely update train.
Book # 14: Kingdom of the Grail by Judith Tarr - I'd read another book of hers way back when, it was about King John I of England and how he wasn't actually a huge jerk, just misunderstood. It was ok, but I sure didn't love it. I saw this book in a used bookstore and of course went Grail! Arthur! So let's just say I was a little surprised when reading the cover blurb that no, not Arthur... Roland? Hmm ok then. I don't really know too much about the whole Roland, Charlamange tales. I know a little, but not a lot, so I figured ah what the heck, let's give it a try. (Plus a friend of mine's new PC in our RPGs was of Roland's lineage, so I thought this would be fun to try out). Overall, not bad. Roland's got magical powers and is a relation of Merlin's. There is a big Grail quest, and lots of Grail lore that I thought worked out fine. Nothing earth shattering going on here, but enjoyable enough.
Book #15: The Iron King by Maurice Druon - This is another in the 'read ALL the source material for ASoIaF' initiative. Well ok, that's really not possible, so this is part of my 'read ALL the source material for ASoIaF that GRRM says is source material for ASoIaF'. Having gone through Costain's meditations on the Plantagents, I decided to check out Druon's books for the French side of things. As despite my many, many readings of English history, I don't know much of the French side of what happened. So this book is a French translation about the latter part of the reign of Philip the Fair, contemporary of Edward I and II of England. Philip is responsible for the destruction of the Knights Templar and the relocation of the papal court to Avingnon. I can see why GRRM lists these novels as an inspiration for ASoIaF because there is a LOT of court intrigue going on. Affairs and curses and traps and all sorts of fun stuff. Bonus being this is all historical! I am interested in continuing on with this series.
Book #16: The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham - The 3rd book in Abraham's Coin and Dagger series. Things are definitely ramping up. Geder has launched the Spider Cult in other countries he is busily invading and is just becoming more and more reprehensible. And you can tell that deep, deep down he knows this, or at least this is why I assume he's allowed Jory to re-enter court life despite the treason his father committed? Or perhaps it is just selfishness in that Jory was always nice to Geder. I don't know. I think the best though is that Clara has become a one-woman resistance force, reaching out to anyone who might be able to help wrest the country away from Geder. Cithrin becomes more of a major player, but in trying to use Geder's love for her to help others, she's just placed herself in a very dangerous predicament. We know Geder is very big on revenge. And we also have West's quest to find a way to destroy the Spider Cult. While it initially ends in disappointment, a VERY game-changing discovery is made later. Abraham keeps everything moving forward very nicely. And I'm glad he gets one of these books out pretty quickly.
Book #17: Becoming Shakespeare by Jack Lynch - A very interesting look at how Shakespeare's plays survived through the ages, allowing for the 'cult' of Shakespeare we have now. He examines different publications of the plays, and a very good look at productions through the years and how the plays were changed or adapted for the times they were shown in, and even how today we don't get the 'pure' Shakespeare we've tricked ourselves into thinking we do, mainly because there wasn't really a 'pure' Shakespeare to begin with.
Boook #18: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King - Yes, I am a masochist who went back to the world of the Dark Tower. But as this was another book telling a tale from Roland's past, I thought I'd try it. I'm fond of Dark Tower books where half the main characters don't show up much. This was one of them. It's also an interesting narrative, since King is telling a story within a story, and I liked that aspect of it. It doesn't have the same emotional weight that Wizards and Glass had, but overall, this was a nice re-visit with the Dark Tower. It takes some of the bad taste that was left in my mouth after finishing the series away.
Book #19: The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick - Historical Arthur is a bit of a douchecanoe, but I'll let it go. There's no magic, no Lancelot... yeah, the elements I like best in my Arthurian legends are not here.
Book #20: Pendragon's Banner by Helen Hollick - See above.
Book # 21: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - Wow I enjoyed this book. Blew right through it. A lovely, charming, sad and even suspenseful tale of immigration to NYC, but told through the eyes of two fantastic creatures from other worlds; a djinn and a golem. They both find themselves in turn of the century NYC alone and very, very lost. The jinni is a magnificent, selfish and restless creature, trapped centuries before, only to be reawakened by a lowly tin-smith in the Arab speaking portion of NYC. The golem, created to be a perfect wife for a man who dies on the voyage over, has no master, no one to truly serve, and she is lost and vulnerable without one. The two creatures try to fit in, but they find it so difficult to, and once they find each other, they see they can be themselves, but their natures are so very different, and theirs is still a tumultuous relationship. Throw into this mix the creator of the golem trying to find her and you also have a wonderful villain in the mix. I highly recommend this one.
Book # 14: Kingdom of the Grail by Judith Tarr - I'd read another book of hers way back when, it was about King John I of England and how he wasn't actually a huge jerk, just misunderstood. It was ok, but I sure didn't love it. I saw this book in a used bookstore and of course went Grail! Arthur! So let's just say I was a little surprised when reading the cover blurb that no, not Arthur... Roland? Hmm ok then. I don't really know too much about the whole Roland, Charlamange tales. I know a little, but not a lot, so I figured ah what the heck, let's give it a try. (Plus a friend of mine's new PC in our RPGs was of Roland's lineage, so I thought this would be fun to try out). Overall, not bad. Roland's got magical powers and is a relation of Merlin's. There is a big Grail quest, and lots of Grail lore that I thought worked out fine. Nothing earth shattering going on here, but enjoyable enough.
Book #15: The Iron King by Maurice Druon - This is another in the 'read ALL the source material for ASoIaF' initiative. Well ok, that's really not possible, so this is part of my 'read ALL the source material for ASoIaF that GRRM says is source material for ASoIaF'. Having gone through Costain's meditations on the Plantagents, I decided to check out Druon's books for the French side of things. As despite my many, many readings of English history, I don't know much of the French side of what happened. So this book is a French translation about the latter part of the reign of Philip the Fair, contemporary of Edward I and II of England. Philip is responsible for the destruction of the Knights Templar and the relocation of the papal court to Avingnon. I can see why GRRM lists these novels as an inspiration for ASoIaF because there is a LOT of court intrigue going on. Affairs and curses and traps and all sorts of fun stuff. Bonus being this is all historical! I am interested in continuing on with this series.
Book #16: The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham - The 3rd book in Abraham's Coin and Dagger series. Things are definitely ramping up. Geder has launched the Spider Cult in other countries he is busily invading and is just becoming more and more reprehensible. And you can tell that deep, deep down he knows this, or at least this is why I assume he's allowed Jory to re-enter court life despite the treason his father committed? Or perhaps it is just selfishness in that Jory was always nice to Geder. I don't know. I think the best though is that Clara has become a one-woman resistance force, reaching out to anyone who might be able to help wrest the country away from Geder. Cithrin becomes more of a major player, but in trying to use Geder's love for her to help others, she's just placed herself in a very dangerous predicament. We know Geder is very big on revenge. And we also have West's quest to find a way to destroy the Spider Cult. While it initially ends in disappointment, a VERY game-changing discovery is made later. Abraham keeps everything moving forward very nicely. And I'm glad he gets one of these books out pretty quickly.
Book #17: Becoming Shakespeare by Jack Lynch - A very interesting look at how Shakespeare's plays survived through the ages, allowing for the 'cult' of Shakespeare we have now. He examines different publications of the plays, and a very good look at productions through the years and how the plays were changed or adapted for the times they were shown in, and even how today we don't get the 'pure' Shakespeare we've tricked ourselves into thinking we do, mainly because there wasn't really a 'pure' Shakespeare to begin with.
Boook #18: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King - Yes, I am a masochist who went back to the world of the Dark Tower. But as this was another book telling a tale from Roland's past, I thought I'd try it. I'm fond of Dark Tower books where half the main characters don't show up much. This was one of them. It's also an interesting narrative, since King is telling a story within a story, and I liked that aspect of it. It doesn't have the same emotional weight that Wizards and Glass had, but overall, this was a nice re-visit with the Dark Tower. It takes some of the bad taste that was left in my mouth after finishing the series away.
Book #19: The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick - Historical Arthur is a bit of a douchecanoe, but I'll let it go. There's no magic, no Lancelot... yeah, the elements I like best in my Arthurian legends are not here.
Book #20: Pendragon's Banner by Helen Hollick - See above.
Book # 21: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - Wow I enjoyed this book. Blew right through it. A lovely, charming, sad and even suspenseful tale of immigration to NYC, but told through the eyes of two fantastic creatures from other worlds; a djinn and a golem. They both find themselves in turn of the century NYC alone and very, very lost. The jinni is a magnificent, selfish and restless creature, trapped centuries before, only to be reawakened by a lowly tin-smith in the Arab speaking portion of NYC. The golem, created to be a perfect wife for a man who dies on the voyage over, has no master, no one to truly serve, and she is lost and vulnerable without one. The two creatures try to fit in, but they find it so difficult to, and once they find each other, they see they can be themselves, but their natures are so very different, and theirs is still a tumultuous relationship. Throw into this mix the creator of the golem trying to find her and you also have a wonderful villain in the mix. I highly recommend this one.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
To the Top of the Tower. Finally.
Book # 31: The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
Holy crap, I'm done. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. It's such a freaking relief. Ok, well there is actually one more book, more in the vein of Wizards and Glass, but I don't have the strength to continue on anymore. I just need a break from these books and from Stephen King in general.
But when it comes right down to it, I honestly don't know what to say about this beast. There were times when I hated it vehemently, and times where I was just not liking it, and times when I was apathetic towards it.
At one certain point, I had to put the book down and walk away from it I was so angry at Stephen King. The whole him as a character in his own work trope was getting more out of hand in this book, and then he took it to an incredibly maddening extreme, and I had to question whether or not I even wanted to continue.
But I did.
The ending? Meh. How very tilting at windmills of you Stephen.
When new characters are added with obvious deus ex machina powers, you can immediately see how they're going to shake out. And I was right.
The showdown with Mordred? How very anticlimactic. I was expecting something grand and Arthurian. No. Not really.
Susannha's 'reunion'? That didn't leave me happy. Although not that I really wanted to be. Hate that character, so her being happy at the end wasn't really a thing for me. But these aren't the same people she had all those adventures with. They don't share those experiences with her or one another. So no, it didn't hit that Lost chord with me at all there. It didn't hit a chord with me at all.
The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
I'm done following. Thankee sai.
Holy crap, I'm done. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. It's such a freaking relief. Ok, well there is actually one more book, more in the vein of Wizards and Glass, but I don't have the strength to continue on anymore. I just need a break from these books and from Stephen King in general.
But when it comes right down to it, I honestly don't know what to say about this beast. There were times when I hated it vehemently, and times where I was just not liking it, and times when I was apathetic towards it.
At one certain point, I had to put the book down and walk away from it I was so angry at Stephen King. The whole him as a character in his own work trope was getting more out of hand in this book, and then he took it to an incredibly maddening extreme, and I had to question whether or not I even wanted to continue.
But I did.
The ending? Meh. How very tilting at windmills of you Stephen.
When new characters are added with obvious deus ex machina powers, you can immediately see how they're going to shake out. And I was right.
The showdown with Mordred? How very anticlimactic. I was expecting something grand and Arthurian. No. Not really.
Susannha's 'reunion'? That didn't leave me happy. Although not that I really wanted to be. Hate that character, so her being happy at the end wasn't really a thing for me. But these aren't the same people she had all those adventures with. They don't share those experiences with her or one another. So no, it didn't hit that Lost chord with me at all there. It didn't hit a chord with me at all.
The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
I'm done following. Thankee sai.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Dark Tower VI
Book # 28 - Song of Susannah by Stephen King
What can I say? Perhaps, since I'd been forewarned of the ridiculousness of this book, I didn't end up wanting to throw this one across the room as much as I did with the Wolves of Calla. Surprised? Me too :)
Yes, I got to the ridiculousness and it was VERY ridiculous, but I guess that after my dissatisfaction with Wolves, I couldn't really be surprised by anything that King pulled anymore. So that made it easier to get through this.
Also surprising? I felt this one moved along at a pretty decent clip. There was the very nice gunfight Eddie and Roland had immediately upon arrival back in their world. I was good with that. And I liked Callahan and Jake as the other buddy cop couple. Their brush with Black Thirteen waking up was pretty awesome. Oh, and that street preacher who shows up twice? Loved him. Don't know why, but I thought him grand.
But yes of course, there was an awful lot of Susannah/Mia/Detta blah blah blah. I know it was kinda the point of the book, but could've gotten there faster. And with less her talking to herself. Ugh.
Also, that turtle she finds? Didn't like the deus ex machina aspect to it. I kinda wanted to see her struggle a bit with having to be in modern day New York, but the turtle took that aspect out of it immediately. Meh.
So perversely, even though I expected to absolutely despise this book more than the last one, it's actually energized me enough to move onto the final act in this huge ass play. Onto the Dark Tower.
What can I say? Perhaps, since I'd been forewarned of the ridiculousness of this book, I didn't end up wanting to throw this one across the room as much as I did with the Wolves of Calla. Surprised? Me too :)
Yes, I got to the ridiculousness and it was VERY ridiculous, but I guess that after my dissatisfaction with Wolves, I couldn't really be surprised by anything that King pulled anymore. So that made it easier to get through this.
Also surprising? I felt this one moved along at a pretty decent clip. There was the very nice gunfight Eddie and Roland had immediately upon arrival back in their world. I was good with that. And I liked Callahan and Jake as the other buddy cop couple. Their brush with Black Thirteen waking up was pretty awesome. Oh, and that street preacher who shows up twice? Loved him. Don't know why, but I thought him grand.
But yes of course, there was an awful lot of Susannah/Mia/Detta blah blah blah. I know it was kinda the point of the book, but could've gotten there faster. And with less her talking to herself. Ugh.
Also, that turtle she finds? Didn't like the deus ex machina aspect to it. I kinda wanted to see her struggle a bit with having to be in modern day New York, but the turtle took that aspect out of it immediately. Meh.
So perversely, even though I expected to absolutely despise this book more than the last one, it's actually energized me enough to move onto the final act in this huge ass play. Onto the Dark Tower.
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Dark Tower V
Book number 24 - The Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
Good lordy this one took me forever to finish. It wasn't that I was disliking it or anything... I just kept finding other things to do besides reading it.
In fact, I kinda liked the whole Seven Samurai, Magnificent Seven vibe throughout most of it. And bringing back a character from a much earlier novel of King's? Very interesting.
Yes I wasn't minding this book until the end....
The Wolves are Doombots armed with light sabres and explosive golden snitches????
WTF???
Just... no.
Good lordy this one took me forever to finish. It wasn't that I was disliking it or anything... I just kept finding other things to do besides reading it.
In fact, I kinda liked the whole Seven Samurai, Magnificent Seven vibe throughout most of it. And bringing back a character from a much earlier novel of King's? Very interesting.
Yes I wasn't minding this book until the end....
The Wolves are Doombots armed with light sabres and explosive golden snitches????
WTF???
Just... no.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Dark Tower IV
Book #23 - Wizards and Glass by Stephen King.
This has definitely been my favourite of the series so far, I really enjoyed Roland's backstory as a freshly minted gunslinger, out in the wide world, and his meeting of his love Susan. Obviously I knew it was going to end badly, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story as it unfolded. To me all the characters in Mejis felt more fully actualized than either Eddie or Susannah, and I resented it whenever we made a brief interlude to go back to that bunch. It was very important to meet Susan, Cuthbert and Alain (again for the latter too) as this story does so much to humanize Roland. The western touches, the post-apocalyptic touches, the fantasy touches... they were all blended together quite masterfully...
Which made me really go WTF when we returned to the 'modern' ka-tet and they ended up in a parody of a well-known tale... it felt really heavy handed. I think if it had been a little more subtely presented (ie not all the characters going instantly 'oh we're in such and such), I might have enjoyed it more. Now, I'm not saying King's the most subtle of writers, he's not, but this felt clumsy even for him.
However, the awkward ending didn't diminish what I really did like about this novel, and I'm all for more Roland flashbacks in the future.
This has definitely been my favourite of the series so far, I really enjoyed Roland's backstory as a freshly minted gunslinger, out in the wide world, and his meeting of his love Susan. Obviously I knew it was going to end badly, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story as it unfolded. To me all the characters in Mejis felt more fully actualized than either Eddie or Susannah, and I resented it whenever we made a brief interlude to go back to that bunch. It was very important to meet Susan, Cuthbert and Alain (again for the latter too) as this story does so much to humanize Roland. The western touches, the post-apocalyptic touches, the fantasy touches... they were all blended together quite masterfully...
Which made me really go WTF when we returned to the 'modern' ka-tet and they ended up in a parody of a well-known tale... it felt really heavy handed. I think if it had been a little more subtely presented (ie not all the characters going instantly 'oh we're in such and such), I might have enjoyed it more. Now, I'm not saying King's the most subtle of writers, he's not, but this felt clumsy even for him.
However, the awkward ending didn't diminish what I really did like about this novel, and I'm all for more Roland flashbacks in the future.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Dark Tower III
50 Book Challenge, Book #22 - The Waste Lands by Stephen King
For me, this book did not start cooking until Jake made his appearance again. And if he hadn't, I probably would've quit this series by now. Eddie and Susannah do nothing for me as characters. I like Roland, but if it had been just the three of them for ever and ever in this series... bah.
Once Jake enters again, the story just comes alive and I found myself invested again. Maybe its because I've always found that King has a talent for writing children, and Jake was interesting enough in his brief Gunslinger appearance that it's great to have him back. His escape back into Roland's world was such an incredible scene.
I really liked the stuff in the city too, even the introduction of Blaine (although I see how that is going to annoy me if it goes on too long. A pain indeed)
Just a few things that caught my attention:
- Another reference to the works of Richard Adams. Both Shardik and Watership Down this time. (King made heavy reference to Watership Down in The Stand as well. I find this interesting since that book about bunnies is a very favourite of mine)
- So we have a John Chambers (called Jake though) and an Andrew Quick. My nerd brain is turning this over a lot. lol
- I want an Oy.
Something about Wizards next I believe?
For me, this book did not start cooking until Jake made his appearance again. And if he hadn't, I probably would've quit this series by now. Eddie and Susannah do nothing for me as characters. I like Roland, but if it had been just the three of them for ever and ever in this series... bah.
Once Jake enters again, the story just comes alive and I found myself invested again. Maybe its because I've always found that King has a talent for writing children, and Jake was interesting enough in his brief Gunslinger appearance that it's great to have him back. His escape back into Roland's world was such an incredible scene.
I really liked the stuff in the city too, even the introduction of Blaine (although I see how that is going to annoy me if it goes on too long. A pain indeed)
Just a few things that caught my attention:
- Another reference to the works of Richard Adams. Both Shardik and Watership Down this time. (King made heavy reference to Watership Down in The Stand as well. I find this interesting since that book about bunnies is a very favourite of mine)
- So we have a John Chambers (called Jake though) and an Andrew Quick. My nerd brain is turning this over a lot. lol
- I want an Oy.
Something about Wizards next I believe?
Friday, June 15, 2012
Dark Tower II
50 Book Challenge, Book #21 - The Drawing of Three by Stephen King
I usually remember at least something about a book I've previously read but in this case... wow. Nada. It's pretty much like I've never read it before. Which is fine.
But I wonder if this lack of any recall is linked to why I've been... searching for what to say about it since I read it last night.
It's not that I didn't like it. I liked it well enough. But I'm still not... sold I guess. I think it's interesting that King took the oh so well worn fantasy (and western) trope of travelling and made it, weird. Not weird in a bad way mind you.
So Roland has some pretty serious problems right off the bat, and it really is only the forays into our world through the doors he discovers, that saves his life. Fine. He needs to assemble his group. All fantasy characters need a pre-destined group and even lone gunslingers need a posse now and then. Eddie's a fine character although man, his so obviously written in the 80s dialog did grate on my nerves once in awhile, but I can't hold that against the book since it was written in the 80s. I'll get over it. I'm wondering if I'm going to find the whole Odetta/Detta/Susanna thing problematic or not. Guess I'll see.
But what did I enjoy? I like Roland's bad-assedness despite everything he was going through. Detta's right, he is a mean honky mahfuh. Also... so glad the diminishing ammunition thing was addressed. Cause I've been wondering about that since the beginning of the gunslinger. It's the little things that really should be huge things that count, and I was pleased King knew this.
So... onward again.
I usually remember at least something about a book I've previously read but in this case... wow. Nada. It's pretty much like I've never read it before. Which is fine.
But I wonder if this lack of any recall is linked to why I've been... searching for what to say about it since I read it last night.
It's not that I didn't like it. I liked it well enough. But I'm still not... sold I guess. I think it's interesting that King took the oh so well worn fantasy (and western) trope of travelling and made it, weird. Not weird in a bad way mind you.
So Roland has some pretty serious problems right off the bat, and it really is only the forays into our world through the doors he discovers, that saves his life. Fine. He needs to assemble his group. All fantasy characters need a pre-destined group and even lone gunslingers need a posse now and then. Eddie's a fine character although man, his so obviously written in the 80s dialog did grate on my nerves once in awhile, but I can't hold that against the book since it was written in the 80s. I'll get over it. I'm wondering if I'm going to find the whole Odetta/Detta/Susanna thing problematic or not. Guess I'll see.
But what did I enjoy? I like Roland's bad-assedness despite everything he was going through. Detta's right, he is a mean honky mahfuh. Also... so glad the diminishing ammunition thing was addressed. Cause I've been wondering about that since the beginning of the gunslinger. It's the little things that really should be huge things that count, and I was pleased King knew this.
So... onward again.
Saturday, June 09, 2012
The Dark Tower begins
50 Book Challenge: Book #20 - The Gunslinger by Stephen King
First off, this is a re-read. I know I don't usually count these on this blog, but I originally read this book way back when I was 14 or 15. I still have my copy of it, so that's the one I have read (I have read a few summaries of the revisions that King made to the story later, but I'll probably have to recheck those). I read this and the next book of the Dark Tower series... and then never went on. But at this point, I remember only a little of the Gunslinger and absolutely nothing of the Drawing of Three... so it might as well be a new read.
I'm not sure why I didn't continue. I realize that in university I burnt out on Stephen King and after a few books I didn't really like that much, I read the expanded version of The Stand and then no more Stephen King till... well now. And I would not have picked this book up had it not been for Evan, Dave, Ian and a few other friends pressuring me to do so :)
So... the Gunslinger. It starts off with an amazing opening line, and is one of the few things I remembered from way back. "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Perfect. Just perfect. For an author who can sometimes run off at the mouth, that's a beautifully succinct opening line.
King does some great world building here. I remember wondering if this is post-apocalyptic or alternate earth or what? Everything's just close enough but that different to make you wonder.
He does some nice high fantasy touches into this epic fantasy western. The training of the gunslingers and how they seem to live separately, the rituals of the gunslingers, and of course the demons and magic and whatnot. It actually all fits in nicely because once again, the setting is just that different from ours.
At this point, the character of Roland is a little too stock, tough guy, knight errant type thing, but Jake is an interesting addition. I'd forgotten how affecting the story of his life and death was.
First off, this is a re-read. I know I don't usually count these on this blog, but I originally read this book way back when I was 14 or 15. I still have my copy of it, so that's the one I have read (I have read a few summaries of the revisions that King made to the story later, but I'll probably have to recheck those). I read this and the next book of the Dark Tower series... and then never went on. But at this point, I remember only a little of the Gunslinger and absolutely nothing of the Drawing of Three... so it might as well be a new read.
I'm not sure why I didn't continue. I realize that in university I burnt out on Stephen King and after a few books I didn't really like that much, I read the expanded version of The Stand and then no more Stephen King till... well now. And I would not have picked this book up had it not been for Evan, Dave, Ian and a few other friends pressuring me to do so :)
So... the Gunslinger. It starts off with an amazing opening line, and is one of the few things I remembered from way back. "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Perfect. Just perfect. For an author who can sometimes run off at the mouth, that's a beautifully succinct opening line.
King does some great world building here. I remember wondering if this is post-apocalyptic or alternate earth or what? Everything's just close enough but that different to make you wonder.
He does some nice high fantasy touches into this epic fantasy western. The training of the gunslingers and how they seem to live separately, the rituals of the gunslingers, and of course the demons and magic and whatnot. It actually all fits in nicely because once again, the setting is just that different from ours.
At this point, the character of Roland is a little too stock, tough guy, knight errant type thing, but Jake is an interesting addition. I'd forgotten how affecting the story of his life and death was.
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