The Dark Tower
One of the perks of a long vacation is that you finally get the chance to read. By reading, i do not mean looking at words, merely digesting the sentence but not truly drawn into the tale. Notes are not read; they are digested. Cases are not read; they are understood. News is not read; it is disseminated.
The impetus is different. The feel is different.
And i just want to add that Stephen King’s Dark Tower series is awesome. Its been a long time since i’ve read for recreation and an even longer time since i’ve been so captivated. I read 5 books back to back for almost 2 straight months. And for once, i was a voracious reading, feeling that emotion when you are truly spellbound by a novel.
For Stephen King’s Constant Reader, it is a riveting journey. Though i’ve not read all of his novels, i’ve read enough (by my estimation at least 75% of his works) to be counted as a fan. And the 7 books of the Dark Tower ranks as his magnum opus, a brilliant epic and exhausting piece of fiction that enthralls. I read the first 2 books of the Dark Tower somewhere between 2000-2002. But i did not continue reading the rest of the books. Why? because at that time, King had not finished his epic series. The first book of the series, Gunslinger was started in 1970. The seven books took more than 30 years to finish, during which King would become a prolific writer. But the Dark Tower was King’s pet project, his impetus as it was. But when i first read The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower series was not complete, and i did not have the desire to read a series with no ending.
And so it would not be several years later that i would finally pick up King’s Dark Tower series and continue from Book 3 all the way to his final, brilliant ending in book 7. By my estimation, its at least 10,000 pages, far longer than if were to read Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings straight. In fact, the entire series is probably equal to about the length of LOTR x 3.
And once it draws you in, its pull is inexorable, magical even. And yes, you MUST read it in order. Skipping any volume is not at all reccomended, and if you try to start with Book 7 you will be hopelessly lost. And King fans who have read his other books will see the connections to the Dark Tower, and how many of the books he has written all these years have links to the main Dark Tower canon. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
So begins the first line of Gunslinger, and with that pithy line, i was drawn into the adventures of Roland of Gilead, and his ka-tet.
And lastly, should my rambling lose you, there is only one point i am trying to make: The Dark Tower is a brilliant piece of fiction.
And i leave you with the first paragraph of Gunslinger (extended excerpt found here) :
CHAPTER ONE
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions. It was white and blinding and waterless and without feature save for the faint, cloudy haze of the mountains which sketched themselves on the horizon and the devil-grass which brought sweet dreams, nightmares, death. An occasional tombstone sign pointed the way, for once the drifted track that cut its way through the thick crust of alkali had been a highway. Coaches and buckas had followed it. The world had moved on since then. The world had emptied.
