The Gunslinger – Stephen King

The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.

This may be the greatest opening of a story ever penned, and the questions is raises work as the core questions of the story itself. Who is the man in black? Who is the gunslinger? What has happened between the two for the chase to continue in one of the most desolate places in the world?

Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, is pursuing Walter, the man in black. The story implies that this has been going on for hundreds of years, maybe more. It is hard to tell as the world has moved on from such simple constructs as time.

Roland’s journey takes him from Tull, to the Mohaine Desert, before finally resting at the Western Sea. Along the way there is massacre, betrayal, and palaver.  This story marks the opening of the wider Dark Tower tale, but the gunslinger stands alone very well.

Horror:  The horror of this tale more fit within the Weirdness category, but there are elements of the wider post-apocalyptic background that verge into horror. The resurrection of Nort and the secret of death that is held over Allie, mutant livestock, and the slow muties. 4/10

Embodiedness: While the narrative is third person, it is very close to Roland. King manages to let the reader sit very close to his body and all five sense are used to full effect. I was genuinely surprised at how close I felt to Roland. 7/10

Weirdness: The world has moved on. And this world is very much a weird western. Talking birds, Sorcerer’s resurrecting the town drunk, The creature beneath the waystation, the speaking ring, and the final palaver with Walter ticked reality very much into unreality, further dialled up when viewed through Roland’s simple worldview. 8/10

Narrative Complexity: The story manages a careful balance of flashbacks interweaved with the main tale, but never in a way that bogs down the reader. Each progresses the story in a way that gives insight into each character, while still keeping the urgency of the ticking clock of running down Walter. 7/10

HEWN: Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the reread of this story after a couple of decades and a wide body of the pulp cannon. The story, while novel length at ~60k words was frenetic during its action and measured during the scenes of contemplation. It delighted me with some of its weird elements, especially at the Waystation and under the Cyclopean mountains. 26/40.