The Five Faces of THE GUNSLINGER

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😍

King is clearly influenced by Sergio Leone's films and in particular The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Roland is his Clint Eastwood and several scenes are written in a way fitting a Leone spaghetti western. Those parts are easy to enjoy for those who have seen and like Leone's films.

😃

The final chapter, the confrontation between the Gunslinger and the Man in Black, is the only truly fascinating part. By that time I was so desperate to finish the book that I had stopped caring about the characters' motivations.

😐

In a desperate attempt to mimic Tolkien (which King himself admits to in the introduction), the language in the book is oftentimes unnecessarily difficult and overly complicated.

King constantly throws in new concepts related to his fantasy world without properly explaining what they are. It's like we're supposed to know his world from before.

The Gunslinger is plagued by a very slow start, feeling like it's basic premise never goes anywhere. It feels like the entire book is one oversized introduction to the rest of the series.

King has a vision for his world but unfortunately, he doesn't find a way to put that vision on paper efficiently. He throws in all of his ideas at the same time without explaining them properly.

☹️

The overly intricate descriptions hide the fact that the book has a very thin plot that barely develops and never turns interesting. It tries to forge interesting characters, but only manages to make them feel frustrating.

I'm not the kind of reader who skips portions of a book due to it being so frustrating to read. This novel is an exception though. Some parts are so sluggish and complicated to plow through, so I just had to skip them.

Jake follows Roland on his journey, but my God is he one of the most annoying supporting characters I have ever come across.

🤮

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The Final Face: ☹️ ( )

Pretentiös kiosklitteratur skulle man kunna kalla Stephen Kings "The Gunslinger"; och då är det en vänlig bedömning. Boken höjer sig över tonårslåsningarna och tonårspretentionerna ett par gånger i fascinerande tillbakablickar och moment som låter ana något om civilisationens sammanfall. Det är allt som räddar det från ett än värre omdöme.
Men tyvärr börjar den som en enormt usel westernfilm (ett B-manus som försöker fånga stämningen från "Den gode, den onde, den fule") och därpå följer den kåte tonåringens hela fördomsregister med ständiga penishänvisningar, "manlig" uppfostran, bultande skrev osv. Det är tröttande, ointressant och rent ut sagt uselt. Försöken till filosofisk spänst i slutkapitlet gör bara det hela mer sorgligt.
Trots allt detta finns där samtidigt ett frö av något storartat bakom pretentionerna. Frågan är bara om jag verkligen kommer att köpa bok 2 i serien för att se om fröet ger resultat... ( )