I read “The Gunslinger”, the first book of “The Dark Tower” series by Stephen King.  I have always loved Stephen King.  His vocabulary, figurative language, and imagery are amazing.  After seeing the movie adaptation over the summer, I wanted to read the book.

I found the series in the James C. Kirkpatrick library by looking it up on the library website, and immediately went over to get “The Gunslinger” when the library opened. There are eight books total in the series.  I’m currently on the second one.

Like a lot of books, it was almost completely different from the movie. I think the movie might have combined all of the books instead of making it about one.  The first book starts with a man named Roland who is from a different dimension, where there is a tower at the center of the universe that protects all of the different worlds and galaxies. The villain in the story, the Man in Black wants to destroy the tower and take over all of the galaxies. Roland is a gunslinger who protects the Dark Tower from the Man in Black and other threats.  He is the last gunslinger and the only one who can defeat the Man in Black.

Roland meets a boy named Jake, who mysteriously wakes up in Roland’s world, and doesn’t remember how he got there.  Jake agrees to help him defeat the Man in Black and help him save his world and many others. They’re trying to get to the Dark Tower before the Man in Black reaches it.  Along the way, they get into trouble with different creatures in Roland’s world and also the Man in Black’s forces.

The movie combines all of the books together.  At the start of book two, there is another evil sorcerer called the Crimson King who also wants to destroy the tower.  There is also a scene in the movie where Roland is teaching Jake the Gunslinger’s Creed, whereas in the book, there is not a creed.

You can’t judge a book by its movie-both the movie and the book were equally good.  There is a lot of action in both, and Stephen King is such a good writer, his books are like movies all by themselves. The way he describes things really paints a good picture in your mind.  I love his word choice and vocabulary.  The action scenes in the book where Roland is using his guns are really suspenseful.  He shoots so well that he only needs to shoot once.

Even though I’m on the second out of the eight books, it’s a lot different from other Stephen King books I have read. Stephen King has written many horror and coming-of-age stories, but I have never read a science fiction book by him.  If you like adventure, action, and science fiction, this series has what you’re looking for.