Justin's Notes
Oct. 7, 2026
This story follows Roland, the last Gunslinger, as he is pursuing the "Man in Black" to try and get information about the Dark Tower, the object that he is obsessed with.
This book is a weird one to talk about. I have read many people say that the first book isn't great and the series is significantly better starting at book two. Which makes sense, because this did end up just feeling like an intro. It's just an intro that really doesn't teach you a ton. It felt pretty slow, was a bit confusing at times, and was a little anti-climactic.
All that said, there are some cool and interesting things about this story. There seems to be this multi-timeline or multi-dimension aspect that intrigues me, which we know because we meet a character that is supposed to be from present-day New York (this book is from the early 80's, so present-day isn't present-day). I also like that the Dark Tower seems like it will become its own character; it's not just a location, but it's its own entity. So there are definitely some parts of this story that give me hope that the rest of the series does get good. It's just a bit of a tough start.
So ultimately, I don't recommend this to anyone that isn't planning to continue reading the series. There are some first books of series that I think hold their own that I would recommend as a standalone. This isn't one of those. If you love Stephen King and want a series that blends multiple genres of fantasy, horror, western, and more, then you should give it a shot.
