2015 Reading Challenge Book 057 The Drawing of Three

TITLE-The Dark Tower II The Drawing of Three
AUTHOR Stephen King
FORMAT-Oversized Trade paperback
FIRST TIME READING-LMAO No!
PRICE-$5

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!

With this book in the Dark Tower series we get away from the world building and start expanding the main cast. Roland ends up on a beach. And gets attacked by monster lobsters. He loses a few fingers and his bullets get wet. So now he is handicapped and his one weapon's ammo is unreliable.
He learns that there are 3 doors on this beach. Each one connecting to our world. And he is going to draw three people over to his world.

Behind the first door he finds Eddie. A heroin addict who is in the middle of smuggling some smack back into the states for a big time Mafioso. During this part there is plenty of really good scenes. With the gunfight at the Mafioso's HQ being so well done.

Behind the second door Roland finds Odette. A civil rights activist who thanks to an accident is trapped in a wheelchair. But the gunslinger learns she has a split personality.

And behind the third and last door. Roland finds the man that killed Jake from the first novel.

For the people that read the Dark Tower series this is usually the first novel in the run that they really enjoy. I believe this is because the first novel while shorter was much more dense. And you spend lots of time trying to figure stuff out. With The Drawing of Three you already know a bunch about Roland's world. Plus with a good chunk of the book happening in our world. In NYC in various time periods,you have a connection and understanding that isn't there with Roland's wasteland of a world.

I own 2 versions of this book. I got the hardcover and this oversized trade paperback. Both of which come with great artwork from Phil Hale. This artwork is sadly missing from the mass market paperback. Looks like the oversized trade paperback can still be found for a decent price. I got lucky and found it at a used bookstore. The owner wanted to get rid of it because the odd size of the book made it hard for her to rack it.

The Dark Tower II The Drawing of Three gets a 4.82 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 052 The Gunslinger original edition

TITLE-The Dark Tower Volume 1 The Gunslinger
AUTHOR-Stephen King
FORMAT-Trade Paperback with color inserts
FIRST TIME READING-LOL nah
COST-$9

There is a handful of books I love so much I read them once a year. The Gunslinger is one of them.And one of the few books I own in more than one format. Of the original edition I got the above pictured trade paperback,the normal sized paperback that is missing the art inserts and finally the limited hardcover.And if a new version of this edition came out with new cover art that I liked I would buy it.

So what is the book about. Our hero,if you can call him that,is Roland. The last of the gunslingers. In this world the gunslingers are their version of the military and cops combined. He is on a mission to track down and capture the man in black. No not Johnny Cash.

In this book,the first of 9 books in the series yeah I said 9,we get introduced to Roland and his world. Which appears to be very similar to our world. With stuff that we share. But also very different. Roland comes to the town of Tull. Which appears to be an old western town. We find out that a big war happened that changed this world. And that Roland is the last of a long line of gunslingers.

Also in this book Roland saves a boy from our world. Jake,who it seems came to this world after being killed in ours.While chasing the Man in Black. Who has taken a tunnel through a mountain,Roland has to make a what seems to be hard decision. And his choice lets us know so much about how dedicated Roland is to his final mission.

For the people that haven't read this book,honestly it is a hard read. Firstly it is nothing like any of the other books in Mr King's history. It reads like you are in chapter 10 of a 50 part series.And lots of stuff is left up to the reader to figure out. That is why when ever someone tells me they are going to read the Dark Tower series,I always tell them. "Do not give up on it until you finish book 2." Hell I see lots of people saying to skip the first book. But you shouldn't do that. All the stuff in this book that makes no sense is explained later on.

As for why this is one of my favorite books? There are many reasons. There is the way King blends so many genres into the age old quest storyline. This volume of the series is a blend of western,science fiction,fantasy,horror and psychological suspense genres.

Now you might have noticed I call this the original edition. That is because back before the 7th and final volume in the series was published,King went and revised The Gunslinger. At the time he said it was to make the book fit better with the later books in the series and to correct a few nagging mistakes.And it does do that. But I also have a theory on why we now have two versions of this book. Which I can't talk about because they majorly spoil later volumes in the series and the end of the series. I think to highly of this series to spoil it for anyone that hasn't read it. But if you want to hear my theory on why we have two versions of The Gunslinger track me down and I will be happy to tell you.

The Dark Tower volume 1 The Gunslinger original edition gets a 4.98 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 015 The Dark Tower:The Gunslinger Born

2015 Reading Challenge Book 015 The Dark Tower:The Gunslinger Born written by Peter David and Robin Furth art by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove

 BOOK TITLE-The Dark Tower:The Gunslinger Born
AUTHOR-Peter David,Robin Furth and Stephen King
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$15

I love Stephen King. It was through him that I got into horror fiction. Out of all his books I love his Dark Tower series the most. Having now read the 9 books in the proper series at least 3 times each. So I heard King was letting Peter David,who I have never cared for much,and Robin Furth to write comic books that will fill in some of the gaps in the story of Roland I was really excited. Knowing that these mini series would get put out in hardcovers and trades I skipped buying the single issues. Got this beautiful hardcover in a Sci Fi Book Club sale. And since then have read the second collection. I plan on getting them all one day. But have been wanting to get them all in hardcover and all fairly cheap.

The Gunslinger Born is made up of stuff from Books 1 and 4 of the Dark Tower series. With some new stuff added in. We start off with pre-teen Roland being set up by a magician who has been sleeping with Roland's mother while his father is away. Roland finds out about his mother's affair,and this prompts him to go and take his test of manhood way ahead of time. In Roland's world the gunslingers are the closest thing they have to the knights of ancient times. And if you fail the test of manhood you are banished and leave the civilized part of the world in shame. But thanks to some quick thinking and an unusual choice of weapon Roland passes the test. And becomes the youngest gunslinger ever.

Before Roland has a chance to exact his vengeance on the man his mother has been cheating on his father with,he gets assigned a mission. Roland and 2 friends go out to Hambry. They are there to do a census on the various goods Hambry has that will help out the fight against an evil man who is trying to take over what is left of the world. They get there and find out the leader and law enforcement of Hambry are working for this evil man.Also Roland meets the love of his life.

With the Dark Tower novels my least favorite is book 4.  When it came out I had waited 5 years for the next volume of the Dark Tower series to come out. And instead of getting more adventures of Roland and his band of gunslingers in training,I get a bit of that story then the rest of the novel is a flashback of Roland's trip to Hambry. Now that the entire series is over I see why King felt the need to tell this story of Roland's past. I prefer the comic version of book 4. Cause it cuts out some of the "fat" from the novel.And you get some amazing Jae Lee artwork. I have been a fan of Mr Lee for a long ass time now. And his artwork on this series is the best stuff I have seen from him since Hellshock.

I do wonder how accessible this hardcover would be to someone that hasn't read any of the Dark Tower novels.So if anyone reading this post has read the hardcover and not the actual novels let me know what you thought.

The Dark Tower:The Gunslinger Reborn gets a 4.60 outta 5.