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  • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

  • By: Stephen King
  • Narrated by: George Guidall
  • Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (4,178 ratings)
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The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger cover art

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: George Guidall
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Summary

Stephen King's epic fantasy series, The Dark Tower, is being made into a major movie starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. Due in cinemas February 17, 2017 USA.

In this first novel in his epic fantasy masterpiece, Stephen King introduces listeners to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner, on a spellbinding journey into good and evil, in a desolate world which frighteningly echoes our own.

In his first step towards the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, Roland encounters an alluring woman named Alice, begins a friendship with Jake, a kid from New York, and faces an agonising choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black.

Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves listeners eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

And the Tower is closer....

©1982 Stephen King (P)2003 Penguin Audiobooks

What listeners say about The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    2,091
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    1,136
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  • 1 Stars
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    921
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

This is why other performances rarely get 5 stars

What made the experience of listening to The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger the most enjoyable?

The narrator's voice

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger?

The shoot-out at Tulle

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Enjoy is a somewhat strange word for a book with as much violence as this one, but given those parameters: when Roland the boy challenged Cort.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

In a dried-out world, a gunslinger meets a destiny grander and more scaring than he had dared imagine.

Any additional comments?

The narrator is top class, and he has a decent crooner singing voice to boot. More books read by this guy!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Rambling nonsense

This is several hours of my life I will never get back.
From start to finish its a rambling nonsense with pointless dialogue and random occurrences that have no bearing on the story, weak as it is, as a whole.

I found it very hard to follow any of the narrative. Its just a jumble of surreal descriptions that make very little sense. I had no interest in the bizarre characters or the dream like world in which the book is set.

The overall story arc is very suspect and after five hours of listening I had to give up. The final straw came when a row of buildings were described as, 'The scent of cinnamon in late October.' I dont care if it was written by the great Stephen King, that description is nonsense.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unnecessarily convoluted

Well read but a meandering confusing mess most of the time..... I stuck with it because of other reviewers suggestion that I do. I will also try the second installment... If things don't improve, I'll seek returns.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Good story telling, but not my cup of tea

As expected this Stephen King's novel is written to a high standard and I really wanted to get lost into this fantasy series for hours, however this didn't happen...

It's an interesting introduction to a new world and charachters, but nothing more. The story does not progress in a fast pace, leaves you puzzled and with no answers.

Perhaps the next books in the series develop it further into an excellent fantasy series, but there was just not enough in there for me to keep me interested so I'll never know.

George Guidall's performance is good and steady. I would easily listen to his recordings again.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A true journey for the child inside of you.

Stephen king manages to take you on a journey of pure, unbridled fun from start to finish. The gunslinger is a tough but lovable man. As for the world building, King smoothly places the image of a worn-down, dust world in which you feel the true sting of every step the gunslinger has to take along his journey. The ending of the book is what makes this read for me. A true thinking man's adventure novel.

One last thing about the narrator; he is spot on the entire time and never fails to deliver on a single line, I hope that he narrates the other books in this series as I will be getting the next one ASAP.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Taster for the series

I am a massive King fan and although this does feel like a prologue, his brilliant story and plot weaving is, as usual, faultless. The climax is a wonderful mix of cliffhanger and existential poetry.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

The story begins....

Roland is following a man dressed in black. This stranger is always just out of reach, passing through the desolate towns before him. We appear to be in some sort of apocolyptic future. Roland meets a young boy Jake, and regales him with tales of his youth - how he got here and his relationship with the dark man. Will Roland and his nemesis ever meet?

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best book series in the universe- the end… or is it

It is all about the journey. I can’t, and don’t need to say anything more.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great start to the series

Well read and engaging, very easy listening with obviously a good story if you're a fan of the dark tower.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Narrator

I found myself being encapsulated by the story. The narrator pulled me in and I couldn’t stop listening.

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