7/24/2023 0 Comments Dark tower seriesThen, there was a 6-year wait for the fourth title and another 6-year wait before King came back to finish out the series with the final three books in 20. The second and third titles came out in 19, respectively. King wrote new books in the series in spurts over that twenty-two-year span. The seventh and final book was published in 2004. The first book in The Dark Tower series hit bookstands in 1982. (If you are losing sleep over the much-promised publication date for the next book in the Game of Thrones saga, you know this consternation well.) By that, I mean there are really long gaps between several of the titles in the series, which was the cause of considerable consternation for the readers who started reading back when the first book was published. I will get into all of the reasons why I love the audiobook narration of this series in a moment, but first I should explain some of the background behind the publication of the series and the production of the corresponding audiobooks, because it’s a little messy.įirst, if you are new to this series, you should understand that Stephen King took a bit of a George R.R. I can’t read any part of The Dark Tower series without hearing the voices of George Guidall and Frank Muller in my head. But at the center of it all is the Tower and Roland’s relentless quest to ascend its heights. It is a massive universe, crossing terrifying voids to journey between countless parallel worlds and shifting timelines. There are references and connections to The Dark Tower scattered all across the King-verse, from The Stand to It to Salem’s Lot and on and on. King’s original wish to create his own epic saga grew over the course of writing the seven-plus books in the series into an all-encompassing world-building that would bleed out (sometimes fairly literally) into all of King’s work. If you hear echoes of Tolkien and Sergio Leone in all of this, you are right on the money. By the time you are finished with this journey, you count yourself a member this ka-tet. Described by Roland as “one from many,” this is a group brought together and bound by fate for a specific purpose (in this case, that universe-rescuing quest mentioned earlier). Stephen King introduces the term “ka-tet” to explain a specific version of family that grows out of his struggle. And, indeed, much of the story in The Dark Tower is involved with Roland’s struggle to let other people into his world, to accept help, and seek human connection. Solitude is one of the key products of an obsession like Roland’s. There are two people mentioned in that opening sentence, but it is clear they are both very much alone. This is ostensibly part of a larger quest, to save all of existence, as personified by the titular Tower, from nefarious destruction (not too much to ask, I’m sure). He wants to catch the man in black, and he wants to kill him. As you might expect for a character of such renown, Roland is engaged in a singular quest. The gunslinger mentioned is Roland Deschain, the last living member of a famed order of gunslingers descended from the line of Arther Eld. This opening sentence from the first book of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King tells you much of what you need to know about the story you are going to encounter. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
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