I've put off reading Stephen King's The Gunslinger for years. Everyone told me how good it was. But I didn't want to get bogged down in the huge Dark Tower series, so I never bothered to start it. But now that the movie is coming out this summer, I figured I should actually get my act together and read it.
The Gunslinger is the story of the last gunslinger chasing the man in black across the desert. We don't even learn the gunslinger's name until about halfway through the book (which seemed a bit odd to me). The gunslinger has been chasing the man in black for a long time, but is finally catching up to him. Along the way, the gunslinger meets some people and tells them stories about his past.
The atmosphere and worldbuilding of the book is great, particularly in the early chapters. And I was a fan of King's writing (minus the absurd number of references to the gunslinger's genitals - that seemed really weird as it kept going on through the whole book, especially since it came up pretty randomly - like not as he was having sex or something, but when he was like shooting monsters). But I had a really hard time connecting with the story, particularly in the latter half of the book (a boy from our world finds himself in the gunslinger's world; the two of them chase the man in black together). It was around page 200-250 where I knew I wasn't really interested in reading more of the series (and honestly wasn't too interested in finishing it but I persevered). Of course the book ends in a spot perfect for the sequel. But I still don't feel very interested in continuing (and actually feel less interested in seeing the movie now that I read the book).
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