The Gunslinger

Guys. This book was soooooo boring. I swear it didn't pick up until about 90% through. This review will probably be short.

I am a hardcore Stephen King fan. I've read at least 30 of his books. And this series is supposed to be the masterpiece that links them all. Well it has a very rough start. I almost DNF'd this book. I did not care about the characters one bit. They were 2 dimensional and flat. Every single woman was sexualized in some way, even Roland's mother. Roland, The Man in Black, and Jake were all so boring and I didn't care about their lives at all.

As for the plot, I felt it was lacking. I understand leaving mystery for later in the series, but the reader was given almost no information about what was going on, which made the stakes seem nonexistent. I still don't understand what Roland needs from The Man in Black, so I didn't care if he found him or not.

The flashbacks caused the pacing to feel interminable. I just wanted some action to start, but then we would have to sit through another of Roland's flashbacks, which were boring and predictable.

The only reason this is getting 2 stars is because the ending had me interested enough (and my dedication to King's books) to continue this series. But please someone tells me it gets better...

TW: sexual harassment, rape, gun violence