The Gunslinger

Volume I · 1982

This is where it begins. The journey towards the Tower. The most absurd beginnings of any series ever. A four hundred page prologue to one of the greatest journeys no doubt, but still a four hundred page prologue? And the crow on the cover? A minor character that barely gets five minutes of screen time.

So in this book, we are introduced to Roland Deschain, a legendary cowboy knight...

...who is after an emo sorcerer.

During his chase, Roland comes across a town that has Hey Jude playing as the backing track.

Roland has sex in town and commits a genocide. Then he goes on into the desert where he meets a guy with the aforementioned crow and psychologically manipulates him into asking him about what he did in town so he could tell him how he killed everyone and how sad it made him.

Then Roland meets a depressed kid named Jake who he adopts temporarily...

...and he has sex with a demon.

In the end Roland catches up to the Man in Black (after un-adopting Jake) who shows him a vision of the universe kind of like how the Ancient One shows to Doctor Strange. The Man in Black gives Roland some cryptic advice and prophecies using Tarot cards (which by just looking at the name of the second book you can tell is going to be about Roland’s party) and Roland goes to sleep. When he wakes up, the Man in Black is dead (literal bones) and Roland is all alone. After all he went through (yeeting Jake included), he still never caught the Man in Black.

Throughout the book, there is repeated mention of the fact that Roland’s world has moved on. We see glimpses of somewhat modern technology which no one knows how to use. The world is a wasteland and the people are dying. For some reason his world reminds me of this painting by Salvador Dali:

We truly get the “I have no idea how to end this so here’s some bullshit” King in this story. He did this in Fairytale too, which was such an amazing book until the last few pages.

This is a book you have to push through. There are some highs here, mostly in the character interactions, but for the most part, it is super slow. You are wishing all the time for anything exciting to happen.

Rating: 🍌🍌

The Drawing of the Three

Volume II · 1987

People say this is the best book in the series but I have yet to finish the series, so I’ll hold on to my opinion until I complete the entire saga. It is way better than the first one definitely. This book is your reward for pushing through the first one.

In this story Roland collects his ka-tet, his party of adventurers with which he will go on his quest for the tower. In case you forgot after the first book, and assumed that this will be some yeehaw cowboy story, it is a fantasy series.

A lot of things happen in this book (compared to the first one, where nothing much happens). Roland, the legendary gunslinger (gun being the keyword in gunslinger) gets his fingers chomped off by giant lobsters and now he can't shoot with his good hand.

Then Roland comes across a door on the beach that leads him to the first of his Ka-tet. The heroin junkie Eddie Dean. Eddie is to Roland what Donkey is to Shrek.

Next up is Odetta/Detta/Susannah. A mentally handicapped, physically disabled, Black woman. Checking all the boxes for diversity.

Susannah could be a case study in critical race theory. Her two polar personalities (Odetta/Detta) could be interpreted to reflect the two narrow extremes in which Black Americans are expected to behave in society. You either are an exceptionally educated, exceptioanlly high status Black individual like Obama, or you’re a GTA: San Andreas character. There is no in-between.

Finally, we have the last member of the Ka-tet, the Wheelchair which came with Odetta/Detta/Susannah. One of the most crucial characters, especially towards the end of the plot.

By the way, I also learned that assualt rifles don’t work the way they do in the movies.

One of the best book in the series so far.

Rating: 🍌🍌🍌🍌

The Waste Lands

Volume III · 1991 · Rating: Pending

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