COVID lockdown has made me reach to the back of the bookshelf (as I still semi-resist e-books). After the challenging length and depth of The Overstory I snagged The Gunslinger and raced through it as it was a generally straightforward story of things actually happening. Although not that much really happened upon reflection. As admitted by King, he was inspired by Tolkien and this was his attempt at creating a multi-volume fantasy world. And the same critique that I had for the Lord of the Rings (of which I quit two or three books into) holds true here - there's a lot of trekking and then fighting and then walking some more, but the journey just isn't that interesting. Much of this is told in retrospect, as the protagonist shares memories with those he meets along the way to help build the backstory. As is plainly written this opening volume closes with "the end of the beginning" which is all that it feels like - a setup for the rest of the series. I'm not sure I'll continue (seeing as there are something like six more books) despite Stephen himself promising that it gets better.
5
April 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment