The Dark Tower

[DK]

I'm halfway through the second one... and it is much better than the Gunslinger, in my opinion.

Yep. I didn't like the first book all that much to be honest, but I bought it and the second one at the same time, and the second one was inifinitely better, IMO.

[childroland]

I liked rwo better as well although it sucked When Roland lost his two fingers.

[Alive-Cat]

I have rarely EVER posted here, but this thread has made me do it.
I've read all of the DT books, and I think they are the number one books ever written. I have no queries with the last 2 books or the ending, I can't see it ending another way.

[RSL]

Are you guys reading the original Gunslinger or the revised version? They are so different that they are pretty much different books entirely!

[DK]

I think I'm reading the revised versions. Is that good or bad? D:

[RSL]

Only the first book was re-written.

Here is my opinion on the first book. The way it was originally written is a much, much better read. However, the revised version definitely fits in with the rest of the series better.

I read the revised when it came out to see what he had changed, but if I was going to read the series over again, I would probably read the original.

[fire_of_avalon]

I... I don't know which one I read. Well I'll just have to start all over again! !

[RSL]

Oh my...

foa, in your Gunslinger, was Allie all obsessed with the number 19? Because 19 is something King added to the series late in the game, and was never mentioned in the original Gunslinger. That's just one of the changes, but it's one of the more annoying ones (as the obsession with the number 19 was really annoying in general).

Some of the stuff he changed was just to fix stuff he messed up on. In the original Gunslinger, Farson was a town name. But then he started using Farson as the name of a person. In the revised Gunslinger, he changes the name of the town Farson to something else to avoid confusion.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

It is an excellent series, though otherwise I feel that King is a sort of hit-and-miss author. My favourite book in it remains book 1 because of the suberb imagery and metaphors, as well as the philosophical banter between Roland and the Man in Black at the end. It's also illustrated very well in my version. I've heard that it was "revised and expanded" but I expect King ruined the excellent style. I feel the first book is already near perfection so rewriting it sounds foolish and bound to wreck it.

I also enjoyed book 2 a lot for the action, but I was dissapointed when he lost his style from book 1 (as a writer King was a lot different when he was younger, perhaps for the better?). I have yet to finish the series (I've read books 1-3), though I own all the books (1-7).

Also, I really enjoyed Misery and the Tommyknockers (though the latter was rather slow to start). I hated the Dead Zone and Kujo... those were just lame.

King is highly over-rated. His writing can be sloppy, and he's obviously very ego-centric due to the way he writes his introductions/epilogues etc.

[RSL]

My favourite book in it remains book 1 because of the suberb imagery and metaphors, as well as the philosophical banter between Roland and the Man in Black at the end. It's also illustrated very well in my version. I've heard that it was "revised and expanded" but I expect King ruined the excellent style. I feel the first book is already near perfection so rewriting it sounds foolish and bound to wreck it.

What you fear is true. King has a different opinion of his writing when he was younger than you and I do. The new version just doesn't have the same feel.

[childroland]

Since we are talking about originals. My dad has the magazines his original version of the Dark Tower was writtin in.

[Shoeberto]

I've read the first three and started on the fourth, though I've never finished it. The first remains my favorite in the series.

[Leeza]

At the moment I am reading the last book and I will be sad when I finish it. I am of the same mindset as Spiff though because I find that King seems to always start off a book/series extremely well, but then seems to get bored and then just throws in some dumb ending. For example, <i>Misery</i> was an excellent read until he started in the the flying lawnmowers, etc. That was just dumb.

All in all though I have read all of his books (except a few of his latest ones that I didn't have time for yet) and they were all very entertaining and I would not call any of them a waste of time.

I did not know that there was a revised version of <i>The Gunslinger</i>. I have it, but I just thought it was only a new cover and stuff. I guess I'll have to actually read it. <i>The Drawing of the Three</i> was my favourite in the series.

[childroland]

I have read the first three half of the fourth, but my favorite part has to be the riddle contest between Blaine the Pain and Roland's Ka-tet. I like riddles and these were challenging.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

there seem to be tons of good films I see and it ends up that they had some sort of Stephen King influence