Maybe now

[baggy]

I'm ready to read The Dark Tower books. I tried reading The Gunslinger a few years ago but couldn't get into it. From what I've read on SKMB it's a bit slow but worth getting through. Just have to decide whether to buy 1 book at a time or get all 7 and read them back to back.
Any advice?

[J.T. Adams]

Read em back to back.

Book 2 and 3 and 4 are fantastic . . . 5, 6 and 7 great as well. All books together = life changing.

[cat in a bag]

Get all 7 of them! I promise you are not going to want to wait in between books. Happy Reading!!

[dsurrett]

Get at least the first two, but by the time you finish book two, "The Drawing of the Three," you'll be hooked, so if you're able to get all 7 in a set at a better price than getting them individually, that's what I'd suggest doing.

[Spideyman]

If you can afford to buy them all at one time, jump at it. Once you get started you will not want to wait to purchase the next book. Just reach over and begin the next part of the journey. Happy reading.

[labec1130]

As I am a huge fan of the gunslinger series of course I would say buy them all...read them back to back. I did not have that luxury because i read them as they were published. Awesome story...once you get into you wont want it to end....

[blunthead]

King started Gunslinger way back, then set it aside. His style differed then from now. It's a great read, just hang in there next time. I think if you can get a deal on the seven books you wouldn't regret talking advantage of it, otherwise there's no reason not to buy copies one at a time. But what I'm really saying is I think you won't regret having them to read nor reading them. Those following Gunslinger were written many years after it and read differently.

What I'm really saying is yer gonna have a blast.

[Elemeno P]

As someone who read the series on audiobook, my advice would be to try the first book in AB.

Problem is, if you like the first one in AB, you'll LOVE all the rest in AB. They only get better.

I couldn't get enough.

[Stan_Richards_of_Windsor]

The only one I haven't read is the last one (and Wind Through the Keyhole of course). I have to wait 4 months, but as I said before, it's hard after just reading 5 and 6 back to back, I'm so entwined in the story that The Dark tower calls me. I even read Robin Furth's (sp?) Correspondence for I-IV, can't find the second one though.

[momone53]

Stan, Why are you waiting to read book 7?

[tower-obsession]

My advice is get them all, if you can, and read them back to back. As for being a DT fan, I'll just point to my screen name.

[Stan_Richards_of_Windsor]

Stan, Why are you waiting to read book 7?

My best friend is also deeply infatuated with the DT series, and we both just finished the 6th one. We also know that after 7, the quest is over, and I'm REALLY connected to Roland's ka-tet and I fear for what will happen to them. I'm not fully ready to end the journey just yet.

[momone53]

I can understand that, which is why I am continually re-reading the darn things. I am currently on about the 6 re-read of the Waste Lands. It seems that when I finish with anything else I'm reading instead of going for something new, I always go back to DT for a Tower fix. I think I am just as obsesses as tower-obsession, so I count myself in good company.

And may you have twice then number.
Debra

[CCAL]

I couldnt read them fast enough! hopping on two feet right now for WTTK, thinking that in April. READ them! You know you will be hooked so prepare for it and settle in for the ride of your life!! I say true!

[champ1966]

I read them over 25 years,and I'm seriously contemplating reading them all again back to back.2 and 3 were my favourites

Enjoy,and welcome to the board

[Stan_Richards_of_Windsor]

Once I know the ending... I can't turn back. If Roland dies... so help me Turtle!

[Danpd66]

I was originally going to drag the series out until April when King's latest comes out. However I have been killing the books in three days, so I don't think it is going to last! It is very addictive, and I don't have the will power to wait. Especially since I own all seven volumes.

[Elemeno P]

Once I know the ending... I can't turn back. If Roland dies... so help me Turtle!

You know....I've read this here a lot of times, but it really is true....

The best part about finishing, is being able to start over again.

I really enjoy the re-reading. Soooo much I missed (or forgot) the first time around. Truly feels like a new experience.

[GNTLGNT]

I read them in order, as they came out of the Maine pipeline...and have never regretted any of it(well, there WAS that one unfortunate lipstick stain....)...so, obviously I'm of the "read em in order" camp...

[baggy]

picked up books 1,2,3,4,& 6 from second-hand bookshop today for $6-00 each (australian) I think thats about $6-50 (american) they're in pretty good condition but from 3 different printings. Now have to find #5 and the time to read them :grinning:

[baggy]

and have to get #7 too

[King fan from trinidad]

Nice baggy! I hope you enjoy them! After i finish skeleton crew i'm gonna read book 4. Everytime i finish a book it's like a new part of the forum opens up to me! :)

[Sungrey]

I'm just finishing the "The Gunslinger" and it's a novel I will not be rereading anytime soon. I'm not saying it's bad. It's just that, even though I have not read the other DK books, "The Gunslinger" feels like a 231-page prologue to me. I do like the atmosphere, though, and Roland is an interesting if not sympathetic character.

[King fan from trinidad]

Sungrey it really is like a prologue and the drawing of the 3 is also like a prologue too. I loved both but the series didn't really start up until the end of book 2. I'm now going onto book 4 after under the dome!

[Sungrey]

You are correct, King fan from trinidad. I am about halfway through "The Drawing of the Three" and it is also an extended prologue with Roland's recruitment of his ka-tet. I am enjoying the novel, however, more than I did the "The Gunslinger."

[91rewoT]

Read, read, read 'em!! You will be forever changed by your Dark Tower journey...:love:

[Spideyman]

You are correct, King fan from trinidad. I am about halfway through "The Drawing of the Three" and it is also an extended prologue with Roland's recruitment of his ka-tet. I am enjoying the novel, however, more than I did the "The Gunslinger."

There is a reason many refer to the DT books as a journey, for that is exacly what it is-- step by step. Each book will bring you more into depth of the character, the Ka-Tet, the meaning of Ka-Tet and how the journey changes lives( yours included). Do read on, continue that journey and you just might be totally amazed at the result.

[AnnaMarie]

I had a really hard time getting through Gunslinger. It took me a few tries, and a friend telling me to read just so I could get to The Drawing of The Three. I swore I'd never read it again. But, after Devouring a few of the DT books I felt I needed to reread it. And the second time I really liked it. I won't say I loved it, but I did really like it.

[Owlnuggets]

The first time I read that book I had no problem getting through it... I just HATED Roland with every fibre of my being.
After reading more of Steve's books I eventually came back to the series and skipped to the second book.
I finished them all a couple years ago and now I'm re-reading them.
I came to love and pity Roland and reading the first one made my soul fly.

[champ1966]

I read them over 25 years,and I'm seriously contemplating reading them all again back to back.2 and 3 were my favourites

Enjoy,and welcome to the board

Well that's 1 and 2 under my belt,now for number 3

[AnnaMarie]

I think a large part of my problem was that I had assumed Roland was the bad guy that travels through all King books. The Randall Flagg.

[baggy]

Well I have read The Gunslinger (in one afternoon) and am halfway through The Drawing Of The Three. I don't know what book it was that I couldn't get through but it wasn't this one. I loved it. As a stand alone story it would have been a little unsatisfying but knowing that it is the beginning of an epic it has really built up my curiosity for what is to come. I didn't know there were 2 versions and I think I have the original version, it says first publication on the cover and has illustrations.

I must get a move on and track down books 5 & 7 might order from Amazon.

[The Nameless]

I have just decided to start this journey for once and for all. I am not the fastest reader in the world so I don't know how long I will be on it, or if I will read others inbetween. Currently, I own 1,2,3 and 4, so I will have a bit of time before I need to buy 5,6, and 7. And by the time I get done, I will probably be able to get a paperback wttk on the cheap.

My gunslinger says "revised and expanded", so I dont know how much it will differ from most peoples who bought the original.

I really hope I like it, I am intrigued by the idea of learning more about the Turtle from IT, and the tie ins with other books I keep hearing about. I dont want to have preconceptions, but I am already starting off (without reading any of it yet) with a mental image of Roland looking like John Marsten from Red Dead Redemption (a western era video game).

[baggy]

Lol Nameless my hubby has been playing Red Dead Redemption A LOT and I have to admit I had the same mental image re:Roland/ John Marsden although after reading it I think Roland's scrawnier, at times even some of my mental images of the landscape are a bit like RDR too :grinning: