The Dark Tower (Books 1-3): The Gunslinger / The Drawing of the Three / The Waste Lands - Softcover

King, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451935543 ISBN 13: 9780451935540

Publisher: Berkley, 1997

Synopsis

Titles include The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three and The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands.

About this title

Review:

Lots of Stephen King fans feel that his horror novels are dwarfed by what they consider his masterpiece, the genre-bending Dark Tower books. They're a little like the sprawling epics of J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and George Lucas, but then again, they're really like nothing else in this world (or King's).

This set collects the first three. The Gunslinger introduces the hero Roland, who must reach the Dark Tower in order to save his universe, Mid-World. There are passageways between our world and Mid-World, and a New York City boy named Jake gets shoved in front of a car by Jack Mort ("death"), is killed, and finds himself alive in Roland's world. He becomes Roland's surrogate son.

In book 2, The Drawing of the Three, Roland is attacked by marvelous, poisonous "lobstrosities" and enters our world for help. He takes heroin addict Eddie Dean from 1987 New York and Odetta Holmes from 1964 New York as his team. In a powerful time-tripping scene, Roland confronts Jack Mort and actually changes Jake's Earth history, which has heady implications for Roland's world.

In The Waste Lands, book 3, Roland and company get ensnared in a civil war in the urban waste of Lud, acquire a delightful talking pet named Oy the Bumbler, and find themselves captives of a psychotic train called Blaine the Mono.

The plot is complex, yet weirdly logical. But take warning: this series is addictive, and you may need to also buy book 4, Wizard and Glass. Otherwise, you won't know what happened when Blaine went insane with Roland's gang onboard.

From the Publisher:

This slipcased set contains The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (third printing), The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (second edition) and The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (first edition) in hardcover. The Drawing of the Three contains 10 new paintings by artist Phil Hale and is only available as part of this set, as is this third limited printing of The Gunslinger.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0451935543
• ISBN 13: 9780451935540
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback