The man in black was fleeing through the desert, and the gunman was after him.
With two such powerful phrases it begins The Dark Tower, saga of Stephen King that the author himself considers his masterpiece. The Maine writer, best known for horror novels like It, Carrie, or the Salem's Lot Mystery, turns into the monstrous literary exercise that is The Dark Tower (both in terms of volume, some 4.500 pages in total, and artistic ambition) all his obsessions, influences, and aspirations.
But what is it The Dark Tower? Some will say that they are the adventures of a cowboy from another world. Others, which is the version of The Lord of the Rings by King. And there would even be those who say that it is a kind of metaliterary exercise. And the truth is that all of them are wrong and at the same time they are right.
Death and madness await in the gunslinger's path
The prosaic fact of the universe's existence frustrates the pragmatist and the romantic in itself.
The Dark Tower is a series of eight books that put us in the shoes of Gilead's Roland Deschain, of the lineage of King Arthur (it is even suggested that his revolvers, which have magical properties, were forged from Excalibur steel). Roland is the last survivor of an ancient chivalric order, in a world with the class division of the Middle Ages, but with the technology of the mid-XNUMXth century. It is never too clear whether Middle World, as it is called, is part of a parallel dimension, of our remote past, or of a hypothetical future where civilization has collapsed after an atomic war.
During his crusade, the hero must traverse wide landscapes (which look like something out of an old American West movie) to find the man in black, a mysterious sorcerer who destroyed his life and that of all his loved ones, as he watches the world rot around him. However, Roland's real goal is not man in black, but to get to the dark tower, the link where all possible universes and realities converge. And to achieve this goal he will sacrifice everything and everyone he meets in his path.
I don't point my hand; he who points with his hand has forgotten his father's face. I point with the eye.
I don't shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten his father's face. I shoot with the mind.
I don't kill with the gun; he who kills with the pistol has forgotten his father's face. I kill with my heart
Roland's quest for the Tower is as much an epic adventure as it is a metaphorical and spiritual journey. The very description of the Tower, a colossal black structure that rises towards infinity, and surrounded by Can'-Ka No Rey, the field of roses where each flower symbolizes one of the possible realities of the multiverse, is a vision of heartbreaking poetic beauty.
Initial lines of The gunman, first volume of The Dark Tower.
A modern epic
The best word to describe the books of The Dark Tower would eclectic. Stephen King was inspired by a wide variety of sources to develop them. On the one hand, the trunk of the story is born from the poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower arrived de Robert browning (1812-1889). On the other, the epic nature of the search, and the existence of a group that accompanies the protagonist, drink directly from the tolkien mythology and Arthurian cycle. In addition, the character of Roland is a clear reflection of the interpretations of Clint Eastwood en westerns as El bueno, el feo y el malo.
The saga books in chronological order are the following:
- The gunman (1982)
- The arrival of the three (1987)
- The Badlands (1991)
- Magician and Crystal (1997)
- The wind through the lock (2012)
- Calla Wolves (2003)
- Song of Susannah (2004)
- The Dark Tower (2004)
The Dark Tower has also inspired numerous derivative worksas comics, video games, feature film, and songs like Somewhere far beyond Group Blind Guardian, which recounts Roland's adventures during his obsessive search for the Tower.
All roads lead to the Tower
Roland stayed awake and listened to the voices of the night as the wind wiped the tears from his cheeks.
Condemnation? Salvation? Tower.
He would arrive at the Dark Tower and there he would sing their names.
Of the most interesting details of The Dark Tower is that is related to absolutely all the other books of King. Characters, locations, and references to works as diverse as The green Mile, The Shining o The fog. With such mastery that in the end these stories end up interrelated, and even the author himself appears in one of the volumes as one more character.
In short, if you are interested in reading something different and fresh, I recommend The Dark Tower. It may sometimes have ups and downs (which is understandable considering its size), but overall it is an exciting and original experience like few others.