Dark Tower anyone?

Armand1880

I noticed on someone sig that they are reading Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger.
Anyone else read these, and if so, what do you think?
For conversation topics: would these books translate well into video games? J.J. Abrams bought the film rights from Stephen King (for $19). General thoughts about the story - we can use spoiler tags for anyone who hasn't finished.

I loved the books - read them all a few times though, plus listened to the audio books (Frank Muller's voice was amazing, RIP). The ending of the series was a bit of a let down - but that's as far as I'll go for now, once more people (if more people) want to discuss it.

GuybrushWilco

I have read The Gunslinger revised edition fairly recently and I plan to read the others in the near future. I know the series has 7 books and some of them book pretty thick. I don't know who Abrams would make a 7 book series into one movie Maybe he will make it a trilogy.

Jake

I read them through this year and though I started out loving them, was increasingly let down as the series went on past the half-way mark. I don't regret reading them, but it did get frustrating.

corruptbiggins

Armand1880 wrote: »

I noticed on someone sig that they are reading Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger.

That's probably me!

I have to say I love the whole series, even if it does get a bit weird in the 2nd half (books 4 to 7).

As for Abrams and the film rights, personally I feel that it would work better as a TV series, especially considering the length of all the books. I've been thinking about this recently and it occurred to me that the way the makers of Heroes set it in volumes which don't always last a full series (season for you crazy Americans!) is the best way to do the Dark Tower.

The Gunslinger would probably be doable over 4 or 5 episodes (one episode for each chapter, essentially) so it could start of as a mini-series, then the Drawing of the Three could neatly follow that (dependant on the success of the Gunglinger - you know what network execs are like (damn, I watch too much American TV at times, but anyway I digress)).

That's the best solution for me anyway. I just think that they'd have to cut a hell of a lot of stuff out of theatrical versions of the books (obviously that's if they stick to 1 film per book - it's entirely possible that 2 part films could be made as that is becoming fairly popular now what with the Hobbit and the last Harry Potter book getting the treatment). Anyway, if anyone could adapt the series well then I think Abrams can.

quickfics

I can't be the only one (over thirty) who thought of this when reading the topic heading.

Damned brigands.

As for the books: "Meh" and "overrated" in equal proportions (as is Stephen King), though I realize I may be in the minority and deemed flameworthy.

Armand1880

Spoilers...

I have to agree with Jake about the series past book 4. Book 4 was good, but I didn't really care too much about Roland's past - so I wasn't that interested. King had his accident after the 4th book was published - and the last three books came out within 1 year of eachother. He powered through and wrote the last 3 books at once and it really suffered. The first 3 books are my favorite in the series. The idea of traveling between worlds, Stephen King as a character, wolves dressed like Dr. Doom throwing "Harry Potter" model sneetches, every character switching to the dialect of a small town they had just traveled to, the weak Modred story line, and the deus ex machina of an ending that really required you to have a knowledge of more Stephen King novels than just the series...was all a bit disappointing. In fact, the fact that many of King's novels revolved around this series of books and contained references and side plots that tied in with the Dark Tower kind of pushed my interest away as it made the task if knowing all I could way too daunting. Reading the last few novels was almost like King was holding stuff back that the reader would have liked to know, kind of saying, "If you really want to understand this, you'll read more of my books."

From what I've heard they've discussed doing a mini-series of the series on a network like HBO or something like that so they'd be able to take full advantage of the source material, which would be nice.

ShaggE

I tried to get into them. I feel obligated to, as a die-hard King fan. But I just can't. I've been burned by his attempts at expanding past the horror genre before, and Dark Tower seems like it'd be the same deal.

(of course, I said I couldn't get into Monkey Island at one point, and now I love it, so who knows?)

corruptbiggins

I must say that I don't think I've read even a quarter of King's books but I still enjoyed the Dark Tower series as a whole. None of the books in the series are my favourite of his (that would be The Stand, and I'll probably be reading that again after the Dark Tower) and maybe I'd like them more if I read more of his books but I'm happy with the level of enjoyment I get out of reading the series.