The only complains I have about this book is that it is fairly short. With that being said I think after reading this book you will be drawn into the Dark Tower series. I don't want to spoil anything but the adventures that happen in this book, and the people the gunslinger meets will undoubtedly peak your interest. If you were thinking of the Dark Tower series by all accounts pick this book up and start into it today.

First book of the Dark Tower series. So of course you're going to read it. And if you read it, you'll read the next one. And the next, and so on.

So what do you want to know? Is this book good? Yes. Good enough to hook someone (namely me) into the entire series. Is this the best book of the series? No. Neither is it REALLY the beginning. Not really.

So read it. It's a short read. If you like fantasy, I can almost guarantee you'll like it. But, a word to the wise.. King is, at times, extremely... raw. Yes, that's the word. He's raw. He writes about everything... Death, blood, suffering, sex, (not in this book) incest..

So, if you are brave and adventurous enough, take a step into Mid-World with Roland and start your journey to the Dark Tower.

Even slow readers will have no problem plowing through this book. It's important to come into this book not expecting a WoT, SoT, or ASOIAF. Although the paperback version is some 300 pages, it would be about 150 pages in the same font and typeface as the others. If you read this book, simply expect a character introduction and a very enjoyable (extended) short story.

This book was definitely a good change of pace from other books that I've read. There isn't too much fluff and pretty much everything that happens is explained thoroughly and not excessively. There isn't too much going on in the plot: there's one man, and one objective. There are only a few flashbacks and they are all fully integrated and understandable withing the context of the quest. There's no huge build-up that the world is about to end, only a simple struggle of man against man.

If you are expecting a huge, epic journey from the start, you may be disappointed. If you want to read a book that gives a solid introduction into an epic journey, pick this book up and I assure you that you will pick up book 2.

Let me sum up this book in one sentence, "There was a man searching for the dark tower." There, I have just spared you the effort of reading this book. This was the first Stephen King book I have read and I believe it will be my last. I am an avid reader of quality fantasy/sci-fi books and the Dark Tower series was recommended by a co-worker. I had a really hard time fininshing this book and when I finally did, I felt like I had completely wasted my time. The world that King tried to create was vague at best. The book went nowhere and I felt like I knew nothing about the characters when I was finished. Many chapters did not make sense and I could not vizualize much of what I was reading. The other books in the series might be better, but I will not be wasting more time to find out.

My son picked up this book because someone left it under his desk in his Accounting class. My son is in 11th grade and is 16. He started reading it and couldn't put it down. He had never read Stephen King before, but he has seen many Stephen King movies and enjoyed them. My son doesn't usually pick up books for enjoyment, he only reads books if it is assigned for school. He read a lot of the book the first night, but realized that the person who left the book in his Accounting class, would miss the book, so he returned the book to school the next day. The next day I bought him the book so he could finish reading it.

He enjoyed reading the book over Christmas break and now has taken out of the school library Stephen King's second in the Dark Tower series titled The Drawing of the Three. I recommend this book for anyone to read, but I especially recommend you get this book for a teenage boy to get them to read for enjoyment which is the best reason to read!