title: The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
author:  Stephen King 
description: King has changed a few details in this rewrite of the firstDark Tower series novel, though the essence of Roland's journeyremains unchanged. We encounter Roland of Gilead in his quest for theDark Tower and meet Jake, his young friend, who fears betrayal. Avisit with Death and the slaughter of a village complete theplot. George Guidall takes over narrating duties from Frank Muller,until 2001 the reigning voice of Stephen King audiobooks. Guidalladopts Muller's vocalizations of Roland and Jake, but his narrativechoices reveal a different side of the story. Where Muller offers raw,Guidall delivers well done--the listener wants more of both.R.P.L. &copy; AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- <i>Copyright &#169; AudioFile, Portland, Maine</i>
zlib_text: **The Waste Lands**  
  
  The Dark Tower Book 3  
  
  Stephen King  
  
    
  
    
  
    
  
  # **ARGUMENT**
  
  _The Waste Lands_ is the third volume of a longer tale inspired by and to some
  degree dependent upon Robert Browning’s narrative poem “Childe Roland to the
  Dark Tower Came.”  
  
  The first volume, _The Gunslinger_ , tells how Roland, the last gunslinger in
  a world which has “moved on,” pursues and finally catches the man in black, a
  sorcerer named Walter who falsely claimed the friendship of Roland’s father in
  the days when the unity of Mid-World still held. Catching this half-human
  spell-caster is not Roland’s ultimate goal but only another landmark along the
  road to the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, which stands at the nexus of
  time.  
  
  Who, exactly, is Roland? What was his world like before it moved on? What is
  the Tower and why does he pursue it? We have only fragmentary answers. Roland
  is clearly a kind of knight, one of those charged with holding (or possibly
  redeeming) a world Roland 