Stephen King, the author of The Gunslinger, is great at what he does. Not the part where he scares the hebejeebies out of people with most of his stories, but rather his mastery of the written word. This is aptly demonstrated in the Gunslinger, book one of King’s sprawling fantasy series The Dark Tower, which he writes was born out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work like many writers of his generation. (Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings.) The Gunslinger not only pulls you into a story with incredibly rich language filled with vivid imagery, it knows exactly when to do it. The Gunslinger’s pacing is incredible, with true character development and action that gnaws at your nerves. What lies at the end is as unexpected as it is fantastical.