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This heroic fantasy is
set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace that
is a dark mirror of our own. A spellbinding tale of good
versus evil, it features one of Stephen King's most powerful
creations - The Gunslinger, a haunting figure who embodies
the qualities of a lone hero through the ages, from ancient
myth to frontier western legend. The Gunslinger's quest
involves the pursuit of The Man in Black, a liaison with the
sexually ravenous Alice, and a friendship with the kid from
Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily
dreamlike, here is stunning proof of Stephen King's
storytelling sorcery. |
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AudioFile - Ruth P.
Ludwig
In a re-issued collection of the first three books of King's
fantasy saga, Frank Muller revisits the world of Roland of
Gilead, Jake Chambers, and Eddie and Susanna Dean. King
himself originally recorded the three books as he wrote them
over a period of ten years. Muller recorded book four,
Wizard and Glass, in 1997. The series centers around Roland
of Gilead, the last gunslinger to walk the earth since the
world "moved on." Roland travels in search of the dark
tower, a mysterious, never-seen entity he believes holds the
key to the world's having moved on. In a series that
provides 36 hours of listening to the same voice (with no
special effects), one expects a lapse in interest. But
Muller, the master of narration, pulls out all the stops
here. He makes characters unmistakable through dialogue and
timing. In fast-paced conversation, dreams or breakneck
bursts of action, he moves effortlessly among dozens of
people. Narrative passages flow with equal grace and
fluidity. Muller uses tricks, such as dragging out words and
phrases, singing when the characters sing, and contriving
animal and mechanical voices. Even his Foreword and
Afterword sound like Stephen King . . . with one exception:
The author would never pronounce his home city "Bang-er,"
rather than the "Bang-gore" of a native Mainer. R.P.L.
ŠAudioFile, Portland, Maine |
