An excellent point Menolly, and one that I should have mentioned myself.
Duke, as I said, even Insomnia isn't a necessity, just fills a gap. (And the list I gave you is the basic one really, without the more tenous connections that occur from books like Desperation, The Regulators, etc.
If you want the full list, check the diagram in the link provided a post or two above your original one, but don't read past the diagram unless you want spoilers. Far as I'm concerned, Eyes and The Stand are integral to it, but really, none of them are absolutely essential.
--A
Okay, where do I start?
Moderator: lucimay
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birdandbear
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Sooo........?
How goes the road to the Tower, guys?
I've been known to advise people to skip The Gunslinger entirely if they can't get through it, and go straight on to The Drawing of The Three. Imho, that's the crucial book.....if you're not hooked through the bag by the end of that one, it's probably not for you. And if you are , then you'll naturally want to check out the first one again, and probably wonder what was wrong with you in the first place.......as well as reading everything else with Tower connections you can get your hands on.....
Hope you guys are Tower junkies too, by now....
And if not.....I guess we can still be friends. 
How goes the road to the Tower, guys?
I've been known to advise people to skip The Gunslinger entirely if they can't get through it, and go straight on to The Drawing of The Three. Imho, that's the crucial book.....if you're not hooked through the bag by the end of that one, it's probably not for you. And if you are , then you'll naturally want to check out the first one again, and probably wonder what was wrong with you in the first place.......as well as reading everything else with Tower connections you can get your hands on.....
Hope you guys are Tower junkies too, by now....
And if not.....I guess we can still be friends.
"If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."
It's funny, as the seasons start to change, I start looking for stuff to read. Part of me wants to do the cycle again, but DT:V and DT:VI were such disappointments to me, I'm not sure if I ant to try it again. Maybe I'll just read I-IV, and then VII.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
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Avatar
- Immanentizing The Eschaton
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Personally, this is a series I'll read over and over. Next round will start as soon as I get my own copies of VI and VII.
Maybe this time I'll read the ancilliary stories as well, in the order I suggested to Duke...
Been a tower junky since 1990, when I first read the opening line of The Gunslinger.
--A
Maybe this time I'll read the ancilliary stories as well, in the order I suggested to Duke...
Been a tower junky since 1990, when I first read the opening line of The Gunslinger.
--A
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Menolly
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I've also not read any of those books. I'm a fairly light-weight reader. My favorite King, of the ones I have read, is Firestarter, although I do also love The Stand.Avatar wrote: Damn, I envy you in a way. Just beginning that journey.
The Eyes of the Dragon and The Stand are important connections to me I think, (in fact, the Eyes has a connection much earlier in the DT series than anything else. Book II actually.) But it's not important in any sense except if you've read it, you'll go "Hey! Eyes of the Dragon."
Here's an ill-thought-out suggestion of order if you really insist though. (Anybody is welcome to revise it if they want, this is off-the-cuff.)
Eyes of the Dragon
DT I
DT II
DT III
The Stand
DT IV
'Salem's Lot
DT V
Low Men
DT VI
Insomnia
Everything's Eventual (title story and Little Sisters of Eulalia)
DT VII
Those are, I think, the most solid connections.
--Avatar
So, with that in mind, I am wondering if I should start Beorn on this cycle, using the above list? He hasn't read any King at all yet, and I will probably start him off with Firestarter but was thinking of then starting him on the DT cycle.
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A Gunslinger
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[edit: Image removed due to darktower.net authentication issues. It was another suggested reading order.]
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
I've read Wizard and Glass a whole bunch of times (and it's a big bloody book) but still not finished the series.Cail wrote:It's funny, as the seasons start to change, I start looking for stuff to read. Part of me wants to do the cycle again, but DT:V and DT:VI were such disappointments to me, I'm not sure if I ant to try it again. Maybe I'll just read I-IV, and then VII.
WaG is just about the best thing I've read from King.
Agreed, definatley my favourite book of the series.Marvin wrote:
WaG is just about the best thing I've read from King.
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
Ya, no doubt about it.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
If he's socially immature, you might want to wait a few years. There are some very adult themes in these books.
As far as reading order.....I don't know. I've read everything he's written chronologically, and everything seems to have made sense to me.
As far as reading order.....I don't know. I've read everything he's written chronologically, and everything seems to have made sense to me.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
-
Avatar
- Immanentizing The Eschaton
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No, the chart just shows where the connections come in... IOW, Eyes is connected to both book 2 and book 6. Doesn't mean you have to read it twice.
But really, none of those others are required. I just think it gives a better view of the King universe...and I like catching allusions.
Anyway, I dunno...I read The Gunslinger at 13 (the first King book I ever read) and I wasn't harmed. But as I've mentioned, I've always been a little odd.
--A
But really, none of those others are required. I just think it gives a better view of the King universe...and I like catching allusions.
Anyway, I dunno...I read The Gunslinger at 13 (the first King book I ever read) and I wasn't harmed. But as I've mentioned, I've always been a little odd.
--A
I'm pretty sure it was serialised once, mabye im imaging things though.Menolly wrote:I'm thinking I may have read a novella version of The Gunslinger. Daddy was a charter lifetime member of The Mgazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and I continued to receive it after his death. Was The Gunslinger serialized or condensed in TMF&SF?
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
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Roland of Gilead
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- Location: Kansas City
Yes, the stories in Gunslinger were originally serialized in that magazine.
They sort of have a cobbled together feel to them in the book, too, which I think hurts it, compared to the rest of the Dark Tower series. However, King revised The Gunslinger just before the publication of Wolves of the Calla, so it does read more smoothly now than it once did.
They sort of have a cobbled together feel to them in the book, too, which I think hurts it, compared to the rest of the Dark Tower series. However, King revised The Gunslinger just before the publication of Wolves of the Calla, so it does read more smoothly now than it once did.
"I am, in short, a man on the edge of everything." - Dark Tower II, The Drawing of the Three