After this point, there are Spoilers, so if you have not read you have been warned.
When Roland found Jake in the desert, I was so confused initially. What is this child doing here? Where did he come from? Why is he hiding? And the majority of these questions don't get answered until another book or two into the series. I actually found that as a factor in my continuing to read, the first time through the series.
The slow mutants were so scary when I first came across them, too. And the scene where Roland decides to allow Jake to fall and Jake says "there are other worlds than these" has stuck with me for years. I actually started saying that in situation I felt it fit, lmao.
When Roland finally caught up with Walter, their exchange was so bizarre and I was so confused. I had to read that scene a few times before I understood that their palaver lasted for far longer than it seemed like it took. That time moved a bit differently for them sitting by that fire. For clarification purposes, I read the "remastered" version which is slightly different from the original publication.
The flashback to Tull is interested, but it more serves to give an idea of A) the state of the Gunslinger, and B) the state of the world he's travelling through. The part with the lonely farmer and his bird was similarly to show the state of the world, but also to show how rusty Roland's people skills have gotten.
The part with Jake was to show how weird and single-minded the Gunslinger had gotten. That rather than rescue this child, he would abandon him to his fate just to catch up with the Man in Black.
The Man in Black himself is a character from Roland's past, and understanding why Roland was truly so single-minded about catching him requires reading the books. But I have theories that he is a few other characters, and not just in The Dark Tower books. Stephen King has several related stories, including Insomnia, The Stand, IT and several others. There's a collection of four stories called Hearts in Atlantis that is, in fact, directly tied to this story, and there are a lot of others as well, including The Little Sisters of Eluria, a short story in another compilation book.
The slow mutants were so scary when I first came across them, too. And the scene where Roland decides to allow Jake to fall and Jake says "there are other worlds than these" has stuck with me for years. I actually started saying that in situation I felt it fit, lmao.
When Roland finally caught up with Walter, their exchange was so bizarre and I was so confused. I had to read that scene a few times before I understood that their palaver lasted for far longer than it seemed like it took. That time moved a bit differently for them sitting by that fire. For clarification purposes, I read the "remastered" version which is slightly different from the original publication.
The flashback to Tull is interested, but it more serves to give an idea of A) the state of the Gunslinger, and B) the state of the world he's travelling through. The part with the lonely farmer and his bird was similarly to show the state of the world, but also to show how rusty Roland's people skills have gotten.
The part with Jake was to show how weird and single-minded the Gunslinger had gotten. That rather than rescue this child, he would abandon him to his fate just to catch up with the Man in Black.
The Man in Black himself is a character from Roland's past, and understanding why Roland was truly so single-minded about catching him requires reading the books. But I have theories that he is a few other characters, and not just in The Dark Tower books. Stephen King has several related stories, including Insomnia, The Stand, IT and several others. There's a collection of four stories called Hearts in Atlantis that is, in fact, directly tied to this story, and there are a lot of others as well, including The Little Sisters of Eluria, a short story in another compilation book.
Over-all, as a first step in a seven part story, it's good but as I stated several times, it's very slow to get going.
But right now, there's so much of the full story untold and I'd love to see your thoughts on how it starts off.
