The Dark Tower is Stephen King’s longest and most iconic series. The dark fantasy epic is comprised of eight books, starting with 1982’s The Gunslinger and finally coming to an end with 2004’s The Dark Tower. The series garnered critical praise and earned the author legions of new fans. Over the course of 4,700-plus pages, The Dark Tower deftly blends fantasy, science fiction, and western genres to tell the story of the last gunslinger Roland Deschain’s quest to find the eponymous Dark Tower.
As you’d expect from King, it’s an utterly thrilling adventure, and one that any fan of his work should check out. If you haven’t read the series (or just want to add it to your bookshelf), you can snag The Dark Tower 8-Book Box Set for only $72, which is over 50% off MSRP and one of the lowest prices we’ve ever seen on this collection at Amazon.
$72 (was $161)
The Dark Tower series spans eight books that together eclipse 4,700 pages (page count of the series varies based on edition/format). This trade paperback set includes all eight adventures:
- The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
- The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
- The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
- The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
- The Dark Tower 4.5: The Wind Through the Keyhole
- The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
- The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
- The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
Along with the books, you’ll get a collectible case to keep them safe on your bookshelf.
The Dark Tower follows Roland Deschain, a member of the Gunslingers knightly order. His world is one that’s intertwined with magical and technological advances, but also characteristics of the Wild West. Roland is on a journey to find the Dark Tower–a location that’s said to connect universes with each other–and thwart The Man in Black (Randall Flagg).
Roland’s reasons for tracking down the Dark Tower are a bit murky at first, but as you make your way through the epic eight-book series, his true intentions come to light–and you’ll notice plenty of connections to other Stephen King novels.
King has made a frequent habit of inserting his characters and places into seemingly unrelated novels within his lengthy bibliography. In the case of Randall Flagg, you’ll also find him in The Stand–arguably King’s best novel–The Eyes of the Dragon, and the Gwendy’s Button Box trilogy, which he co-wrote with Richard Chizmar. All of those King novels are available for great prices at Amazon, too.
If you’ve already read The Dark Tower novel series and want to spend even more time in its fascinating world, the comic book adaptation is awesome. Unfortunately, it remains unfinished to this day, as Marvel canceled it before the story reached its conclusion. There is some good news, though. Last year, publisher Gallery 13 reprinted the entire original run in three gorgeous omnibus editions.
The Dark Tower: Beginnings expands on Roland’s backstory, so if you only get one of these books, Beginnings is the one with the most content not found in the original novel series. The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three Omnibus editions cover the first two books in the series, but these are more like interpretations than straight adaptations, as there’s plenty of new content in each. King supervised the creation of the comic book series, so you could consider the stories within these books to be canon (though some fans would disagree).
All three Dark Tower omnibuses are over 50% off right now.
