Dark Tower Books in Order
There are 26 Dark Tower books, published between 1982 and 2023. The first book is The Gunslinger (1982) and the newest is The Drawing of the Three Omnibus (2023). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 26
- Published
- 1982–2023
- Confirmed
- 26 of 26 titles
- Pages on record
- 6,083 in 18 of 26 books
- Reading time
- 101–152 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 6,083 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 18 of 26 titles with a page count on record.
Dark Tower is a Stephen King creation whose catalogue entry holds 26 books from 1982 to 2023. King's The Gunslinger (1982) opens the run, followed by The Drawing of the Three (1987), The Waste Lands (1991), Wizard and Glass (1997), Wolves of the Calla (2003), Song of Susannah (2004) and The Dark Tower (2004), with The Wind Through the Keyhole in 2012. Later entries credited to Robin Furth and Peter David, some with Richard Isanove, include The Gunslinger Born (2007), The Long Road Home (2008) and The Fall of Gilead (2009), and Peter David alone is credited on The Battle of Tull and The Man in Black (2019). Roland, good and evil, dark fantasy and comics appear among the subjects.
How many Dark Tower books are there?
Dark Tower has 26 books, released between 1982 and 2023.
Dark Tower Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 26 Dark Tower books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119822244/4
- 219874324/4
- 319914224/4
- 419978964/4
- 520039254/4
- 620045604/4
- 7200410724/4
- 82007–3/4
- 92008–3/4
- 1020091763/4
- 1120092083/4
- 1220101444/4
- 132012–4/4
- 142012–3/4
- 152017–3/4
- 1620191283/4
- 1720191284/4
- 1820191284/4
- 1920191284/4
- 2020191284/4
- 2120191284/4
- 222020–4/4
- 232020–4/4
- 2420201284/4
- 2520201284/4
- 262023–3/4
Dark Tower Books in Chronological Order
By publication date, the Dark Tower books run from The Gunslinger (1982) to The Drawing of the Three Omnibus (2023), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Dark Tower in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.
Do you have to read Dark Tower books in order?
You should read the Dark Tower books in publication order, the order of the numbered table above. The catalogue does not record whether each Dark Tower book also stands alone.
What order should you read Dark Tower books in?
Read them in publication order, starting with The Gunslinger (1982), the earliest published title. After it come The Drawing of the Three (1987), The Waste Lands (1991), Wizard and Glass (1997) and Wolves of the Calla (2003); the numbered table above continues from there.
What is the newest Dark Tower book?
The Drawing of the Three Omnibus (2023) is the newest Dark Tower book released so far.
Is there a new Dark Tower book coming?
No next Dark Tower book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Award nominations for Dark Tower
Wikidata records 3 nominations for Dark Tower. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Locus Award for Best Novelette1981Shortlistedfor The Way Station
- Nebula Award for Best Novelette1981Shortlistedfor The Way Station
- Locus Award for Best Novelette1979Shortlistedfor The Gunslinger
Dark Tower at a glance
- Paused
- No new Dark Tower title has appeared for 3 years. The last was published in 2023.
- Release pace
- Dark Tower books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 6,083 pages across the 18 of 26 books with a recorded length, a median of 160 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Dark Tower books, 10 of 26, were published in the 2010s.
- Corroboration
- 18 of the 26 titles appear in all four independent book listings, and every one of them in at least three.
- Attribution
- Of the 26 titles, 14 are credited to Stephen King, 10 to Peter David, 6 to Robin Furth and 3 to Richard Isanove.
What the Dark Tower books are about
22 of the 26 Dark Tower books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: roland (fictitious character : king) is tagged on 13 of 22. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Roland (fictitious character : king) 13 of 22 books
- Comics & graphic novels, fantasy 12 of 22 books
- Comics & graphic novels 7 of 22 books
- Good and evil 5 of 22 books
- Fantasy 3 of 22 books
- Dark fantasy 3 of 22 books
- Horror 3 of 22 books
- Supernatural 3 of 22 books
- Adventure stories 2 of 22 books
- Concordances 2 of 22 books
- Heroes 2 of 22 books