The Chronological order of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

Stephen King’s Dark Tower saga stands at the very center of his literary multiverse. What began as a lone gunslinger’s pursuit of the Man in Black has grown into an eight-novel epic plus a prequel novella, a work that weaves threads from his stand-alone horror, fantasy and science-fiction novels into a single, cohesive cosmology.

At its core is Roland Deschain’s relentless journey toward the Dark Tower, a nexus where all realities converge, sustained by six invisible Beams and guarded by ancient forces. Drawing inspiration from Browning’s “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” Tolkien’s sweeping sagas, Arthurian legend and the stark moral landscapes of spaghetti Westerns, King forged a quest that is both grand myth and intimate character study.

 

 

Over decades the Dark Tower grew into a narrative gravity well, pulling in characters like Father Callahan and worlds such as Derry, Maine. Vampire masters, psychic children and cosmic horrors slip between the pages of Salem’s Lot, It, The Stand and beyond, each connection adding depth and resonance to Roland’s fate.

Below is the recommended chronological reading order, presenting Roland’s saga and its myriad companions in the sequence that best reveals the grand design of King’s multiverse.

 

Stephen King’s Dark Tower Chronological Reading Order

Title	In-Universe Year(s)	Year Published
The Eyes of the Dragon	Ancient Delain / Pre-Gunslinger Era	1987
The Little Sisters of Eluria (novella)	Pre-Gunslinger Era	1998
It	1957–1958 & 1984–1985	1986
Hearts in Atlantis	1960–1999	1999
'Salem’s Lot	1975	1975
The Shining	1977	1977
The Stand	1990 (Uncut Edition)	1978/1990
The Talisman	c. 1981	1984
The Gunslinger	Timeless / Intersects with 1977	1982
The Drawing of the Three	Timeless / Intersects with 1964, 1977, 1987	1987
The Waste Lands	Timeless / Intersects with 1977	1991
Wizard and Glass	Timeless / Flashback & post-plague 1986	1997
The Wind Through the Keyhole	Interlude between Books IV & V	2012
Insomnia	1994	1994
Rose Madder	1994	1995
Desperation	c. 1996	1996
The Regulators	c. 1996	1996
Everything’s Eventual (short story)	c. 1997	1997
From a Buick 8	c. 1979–2001	2002
Black House	2001	2001
Wolves of the Calla	Timeless / Intersects with 1977	2003
Song of Susannah	Timeless / Intersects with 1977, 1999	2004
The Dark Tower	Timeless / Intersects with 1999	2004
Ur (novella)	2009	2009
Doctor Sleep	c. 2011–2012	2013

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