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Stephen King is a writer who is capable of both brevity and intricate worldbuilding, the latter of which is evident in his Dark Tower series. Written over the course of 1982-2012, The Dark Tower series consists of eight novels and one novella. If you first heard about The Dark Tower series from film that came out in 2017, you may be disappointed to learn that the film does not neatly adapt one book from King's series. Instead, it borrows elements from all of them. So if the film made you hungry for where it all started, then you've got plenty of reading material to work through (plus, it's Stephen King we're talking about here, it's the opposite of a big problem to want to read a bunch of books by him).

So without further ado, let's get into The Dark Tower books in both release and chronological order. 

The Dark Tower books in release order:

As mentioned earlier, Stephen King wrote The Dark Tower books between 1982-2012. You can absolutely read the books in the order that they were released, because thousands of fans who have been following the series since it first began have already done that. With the exception of the novella "The Little Sisters of Eluria" and The Wind Through the Keyhole book being the final story in the series, reading all of The Dark Tower books in release order is pretty intuitive (who doesn't love some Roman numerals?). 

• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
• The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
• The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
• The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
• 'The Little Sisters of Eluria' (1998) 
• The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
• The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
• The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
• The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)

The Dark Tower books in chronological order

But say you want to read The Dark Tower books, then that switches things up a little bit. You'll have to start with the novella "The Little Sisters of Eluria," which is a short and sweet way to kick things off. 

• 'The Little Sisters of Eluria' (1998)
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
• The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
• The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
• The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
• The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
• The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
• The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
• The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)

And there you have it. If you really want to get a kick out of King's work, you could also read the disturbing children's book that he wrote under a pseudonym that exists within the world of The Dark Tower. It's called Charlie the Choo-Choo and is written by Beryl Evans featuring illustrations by Ned Dameron. Decisions, decisions! 

How to watch all of the Stephen KIng movies & TV shows in order.