The Dark Tower

Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger of a fallen world, is close to the end of a road he has followed for years. With him are the members of his ka-tet: Susannah Dean, Eddie Dean, Jake Chambers, Father Callahan and Oy, the billy-bumbler. Their goal is the Dark Tower, the nexus said to hold every world together.

The two enemies who have shadowed the series from early on, the sorcerer Walter (also called Randall Flagg) and the Crimson King, are finally drawn into direct conflict with the group. Roland's long pursuit comes down to two questions: what waits at the top of the Tower, and what getting there will cost him.

This is the seventh and final volume of a fantasy saga that blends western, quest and horror elements across many worlds. It is not a place to start. Readers arrive after six earlier books of hard losses and travel between worlds, and this one pays off a mythology that has grown steadily along the way.

King began the saga in 1982 with The Gunslinger and published this last volume in 2004. It links the series openly to other King novels, including The Stand and It. Expect a book about arrival and consequence, where the destination has been promised since Roland first chased his quarry across the desert.