The Gunslinger

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." So begins The Gunslinger, the first volume of Stephen King's Dark Tower saga and the foundation of the sprawling mythology that connects much of his work. Roland Deschain is the last of an order of knightly gunslingers, pursuing the mysterious Man in Black across a barren, decaying landscape in a world that has "moved on."

Roland's quest is single-minded and costly: the Man in Black holds the key to the Dark Tower, the nexus that holds all realities together, and Roland will sacrifice almost anything to reach it. Along the way he passes through a dead town, a demon-haunted way station, and a fateful encounter with Jake, a boy from another world — choices that will define the long road ahead.

Spare, elliptical, and steeped in the imagery of Westerns, myth, and apocalypse, The Gunslinger introduces one of King's most enduring characters and sets in motion an epic that spans eight books.