UNDER THE HOOD · HALLOWEEN EDITION · OCTOBER 2026
The Dark Tower: The Greatest Work of Modern Fiction
Yes, I'm Including Tolkien. No, I'm Not Apologizing.
By Tiffany Zolbrook
I'm going to say something that's probably going to annoy a significant number of fantasy readers.
Stephen King's The Dark Tower is the greatest work of modern fiction.
Not just horror fiction. Not just fantasy. Fiction. Yes, I'm including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Before someone starts typing an angry paragraph about Tolkien inventing modern fantasy, I'm aware. Put your sword down, Bilbo. We're having a discussion.
I believe The Dark Tower accomplishes something extraordinary in world-building, character development and the very structure of fiction. And unlike most arguments on the internet, I actually intend to explain why.
1. Tolkien Built a World. King Built a Universe.
Tolkien's Middle-earth is one of the most meticulously constructed worlds in fiction. Languages, cultures, history—he built the foundations of modern fantasy. King did something different: he made a universe that could contain almost everything he'd written. 'Salem's Lot, The Stand, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis, Everything's Eventual: the connections aren't just Easter eggs. Father Callahan's story, for example, becomes essential to the larger journey. Tolkien built an astonishing world. King built an astonishing network of worlds. I find the second more ambitious.
2. Roland Deschain Is Not the Hero You Want Him to Be
Roland is brave, disciplined and loyal to his quest. He's also obsessive, ruthless, emotionally damaged and willing to sacrifice almost anything to reach the Tower. The quest may be noble, but his choices are not always noble. King refuses to let him off the hook. Sometimes Roland's greatest enemy isn't the Crimson King or the Man in Black. It's Roland. That makes him a considerably more interesting protagonist than a hero who always knows what's right.
3. The Ka-Tet Is the Real Heart of the Story
Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers and Oy aren't just an adventuring party. They're damaged people from different lives and realities who argue, fail, change and learn to love each other. Eddie's transformation from struggling addict to gunslinger is extraordinary. Susannah's struggle for identity and autonomy adds psychological depth. Jake forces Roland to confront the difference between loving someone and protecting them. And Oy? I'm not discussing Oy. It's Halloween. I'm trying to have a nice evening. The destination matters, but the people traveling toward it matter more.
4. King Refused to Let Genre Become a Limitation
It's a Western. And a fantasy. And science fiction. And horror. Sometimes it's a post-apocalyptic survival story. There's Arthurian mythology, ancient machinery, psychic abilities, vampires, monsters, and a train that treats riddles like a competitive sport. That shouldn't work. It absolutely should not work. Yet it does. The Drawing of the Three feels different from Wizard and Glass; The Waste Lands moves differently from Wolves of the Calla. King changes the storytelling machinery without losing the story's identity. It's like combining several editing systems into one seamless production. Except it took decades and reality occasionally breaks. So, basically, one of our music videos.
5. Stephen King Went Back and Fixed His Own Beginning
This might be my favorite argument. The material that became The Gunslinger began appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1978 and was collected as a novel in 1982. King couldn't possibly have mapped every detail of the eventual series at that point. As later books expanded the mythology, parts of the opening no longer aligned perfectly. So in 2003 he published a revised and expanded Gunslinger, adjusting language, characterization and story details to better connect it with the later novels. Think about that. He didn't just tell readers to ignore the inconsistencies. He went back and worked on the foundation. As someone who has spent entire evenings fixing continuity errors because a guitar mysteriously changed color between two shots, I appreciate this on a deeply personal level. Continuity isn't just about avoiding mistakes. It's about respecting the audience's investment. He understood the story had grown beyond its original blueprint, so he improved the blueprint.
6. The Dark Tower Is About Stories Themselves
The series eventually starts examining fiction itself: destiny, authorship, the relationship between imagined worlds and reality. King even introduces a fictional version of himself. Yes, that's an outrageous decision. It could have been a spectacular disaster. Instead, it asks whether characters control their destinies and whether stories exist independently of their creators. The Tower connects worlds; King's fiction connects through the Tower; the reader becomes another participant. That's a remarkable level of ambition for a series containing a murderous monorail.
7. The Ending Is Braver Than People Give It Credit For
No spoilers. I understand why some readers dislike the ending. After thousands of pages, people want resolution and reassurance that all that suffering meant something. King offers something more complicated. The ending changes how you understand Roland, his obsession and the entire journey. Whether you love it or hate it, it's thematically deliberate. I think it's brilliant precisely because it isn't comfortable. Sometimes the best ending isn't the one you want. It's the one the story has been warning you about.
8. Why I Put It Above Tolkien
Now for the angry emails. Tolkien's influence is almost impossible to overstate. Without The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, fantasy would look very different. King was influenced by Tolkien himself. I know. But influence isn't the only measure of greatness. I also care about psychological complexity, narrative experimentation, emotional consequences and thematic ambition. Tolkien perfected a form of mythic fantasy. King combined that tradition with Westerns, horror, science fiction and metafiction to make something that doesn't fit any single category. Tolkien made me believe in Middle-earth. King made me question whether Mid-World was the only world that mattered. That's why I put the Tower above even the works that helped inspire it.
9. Final Thoughts: Remember the Face of Your Father
Halloween brings the usual recommendations: Dracula, The Shining, It, something with a haunted house and a body count. All respectable. But if you want horror, friendship, sacrifice, mythology, tragedy and extraordinary creative ambition in one journey, read The Dark Tower. Start with the revised Gunslinger. Pay attention. Don't rush through Wizard and Glass. And don't assume reaching the destination is the same thing as understanding the journey. Seven main novels. Decades of evolution. One deeply flawed man walking toward a tower. Greatest work of modern fiction? In my opinion, yes. You can disagree. Just come prepared with something better than 'But Tolkien invented fantasy.' Long days and pleasant nights.
— Tiff Zolbrook
Bassist, Sugar Uprising
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