“Fairy Tale” by Stephen King was such a delight to read, it’s something you just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy slowly in stride. I loved how as always with King, he brings you back to a time when you were a kid and had to deal with all the usual things kids dealt with. Relationships, sports, family, friends, doing stupid things, and just trying to make sense of it all.
I loved all the characters King created in this novel. Charlie, Mr. Bowditch, Leah, and even the fantasy characters were all fantastic. Now, for me personally, when it comes to Radar, I became a dog owner for the first time in my life back in 2021 as she connected with me. I have a cockapoo by the name of Ozzy Skywalker and reading about Radar hit home for me in so many ways.
All the interactions, situations, events, and descriptions were exactly that of a dog and how a dog owner would react. I can imagine if you’re also a dog owner, you will feel the same way as you connect immediately with the dynamic duo of Charlie and Radar and the adventures that await them.
Don’t worry, I will not ruin anything for you but this novel is simply amazing. The way King blurred reality into fantasy completely blew me away. Even all the scary and horror situations were perfect that led to an awesome fairy tale story that was unique and just so good. The atmosphere, world-building, character development, and the pure creepiness of everything King built just really resonated well with me. Once I got to the 80% mark, it was incredibly hard to put this down to see what would ultimately transpire.
Also, the illustrations for each chapter brought me back to my childhood as I remembered reading a lot of horror and mystery novels that did this. I have no idea who created these graphics for King in every chapter but they were great and captured the essence of each one. As I read, I’d often head back to see the image just to give me that visual as it happened. So well done!
When it comes to the ending, it delivered after such a climactic buildup. I had no idea what would transpire but when it did, my goodness, it was wonderful and wrapped up an unforgettable novel. It was simply a perfect way to end things that left me beyond satisfied.
I give “Fairy Tale” a perfect 5/5 and I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves King, fantasy, horror, and wants to see what happens when both worlds collide.
by LTJ81
1 Comment
Really enjoyed the way he handled the father’s alcoholism. It was a great way to establish Charlie as a character. With 100 pages devoted to it, I was kind of surprised it effectively ended up being irrelevant to the novel as a whole. The relationship with Mr Bowditch and most particularly, with Radar were extremely well handled. The connection with other characters, particularly Leah, felt a bit underdeveloped as a result. The sexual escapade felt utterly forced and unbelievably unnecessary, but at the same time, they seem to be a mainstay of King’s writing. It’s by far the most satisfying King novel I’ve read.