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lorzael's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Though I enjoyed this book on the whole and I think it had an interesting concept, the execution felt very disjointed. It was like reading two completely separate books between the first and second halves. The book was 50% exposition and the second half felt underdeveloped as a result.
Also, the main character repeatedly makes comparisons between the events of the book/the characters he meets and fairytales (thinking to himself). I feel like the reader could have been trusted to make these comparisons themselves.
Also, the main character repeatedly makes comparisons between the events of the book/the characters he meets and fairytales (thinking to himself). I feel like the reader could have been trusted to make these comparisons themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
rissaread's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
this was my first stephen king book and i think it was a nice introduction to his writing and his style. i loved this book, i love the story and reading everything charlie was going through. i can of course see why people didn’t click with it, not everyone is into fantasy esque books and that’s fine.
and yes, i can say at some points it felt as though there was unnecessary details or pieces in chapters that were definitely not needed ( like that part in a chapter about the jenny girl charlie knew, kind of unnecessary to me ) some parts did drag and i was like alright get to the point lol but i loved the story!
i also saw some reviews here of people saying once charlie enters empis it got boring and they liked the beginning better but i completely disagree. the whole point of this story was about the other world, the world under the well and it was so fascinating to me. again, i get it not being everyone’s cup of tea but don’t pick up a book literally called fairy tale and expect a normal story about a teenager and a dog.
and yes, i can say at some points it felt as though there was unnecessary details or pieces in chapters that were definitely not needed ( like that part in a chapter about the jenny girl charlie knew, kind of unnecessary to me ) some parts did drag and i was like alright get to the point lol but i loved the story!
i also saw some reviews here of people saying once charlie enters empis it got boring and they liked the beginning better but i completely disagree. the whole point of this story was about the other world, the world under the well and it was so fascinating to me. again, i get it not being everyone’s cup of tea but don’t pick up a book literally called fairy tale and expect a normal story about a teenager and a dog.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Gore, Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Cancer, Death of parent, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content and Animal cruelty
unicornofblue's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Cannibalism, Addiction, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Classism, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, and Torture
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Bullying, Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
lantheaume's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent
krymar13's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Violence, Bullying, Confinement, Grief, Addiction, Death, Torture, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Murder
batchy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent and Car accident
cawilliams29's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a refreshing plunge into dark fairy tales, creating a magical world drawing on the nostalgia of many fairy tale and fantasy stories and tropes to create an entirely unique adventure in a spellbinding world full of compelling characters.
I find Fairy Tale very difficult to discuss as for around the first 280 pages I fully believed this would be my new favourite book of all time. By the end of the book however, my opinion had changed.
Fairy Tale follows our protagonist Charlie, a 17-year-old boy, seemingly a stereotypical ‘nice boy’ who meets the crotchety Mr. Bowditch and his elderly dog Radar who live in the creepy house on top of the hill. The first section of the story focuses on Charlie’s childhood and his befriending of Radar and Mr. B, the development of their relationships and the eventual discovery of a secret portal to another world in Mr. B’s eerie shed. None of this is a spoiler as it is in the synopsis, but I went in to this story knowing only that Charlie found a portal, not where it was or the events that led up to the discovery, I believe this added to my enjoyment. Following the discovery of the portal we follow Charlie as he enters a magical but ominous world of fairy tales, he meets a wide range of familiar characters and embarks on a thrilling but terrifying adventure.
The book seems to be split into several different sections, each section seems to change tone and pace so much that it is slightly jarring and I find I definitely preferred certain story focuses to others. The first large section of the book most would find slower paced, we are following Charlie’s narration of his own story, from the beginning. We slowly build his character, learning about the loss of his mother, his father’s struggle with alcohol and his eventual recovery and the tense but tender relationship Charlie has with his father due to his traumatic childhood. The introduction of Mr. B and Radar is my favourite arch of the whole plot. The slow trust and love that develops between Charlie and Mr. B, focusing on the mutual love of the old dog Radar and Charlie caring for them both, blossoms into a beautiful friendship, which makes Mr. B’s death – also mentioned in the synopsis- that much more heart breaking. Radar being the only connection left to Mr. B and the love Charlie had at first sight with Radar propels the rest of the plot forward. This section focuses on character development and tender building of relationships, many may find this slow paced and only necessary to drive the rest of the plot but to me this beginning section highlights the beauty of King’s writing, creating complex relationships and characters who seem fully developed people with relatable struggles and constantly pull on my heart strings.
The first tonal change occurs on entering ‘the well’ to the world of Empis. We enter an episodical section, exploring this new magical land and meeting familiar people from fairy tales we all know. These characters are not all fully fleshed out but for me that worked well in this format of episodical fairy tales. I enjoyed this first foray into Empis, following Charlie as he comes to understand the magic of this world, making friends with these interesting people and recognising the darkness of this world, trying to take over. I thought the world building was slightly reliant on info dumping through stories told by characters we meet along the way, but the atmosphere of Empis as we move through the story and the imagery King uses throughout manages to create a vivid – at times too vivid- experience of the world he is creating. It feels real through the descriptions and due to the fairy tale nature of the whole book, the world building happening through stories makes a certain amount of sense, especially in relation to the plot. I also found myself loving the array of different characters me meet- especially Dora- and the friendships Charlie builds with them, despite the archetypical characterisation of most of them. All of the characters were different from one another, they played a vital role in Charlie’s story and they were also just loveable, as most fairy tale characters are.
The section I struggled most with was around the 340 page mark, here we have a drastic shift in plot and tone, we start to explore the much darker and terrifying part of Empis and the terrible presence that is causing the suffering of this world. I found the darker elements of King’s writing a bit difficult, eventually so much violence was described that I became numb or even bored with it, obviously not the intended effect. I often did not feel the danger of characters- the narration style aided this, we know Charlie lives to tell his tale- and it took me a very long time to care for any of the characters introduced later in this book, though I will say a lot of them were more complex and realistic characters than the ones first introduced in Empis. The sections with Radar were the most effective I felt, the relationships Charlie cares most about allow certain scenes, dark or light to have a more powerful effect for me. I was fearful for Radars life throughout the story.
One of the most interesting aspects of the entire book is the conversation on Fairy Tales and the fantasy genre itself, at the core this book could be said to be a love letter to these concepts or genres. The ending of the book highlights this well, Charlie tells us his idea that Empis, whatever others worlds out there get funnelled ‘down to us in all the old stories’. The idea that Empis itself is the origin of these fairy tales we recognised throughout the book and these aspects of this world are carried over into our own through stories. The ending of the book for me held the same power and tenderness as the beginning, coming full circle with a lot of plot points, character development and relationships. The reunion of Charlie and Radar with his Charlie’s father brought me the emotional impact I felt at the beginning of the book and was searching for throughout. For me the ‘real world’ characters and relationships were simply more real, though I can’t say this is a criticism of King as I think this was intentional.
Charlie as our protagonist I found very interesting, I have heard critisim of his as a ‘cookie-cutter’ or ‘vanilla’ character, basically just a good, hardworking boy who wants to grow to be a good man. I found his characterisation more complex, throughout the story he is battling with his anger that stems from losing his mother and his traumatic childhood, he is a darker version of the Fairy Tale hero we expect to see. He leans more towards violence, battles with selfishness and though some of his darker character development can be explained away due to certain plot points, I found him to be an interesting protagonist and narrator, especially with the way he alluded to certain things to come, adding foreshadowing to his narration and building tension, making me want to keep reading.
Fairy Tale is a book of many stories, not only in the piecing together of old familiar tales in to this magical land but the plot itself is divided in to several very different stories, shifts in pace and tone may take a while to get used to but the overall feeling of the book, the enchanted fairy tale setting with a darker, more adult twist allows for a wonderfully unique reading experience. You will find yourself asking many questions and coming away feeling that you learned something new about fairy tales. You will also love Radar, she is my new favourite character.
This is my first completed Stephen King book and so I know it is not his usual style or genre, so I do not know if Stephen King fans will enjoy his foray into dark fairy tale fantasy, but I certainly did. As someone who struggled with and eventually DNF’d Pet Sematary- my first attempt at Stephen King- I enjoyed being able to experience his skilled writing and darker themes in a format more accessible for me, and not going too far in to his darker scenes as he does in Horror books, which I struggled to read.
I personally loved this book, there were parts I felt like the pacing was off and dragged for me but I think for everyone reading this story there will be a section you prefer over the others, that is the nature of a story like this that bends genres and meshes several plots and stories together. I definitely recommend Fairy Tale for anyone who might enjoy a darker Fairy Tale world with slight horror elements and wonderful characters, a dark sort of whimsy.
I find Fairy Tale very difficult to discuss as for around the first 280 pages I fully believed this would be my new favourite book of all time. By the end of the book however, my opinion had changed.
Fairy Tale follows our protagonist Charlie, a 17-year-old boy, seemingly a stereotypical ‘nice boy’ who meets the crotchety Mr. Bowditch and his elderly dog Radar who live in the creepy house on top of the hill. The first section of the story focuses on Charlie’s childhood and his befriending of Radar and Mr. B, the development of their relationships and the eventual discovery of a secret portal to another world in Mr. B’s eerie shed. None of this is a spoiler as it is in the synopsis, but I went in to this story knowing only that Charlie found a portal, not where it was or the events that led up to the discovery, I believe this added to my enjoyment. Following the discovery of the portal we follow Charlie as he enters a magical but ominous world of fairy tales, he meets a wide range of familiar characters and embarks on a thrilling but terrifying adventure.
The book seems to be split into several different sections, each section seems to change tone and pace so much that it is slightly jarring and I find I definitely preferred certain story focuses to others. The first large section of the book most would find slower paced, we are following Charlie’s narration of his own story, from the beginning. We slowly build his character, learning about the loss of his mother, his father’s struggle with alcohol and his eventual recovery and the tense but tender relationship Charlie has with his father due to his traumatic childhood. The introduction of Mr. B and Radar is my favourite arch of the whole plot. The slow trust and love that develops between Charlie and Mr. B, focusing on the mutual love of the old dog Radar and Charlie caring for them both, blossoms into a beautiful friendship, which makes Mr. B’s death – also mentioned in the synopsis- that much more heart breaking. Radar being the only connection left to Mr. B and the love Charlie had at first sight with Radar propels the rest of the plot forward. This section focuses on character development and tender building of relationships, many may find this slow paced and only necessary to drive the rest of the plot but to me this beginning section highlights the beauty of King’s writing, creating complex relationships and characters who seem fully developed people with relatable struggles and constantly pull on my heart strings.
The first tonal change occurs on entering ‘the well’ to the world of Empis. We enter an episodical section, exploring this new magical land and meeting familiar people from fairy tales we all know. These characters are not all fully fleshed out but for me that worked well in this format of episodical fairy tales. I enjoyed this first foray into Empis, following Charlie as he comes to understand the magic of this world, making friends with these interesting people and recognising the darkness of this world, trying to take over. I thought the world building was slightly reliant on info dumping through stories told by characters we meet along the way, but the atmosphere of Empis as we move through the story and the imagery King uses throughout manages to create a vivid – at times too vivid- experience of the world he is creating. It feels real through the descriptions and due to the fairy tale nature of the whole book, the world building happening through stories makes a certain amount of sense, especially in relation to the plot. I also found myself loving the array of different characters me meet- especially Dora- and the friendships Charlie builds with them, despite the archetypical characterisation of most of them. All of the characters were different from one another, they played a vital role in Charlie’s story and they were also just loveable, as most fairy tale characters are.
The section I struggled most with was around the 340 page mark, here we have a drastic shift in plot and tone, we start to explore the much darker and terrifying part of Empis and the terrible presence that is causing the suffering of this world. I found the darker elements of King’s writing a bit difficult, eventually so much violence was described that I became numb or even bored with it, obviously not the intended effect. I often did not feel the danger of characters- the narration style aided this, we know Charlie lives to tell his tale- and it took me a very long time to care for any of the characters introduced later in this book, though I will say a lot of them were more complex and realistic characters than the ones first introduced in Empis. The sections with Radar were the most effective I felt, the relationships Charlie cares most about allow certain scenes, dark or light to have a more powerful effect for me. I was fearful for Radars life throughout the story.
One of the most interesting aspects of the entire book is the conversation on Fairy Tales and the fantasy genre itself, at the core this book could be said to be a love letter to these concepts or genres. The ending of the book highlights this well, Charlie tells us his idea that Empis, whatever others worlds out there get funnelled ‘down to us in all the old stories’. The idea that Empis itself is the origin of these fairy tales we recognised throughout the book and these aspects of this world are carried over into our own through stories. The ending of the book for me held the same power and tenderness as the beginning, coming full circle with a lot of plot points, character development and relationships. The reunion of Charlie and Radar with his Charlie’s father brought me the emotional impact I felt at the beginning of the book and was searching for throughout. For me the ‘real world’ characters and relationships were simply more real, though I can’t say this is a criticism of King as I think this was intentional.
Charlie as our protagonist I found very interesting, I have heard critisim of his as a ‘cookie-cutter’ or ‘vanilla’ character, basically just a good, hardworking boy who wants to grow to be a good man. I found his characterisation more complex, throughout the story he is battling with his anger that stems from losing his mother and his traumatic childhood, he is a darker version of the Fairy Tale hero we expect to see. He leans more towards violence, battles with selfishness and though some of his darker character development can be explained away due to certain plot points, I found him to be an interesting protagonist and narrator, especially with the way he alluded to certain things to come, adding foreshadowing to his narration and building tension, making me want to keep reading.
Fairy Tale is a book of many stories, not only in the piecing together of old familiar tales in to this magical land but the plot itself is divided in to several very different stories, shifts in pace and tone may take a while to get used to but the overall feeling of the book, the enchanted fairy tale setting with a darker, more adult twist allows for a wonderfully unique reading experience. You will find yourself asking many questions and coming away feeling that you learned something new about fairy tales. You will also love Radar, she is my new favourite character.
This is my first completed Stephen King book and so I know it is not his usual style or genre, so I do not know if Stephen King fans will enjoy his foray into dark fairy tale fantasy, but I certainly did. As someone who struggled with and eventually DNF’d Pet Sematary- my first attempt at Stephen King- I enjoyed being able to experience his skilled writing and darker themes in a format more accessible for me, and not going too far in to his darker scenes as he does in Horror books, which I struggled to read.
I personally loved this book, there were parts I felt like the pacing was off and dragged for me but I think for everyone reading this story there will be a section you prefer over the others, that is the nature of a story like this that bends genres and meshes several plots and stories together. I definitely recommend Fairy Tale for anyone who might enjoy a darker Fairy Tale world with slight horror elements and wonderful characters, a dark sort of whimsy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Death of parent
shiftycow1313's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Car accident, Body horror, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Blood, Violence, Death, Cursing, Medical content, Grief, Slavery, Self harm, Murder, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Ableism, Addiction, Excrement, Confinement, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying
djenkin96's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book seemed to be split into 3 completely separate stories almost. I got a bit confused and struggled around 200-350 pages in. I struggled going from an odd fairy tale story to almost hunger games style story and then back to the strange fairy tale story. There was a lot of stairs and I often got confused if what was happening ! It was overall okay ? I enjoyed the style of writing and would read other kings.
I just kept reading because I was worried the dog was going to die ! I’m unsure if that’s good because of the hook or bad because it was the only reason aftermr bowditch dies- I feel that In. Itself didn’t do the character justice.
I just kept reading because I was worried the dog was going to die ! I’m unsure if that’s good because of the hook or bad because it was the only reason after
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence
depmythmoon's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
“[…] learn to listen so you can listen to learn,” (pg. 413)
“There’s a dark well in everyone, I think, and it never goes dry. But you drink from it at your peril. That water is poison.” (pg. 446)
This was my first Stephen King book (I know I’m behind, please ✋🏾😭), and I really enjoyed his writing style. If I had to relate it to anything I’ve read before, it would be “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. It’s that descriptive type of writing that tends to have longer sentences and delve into minor details of something a character mentions. He also uses parenthesis more liberally than any author I’ve read before, which I enjoyed seeing. I’m not exactly sure why some people suggest that this isn’t the Stephen King book to start with. It was a great read in my opinion (if the 5 ⭐️ rating was anything to go off of). If this isn’t considered to be one of his best, I’m just glad that I have many more great works to look forward to.
This story has an overall theme that focuses on morality and how nobody is only good or only evil. We follow the male MC, Charlie Reade, who has a less than squeaky clean past, yet he has such a noble role within the story that juxtaposes that past nicely. He can even recognize that he may not be the textbook definition of a protagonist in a story, but he steps up to the plate anyway. The whole reason he even got into this situation is some twisted sense of obligation that hurt my heart for him while also making me think further about the motives of the good deeds that people choose to do. Anything that makes me slightly question how I view the world and others is guaranteed to stick with me and get a good rating.
Radar, the dog that Charlie goes on this mission to save, was both so adorable and heartbreaking. Seeing how her condition deteriorated as the story continued pulled at the heartstrings. Had I been a pet owner, I know for a fact that this book would have made me shed more than a few tears. So, pet owners, please be careful when going into this story. She’s such a good girl 😭
I will say… the big bad if the story did feel slightly anticlimactic while also being fitting for this tale. It left me torn, but I did love how King was able to tie it all back to multiple points that go all the way back to the beginning of the story. It would have been nice to see a little bit more there, of all places, but we were already pushing like 500+ pages at this point, so I don’t exactly blame him for getting it out the way.
“There’s a dark well in everyone, I think, and it never goes dry. But you drink from it at your peril. That water is poison.” (pg. 446)
This was my first Stephen King book (I know I’m behind, please ✋🏾😭), and I really enjoyed his writing style. If I had to relate it to anything I’ve read before, it would be “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. It’s that descriptive type of writing that tends to have longer sentences and delve into minor details of something a character mentions. He also uses parenthesis more liberally than any author I’ve read before, which I enjoyed seeing. I’m not exactly sure why some people suggest that this isn’t the Stephen King book to start with. It was a great read in my opinion (if the 5 ⭐️ rating was anything to go off of). If this isn’t considered to be one of his best, I’m just glad that I have many more great works to look forward to.
This story has an overall theme that focuses on morality and how nobody is only good or only evil. We follow the male MC, Charlie Reade, who has a less than squeaky clean past, yet he has such a noble role within the story that juxtaposes that past nicely. He can even recognize that he may not be the textbook definition of a protagonist in a story, but he steps up to the plate anyway. The whole reason he even got into this situation is some twisted sense of obligation that hurt my heart for him while also making me think further about the motives of the good deeds that people choose to do. Anything that makes me slightly question how I view the world and others is guaranteed to stick with me and get a good rating.
Radar, the dog that Charlie goes on this mission to save, was both so adorable and heartbreaking. Seeing how her condition deteriorated as the story continued pulled at the heartstrings. Had I been a pet owner, I know for a fact that this book would have made me shed more than a few tears. So, pet owners, please be careful when going into this story. She’s such a good girl 😭
I will say… the big bad if the story did feel slightly anticlimactic while also being fitting for this tale. It left me torn, but I did love how King was able to tie it all back to multiple points that go all the way back to the beginning of the story. It would have been nice to see a little bit more there, of all places, but we were already pushing like 500+ pages at this point, so I don’t exactly blame him for getting it out the way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Addiction, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual content and Cursing