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naomi_k's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Torture
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Cannibalism, Genocide, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Slavery
nyree42's review against another edition
4.0
Well, it delivered exactly what I was looking for, and now that I know that a work of Mr. King was quite enjoyable, I will peruse his catalogue to find out if he has written anything else that might be to my taste.
As for my review... the plot of "Fairy Tale" was a bit slow at times; he is quite a verbose author who seems to like to thoroughly flesh out the character's life and the world around them, but that was fine. I still enjoyed all of it, even if sometimes I put the book down for awhile once I'd gotten to one of the more "drawn-out" parts.
It's not a "scary" tale; just creepy when talking about the villains, the evil, and the bad things that happened to people, but it remained "down to earth" and hopeful even in the face of darkness.
I will be hoping that it is adapted into a mini-series! That or two films (need at least two so that important things aren't rushed over). My preference would be a nice, "true-to-the-book" TV mini-series adaptation though. Amazon Prime or HBO, let's do this! (Sorry, can't bet on Netflix, they might ruin it.)
Reading age: would recommend for, at the youngest, age 16 and up. (Note that it contains violence, some gore/death/injury-depictions, frightening/tense situations, some sexual mentions and lewd jokes and swearing, so it's not child-friendly.)
Since it's about a teenager, there is something that teens would get out of it; yet it's written for adults and with an adult perspective, so if you're in your 20s and up it will probably be more meaningful. I've passed my 20s and it still hit home for me, making me remember what it was like to be an adolescent - although Charlie Reade was a lot more cool than I was at that age.
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death, Kidnapping, Body horror, Alcoholism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Slavery, and War
l1brarygirl's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Body horror, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Cancer, and Bullying
karapillar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Police brutality, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Cursing, Hate crime, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Torture, Abandonment, Medical content, Cancer, Pregnancy, Slavery, Child death, Cannibalism, Confinement, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
anastashamarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
🗡️ There's objectively nothing wrong with this, expect that the pacing slow. (So slow that I--as someone who strictly listens to audiobooks no faster 1.35x because I like to be immersed in the inflection and voice acting--had to bump this sucker up to 2x to be able to get through it.)
🐕🦺 Charlie is a well-rounded character, whose motivations totally hit hard...as I, too, would risk life and limb to get even just a little more time with my dog. The "other" world was as immersive as I would hope. The relationships appropriately tugged at my heart strings. And yet...
🧌 This was such a standard chosen one hero's tale. Prototypical, in fact. More a homage to fairy tales than a new and original one. At such a hulking tome from a well-loved author (who has created some of my favorite stories ever), I just expected more I guess.
🎒 Listen, I'm not my any means mad that I read this (I enjoyed it a lot and have even recommended it to a few people already), but I also don't think it added anything to my life either. This was just really and truly fine.
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcoholism
Minor: Murder and Torture
Old sick dog's decline described through most of the book. The dogtwistykris's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
I enjoyed both "parts" of this book, although they had very different vibes. Part one with Charlie and Mr. Bowditch and Radar was wonderful. I loved watching the blossoming, unlikely friendship between a 17-year old and a grumpy old man with a loving, protective dog. It felt very wholesome and heartwarming, until Mr. Bowditch's death, at which point, the magical, fairy tale elements are introduced.
About 40% of the way through the book, I felt like the pacing was off. I almost DNF'd the book merely because I felt it was a case of reading a book at the wrong time (I was on vacation and thought a long audiobook would help with the plane rides.. I almost dozed off on the plane instead). I truly enjoyed the second half, once things picked up, and I consumed the last 30% of the book within a day or so. King does a great job with world-building and it was very easy to connect with Charlie and the characters in Empis.
Along with some of the pacing, I also had issue with the way Charlie spoke. I'm not opposed to swearing or vulgar language but
1. Charlie does NOT sound like someone born in 1996 (the emphasis on why Charlie say "awesome sauce" is just.. bizarre? I was born in 1990 and this didn't seem like a common phrase used, let alone one I would want to translate in another world)
2. The sexualization is just.. so ridiculous in some of King's novels, and this one is no exception. I get it, Charlie is a 17-year old, and "boys only think about sex", but the fact Charlie describes the breasts of different characters (ones he's attracted to or not) is just.. so weird to me.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Violence, Death of parent, and Cursing
Moderate: Confinement and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism
_bxllxe_'s review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Moderate: Violence, Alcoholism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Body horror
Minor: Cancer, Torture, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Racial slurs
selenatothemax's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Confinement, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism, Torture, and Slavery
Minor: Excrement
cc0906's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Cursing, Excrement, Medical trauma, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Murder, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Addiction, Car accident, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Confinement, and Kidnapping
likethepickle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The hero is very likable even knowing he has the capacity to be unlikable. The story is slow to start, but catches interest and holds it, especially for fans of fairy tales. a little meta in that sense but it works.
Most importantly, the dog lives.
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Torture, Slavery, Death of parent, and Excrement