Reviews tagging 'Death'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

124 reviews

brittsbooknook's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. I've never read Stephen King as I'm not into horror but this is not horror, more dark fairy tale/fantasy.

What I liked: 
-the world building, an interesting way of looking at our fairy tales. 
-Charlie & Radar the dog! Love, love their dynamic.
-How Charlie & his fathers relationship progresses.

What I didn't like: 
-too much cussing for my taste
-some pretty vulgar phrasing at times
-the "this world's" current events/happenings being added into the story. It felt very random. It felt like they were added in so we can know the authors opinions on those things but it kept disrupting the flow of story and was distracting.

If not for my dislike reasons above I would have rated this 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Despite some ableism found in the villains (especially in how ugly appearances are equated with ugly personalities) and some of the reversal of the curse hinges on some disabilities being somewhat reverted, this book is still a dark, exciting reminder that sacrifice and loss of innocence is essential to creating a happy ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism and Sexual content

Be prepared for decaying bodies, half-dead soldiers, and said soldiers exploding. There is also some ableism in terms of how little people are treated in the text.

snovella's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence and Torture

lukerik's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Just awful. 

The protagonist grows up as a hero with one of a thousand faces, but only begins to realise it when he discovers a portal to a fairy tale world in an old man’s shed. The opening’s actually pretty good. Quite meta, but not too much. 

The problems begin when he goes through the portal and finds himself in the flimsiest, dullest fantasy world world you could imagine. OK, fine: it’s not as bad as Wizard and Glass, but not far off. An undeveloped world is fine in a real fairy tale, but this is a 600 page novel that needs to be a short story. So boring. I actually had to skip a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sunnydaysandairwaves's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, and Violence

selenatothemax's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Excrement

questionablereads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

Fantasy is not a genre that I read/listen to often, but this story was told beautifully. The protagonist Charlie is a seventeen-year-old jock, his mom has passed, and father is now a recovering alcoholic. Like all children dealing with that kind of family trauma, Charlie lashed out in his past, but is now trying to make amends for previous horrible behavior. Due to a horrific ladder accident, Charlie befriends his elderly, crotchety and recluse neighbor Mr. Bowditch, as well as Mr. Bowditch’s old dog, a German shepherd named Radar. Charlie becomes Mr. Bowditch’s caretaker and the two become a strange pair that you absolutely fall in love with. Their banter is comical and heartwarming. Mr. Bowditch has secrets of his own that Charlie eventually unravels, and we are thrown into a world of fantasy and fairytales that we all grew up with and loved, but keep in mind, this is Stephen King we’re reading, so while we KNOW the stories, these retellings are much like their original works, or darker. As I said, I’m not someone who reads fantasy often, but Fairy Tale was a great story that never got slow or lost my interest. Also, I’m a dog person, and the relationship between Charlie and Radar was everything I love about being a dog person. I cried at moments that weren’t even sad, my heart was just too full to contain myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Death of parent

cc0906's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lengelman's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

likethepickle's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

• 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

Exactly what the title states. A Fairy Tale in its truest and most messed up sense. Not particularly suspenseful or spooky like others in King’s catalogue, this leans more into uncanny and macabre than the outright dark. 

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, and Death of parent