Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

20 reviews

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

It felt good to be in the discomforting arms of Stephen King, again, and this is one of his old-school fantasy-adventure tales with the customary unexpected grit. If you have appreciated tales the like of The Talisman or The Eyes of the Dragon,--even, to a degree, 11.22.63-- this is a good choice.  If you're looking for something closer to the darkness of It or Needful Things or something heavier in character development like his Finders Keepers, Insomnia, From a Buick 8, or Hearts in Atlantis, there is somewhat less to satisfy.  This is roller-coaster King having a good time writing, throwing in odds and ends from his (our) childhood because he can, taking open shots at Disney and contemporary politics because it's fun. Enjoy the adventure, wince at the satisfying squelches of flesh, and say hello to the dog. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Bullying, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Torture, and Toxic friendship

spaceykate's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

despite my initial misgivings about this being a s.king book, i actually found myself really enjoying it. there are a LOT of references - some oblique, some literally spelled out and quoted (from fairy tales to modern movies to even a name drop of obama) - but i'm a nerd who absolutely loves linking things to other things i already know, so i got over it. although s.king reaaaaally drawing out the jack in the beanstalk and rumpelstiltskin metaphors for 600 pages did get a tick tiring.

part of me was a little "meh" about

an outsider coming in to save the royal family / the world from physical disabilities and his greatest success was not having any disabilities plus being a good ol' midwestern farm boy who was good at football, combined with certain individuals having to "overcome" their disabilities to reach true character potential... it just felt a little eeeeeh to me as someone who has struggled with hearing loss, like damn guess i need a perfectly "whole" human to save the day or to magically somehow overcome my disability to kill my demons /eyeroll

. i really liked charlie's whole "i'm a dark boy" internal narrative because 1) it was funny. this kid is like, 17. from bumfuck illinois. it's not hard to rise to the top when you've only got like 150 kids in your graduating class. and he's so fucking serious because he had to grow up too fast and it's like goddamn whiplash to read a book about a kid who would be your age in your timeline dealing with this shit but also talking about touching boobs. lmao and 2) finally! an idiot (affectionate) protag who thinks they're an antihero! much better than the alternative. it definitely endeared me to his character more that he thought he didn't deserve any of this opportunity to experience and save another world beneath ours, that his past made him unworthy and he had to hold up an imaginative bargain that was never decided upon except in his soul. 

i feel a little cheated because the cover definitely looks like a dragon eye and we didn't really get a dragon in this book (fight me, that one scene was not equivalent - it was an eldritch being) but! i forgive s.king.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Blood, Physical abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Ableism

i need to make this absolutely clear: the dog does not die in this book. IT GETS KINDA DICEY in a few spots but the dog survives the whole book.

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Confinement, Fatphobia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Classism, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, War, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Addiction, Alcoholism, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, and Violence

topherisswell's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Terminal illness, Body horror, Death of parent, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty

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: 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

mandaraffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Slavery, Body horror, Addiction, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Car accident, Excrement, Gore, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Ableism, Chronic illness, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, and Incest

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Violence, Ableism, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Infertility, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

Minor: Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Racism, and Rape

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed both halves of this tome by Stephen King. I’ve seen a lot of reviewers who say they lost interest when Charlie goes down the well, but I’m not sure what they were expecting since the book is called Fairy Tale. Stephen King shares in his author’s note that he wrote this as a comfort during COVID, and I definitely got swept away by the characters and world building. He did a fantastic job building up my love for both Charlie and Radar. I would love to read more stories set in this little corner of the King-iverse.

I was hoping for an Eyes of the Dragon reference, since that’s one of my favorite books ever, but didn’t notice any.

I took a star off for some pacing issues and the fact that Charlie does NOT sound like a teenager from the present day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Body horror, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Alcoholism, Death, Torture, Gore, and Slavery

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Sexual content, and Bullying

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Gun violence, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction and Torture

Minor: Infertility, Incest, and Racial slurs

braiths_book_thoughts's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.75

I LOVED this book. 

It brought me out of a reading slump and allowed me to enjoy the works of Stephen King. I don't enjoy the genre of horror, so when this fantasy book came out I was excited. It did not disappoint!

I completely and utterly fell in love with the characters, they weren't always brave people or good people, some choices they made were cruelty for the sake of cruelty. Yet, they were perfect for this story. 

Some things happened too fast, sometimes the story would build up to a fight and it would be over faster than expected, but for me, this did not take away from the joy and pleasure of reading this. 

If you love portal world fanatsy, this one is for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Terminal illness, Grief, Physical abuse, War, Cursing, Death of parent, Gun violence, Car accident, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Murder, and Torture