Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

50 reviews

writtenbycj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This is my review for Stephen King’s ‘Fairy Tale’ I just finished the book about 20 minutes ago. This story follows a 17 year boy who inherits keys to a house and shed that hold a great deal of mystery. 

I wanna start by saying, if you’re not into long books or slow burns, this book is not for you. This is a 24/hr read. Took me

around three weeks to finish. It is LONG. 

This story is really detailed and very emotional from the very beginning.

It pulled me In and managed to keep me interested for a while. The dialogue—In my opinion—Is its strongest moments. The narration is perfectly done. I found myself laughing a lot to this book a lot more than I thought. 

However, in my honest opinion. There was no reason for this book to be this long. I feel like the first half did a better job at keeping me interested and invested with the story where as the second half felt like a choir to get through. 

I also feel like the romance In this book was unnecessary. It felt a tad bit forced and out of place and the story could have gone without it. 

I also feel like the threat level for this story was off. The entire book almost headers on this threat that ends somewhat anticlimactic 

It just felt a little dragged out. 

I feel like if some of the immense detail and exaggeration, and forced Romance was kept to a minimum, this book would have been golden. 

I mean every relationship and character interaction In this book felt impactful, and beautiful and interesting, except for the romantic one. It just took me out of the story. 

Overall, I am really glad I read this book. It is a fun time and a well thought out story. It’s well written and Stephen king does a great job making this story feel realistic. I don’t think I ever question the authenticity or realism of the story. 

However, If you are going to read this book, I suggest listening to the audio book. The narration Is the best part of this book and the audiobooks narrator captures that In all the right places.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Torture, Excrement, and Murder

nialiversuch's review against another edition

I found the book too long, overly wordy and slow. I also didn't like the representation of people with disabilities/facial differences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

caitlintrutt's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s a really good book, but so different from what Stephen King usually writes. I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend, but if someone is looking for Stephen King recommendations there are other books of his I’d recommend first. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, and Violence

natbooks_'s review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

adventurous 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

2.25

This is the 13th Stephen king book I've read and I have a lot of feelings about it.

I didn't really like it.

The premise of finding a door to another world isnt an original concept, but it's a great concept because the possibilities are endless. Maybe that's why I'm so disappointed.

Stephen king tends to write books with settings so rich they almost feel like characters themselves but I didn't feel that way in this book. It wasn't as immersive as I'd hoped.

The pacing of this story was off and it felt bloated. We don't find out about the fantasy world until we are basically a third into the book. i actually enjoyed the beginning act because there was a lot of mystery and anticipation and the relationship between charlie and Howard was wholesome, but it could have been shaved down. A lot of it wasn't necessary. Same with the events that follow Charlie's encounter with the night soldiers - it just felt so long and lackluster. This book felt like 3 different stories squished into one. 

The tone of the story was off for me. It's fantasy but I wish it had more horror elements. Charlie finds himself in dire situations but I never felt like he was in true danger. There was very little fear. Part of this might be because he is telling the story in past tense. So we know he is going to be okay or else he wouldn't be telling us the story. There was a few times when I wish the fantasy world was scarier, kind of like the world in From The Light of His Lantern by Abe Moss. There were also a few times when I thought this story would be excellent if Adam Nevill wrote it and made it spooky!

The general plotline was kind of ridiculous. No 17 year old would put himself in danger for the reason charlie goes to the fantasy world in the first place.

I did really like Charlie as a character. I enjoyed that he wasn't totally pure and good. He was capable of violence but trying to do the right thing. Not everything was super easy for him and he had to be witty. This also felt like a coming of age story as well where Charlie has to sacrifice and grow. His character development was good.

The climax was basically non-existent. The ending felt too easy. I was excited for the book to be over. There was bits of political commentary scattered throughout the book which I especially didn't like because it was totally unnecessary.

The narrator of the audiobook did a great job.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest and War

theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is a treatise on disability, how we treat others, and how we treat ourselves. Does the inner self match the outer self (again, back to disability)? As a disabled person, I completely embraced it. It made me cry more than once.

It’s also a treatise on how we change everyone we meet, for better for worse. The choice of how is ours.

You’ll be wondering (and if you’re like me, worrying) does the dog die? Click here if it’s bothering you:

no, no worries—or rather, worry not.</spoiler</>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Slavery, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Hate crime, Torture, and Cannibalism

elmcee's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Torture, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

febronia87's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Incest, and Sexual content

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Fantastical. Magical. Unbelievable. Amazing. Wondrous. Delightful. While this isn’t a book I would normally chose, I absolutely fell in love with a young man named Charlie and the pet he didn’t choose but came to love anyway. Too complex for me to even give a synopsis of, I’d just say if you want to read a book about adventure, read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism