Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

51 reviews

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

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

tortoisemonster's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful slow-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? No

1.0

Female characters were completely flat, they’re not much more than love interests, one character offering to “lie with” Charlie in a gesture of thanks was very off. King communicates evil characters through describing them as fat and ugly which is disappointing. I find it very odd that the main character (who is Jewish as far as I remember?), in order to become the prince that saves the day, has his hair change to blond and his eyes turn blue? Not sure King’s thinking behind that uncomfortable choice. Quite unremarkable and tedious at times but an uplifting ending to a basic fairy tale story.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

thebookishbugg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Death, and Gore

Minor: Cursing and Car accident

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

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

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Infertility

delwithit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, and War

Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

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

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

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

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

Moderate: Addiction and Torture

Minor: Incest, Infertility, and Racial slurs

billyjepma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

As far as Stephen King goes, this is pretty mid-tier. It's advertised as the book he wrote in quarantine to bring himself some enjoyment, and it shows, in good and less-than-good ways. The positive stuff includes King's usual strengths: excellent foreshadowing, endearing characterization, enticing ideas, you get the gist. And that stuff rules! It's been a minute since I've picked up a King book, and this was a wonderful reminder of why he's the best at what he does. Watching him develop the relationship between protagonist Charlie and old-man Mr. Bowditch and his aging dog, Radar, is a treat, especially once he begins teasing the dark, fantastical mysteries that are coming. Those first 150+ pages are all about that relationship, and it's the anchor that keeps the rest of the story from unmooring (although there are some close calls).

Bowditch is the book's highlight, arguably, and viewing him as King's self-insert character (as I did) gives the story some potentially meta-commentary elements that I liked. I doubt this is intentional, as the book doesn't explore those elements, so take my assessment with a grain of salt. King isn't interested in interrogating or subverting the fairy tale ideas he's using, opting instead to enjoy them as toys for a relatively by-the-numbers tale that's content to be a soft remix of the greatest hits. On those terms, Fairy Tale is an easy, enjoyable read, even though I kept waiting for it to become something more.

Ironically, the most effective parts of this book take place outside of the fantasy world, as it's there that King's writing is most touching and memorable. After the fantasy starts, things regrettably grow a little dull. King's characterization and pacing falter, as does his plotting. We're introduced to some wonderful supporting characters and big, exciting ideas; they just don't go anywhere. Charlie becomes a less interesting protagonist, too, as his role in the traditional fantasy adventure is as by-the-numbers as they come. King's attempts at giving it some teeth are more monotonous than anything, too, and eventually, my earlier investment in Charlie took a nosedive.

Still, despite its shortcoming, I love a good fairy tale and getting to read one of the best storytellers of a generation tell one was a ride I'm glad I took. The ending wraps things up on the kind of nostalgia-tinged note I'm always a sucker for and nails the balance between bitter and sweet like all fantasies should. I won't be running back to this one, but the vibes and visuals will happily linger in my head for a while. The book gets a 3.5/5 from me, but Radar the Very Good Dog™️ gets a 12/5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Racial slurs, Torture, and Abandonment

braiths_book_thoughts's review

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