When avid horror readers bring up Stephen King, the heaviest hitters and favorites typically come from King’s earlier works. Titles consistently brought up among his best work include The Stand, IT, Misery, Firestarter, The Green Mile, and others from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.
That’s not to say King hasn’t released some absolute bangers after the turn of the century. He finished up The Dark Tower series in the early 2000s, Under the Dome was largely loved; the Mr. Mercedes trilogy showed that he could write in the crime genre just as well as he could in horror, and 11/22/63 (in my opinion) belongs in his top-five novels of all time.
In the last ten years, his work has just felt different. All of them have been good, with a few releases shifting into great territory (Doctor Sleep, Revival, The Outsider). But he’s done a lot of collaborating (Sleeping Beauties with his son Owen; The Gwendy trilogy with Richard Chizmar), several novellas (Elevation, If it Bleeds), and a few good (but not excellent) novels, like The Institute, Later, and Billy Summers. Things just haven’t felt the same.
Now, I realize how absurd it is to expect more than three fantastic books from a writer within a decade. Still, when you’re as talented and as prolific as Stephen King and have a track record of so many incredible stories, the expectation is always there, regardless of how many don’t exactly hit the mark. With all that being said, everything is right in the world with Fairy Tale.
King’s new dark fantasy follows the story of Charlie Reade, a 17-year-old reeling from the loss of his mother, his father’s alcoholism recovery, and his own teenage problems. While walking home one day, he hears the barks of Radar, a senior dog that belongs to Mr. Bowditch, an elderly, cranky neighbor who has fallen and broken his leg. To make a positive mark in life, Charlie helps nurse Mr. Bowditch back to health, connecting to both him and Radar.
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Afterward, Charlie learns of a secret passage in Mr. Bowditch’s shed that leads to another world. After hearing the tale that there’s a way to make Radar young and healthy again, Charlie ventures into the land of Empis. This fantastical world holds both beauty and horror beyond Charlie’s wildest imagination.
Fairy Tale is an absolute return to form in King’s character development. Character-building is King’s biggest strength, and he spends about the first 150 pages of this 600-page beast showing us the ins, outs, and in-between of Charlie Reade’s life and emotions. The reader feels Charlie’s grief, anger, and pain, and his instant connection with Radar is a relatable feeling that most of us have had with our own pets at one point or another. Charlie is not necessarily the regular goodie-two-shoes hero in this story. It’s not that type of fairy tale. It took almost 200 pages to get the fantasy part of a fantasy book, and I was 100% down with it. That is a true testament to great character design.
When it gets to the dark fantasy section of the book (the last two-thirds), I am more than primed and am not disappointed. Much like many of The Dark Tower books, King transports the reader to Empis along with Charlie and Radar. The level of detail and descriptive writing are incredible. It honestly feels like I am walking out of that cave with them both, as I see everything they are, at all angles, without it being too overwhelming.
Like in most fantasy stories, there were many fun, quirky side characters and detestable, horrid (and very cool) villains. None of them took the mantle from Charlie and Radar. This is very much a story about a boy and his dog, and it never moves away from them. Moments when the two are separated feel very wrong, and as the reader, I was anxious for things to get back on track in those moments.
One of my favorite parts of Fairy Tale was King’s reliance on his inspiration from other amazing horror, science fiction, and fantasy writers. A lot of times when you read King’s novels, the book is very much his own. In this one, authors like Ray Bradbury and H.P. Lovecraft were oozing (literally) all over the story but filtered through the world and characters built by King. It was truly glorious.
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As another plus, each chapter started with a beautifully illustrated intro, with the even chapters being illustrated by French artist Nico Delort and the odd chapters being illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, the artist behind Locke & Key, a comic run written by King’s son, Joe Hill. The chapter intros reminded me of other great fantasy epics, like the illustrated versions of Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia, or even King’s own Dark Tower series. The only downfall to this was that the drawings and chapter names were a little spoiler-esque based on what was coming up in the chapter.
I’ll finish this without any major spoilers for the book. Just be warned that the book has as many heartbreaking moments as fist-raising fun ones. I highly recommend checking out Fairy Tale, even if you’ve been out on Stephen King for a while. For the first time in a while, his new book is void of many of the semi-problematic things that King has been dinged for by me in his past work. I’m particularly excited that Paul Greengrass (The Bourne series, Captain Phillips) will adapt the novel for a feature film with a theater release.
For me, this probably ranks somewhere among his top 10 books, which is pretty incredible, considering he has over 30 books on the New York Times Best-Sellers list and is 75 years old. Check this one out soon. You won’t regret it. Long live the King.
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