Name: Jenny Engel's review of Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Item: Fairy Tale
Rating: 5
Author: Jenny Engel

Stephen King

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy—and his dog—must lead the battle.

Fairy Tale

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours. Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is 17, he meets a dog named Radar and his aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it. Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world. King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale about another world than ours, in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy – and his dog – must lead the battle. Early in the Pandemic, King asked himself: “What could you write that would make you happy?” “As if my imagination had been waiting for the question to be asked, I saw a vast deserted city—deserted but alive. I saw the empty streets, the haunted buildings, a gargoyle head lying overturned in the street. I saw smashed statues (of what I didn’t know, but I eventually found out). I saw a huge, sprawling palace with glass towers so high their tips pierced the clouds. I saw a magic sundial that could turn back time. Those images released the story I wanted to tell.”

I remember thinking that we all are, really, just ghosts on the face of the earth trying to believe we have weight and a place in the world.

Rose

You get used to the amazing, that's all. Mermaids and IMAX, giants and cell phones. If it's in your world, you go with it. It's wonderful, right? Only look at it another way, and it's sort of awful. Think Gogmagog is scary? Our world is siting on a potentially world-ending supply of nuclear weapons, and if that’s not black magic, I don't know what is.

Dissing disabled people is crap behavior, even if the disabled person in question happens to be an asshole who whacks his son and casts aspersions on your mother.

Gotta love some trauma on the second page of the book

Alesha Clifford

If the old wooden bridge had never been replaced by one made of steel, my mother might still be alive.

“A brave man helps. A coward just gives presents.”

You never know where the trapdoors are in your life, do you? 

Melanie Harvie

I think there’s always a reason for love, but sometimes hate just is. A kind of free-floating evil.

Rachel McKay

Unique, well-written, and great characters with flawed back stories.

Jenny Engel

Jordan

DNF

That was the least interesting Stephen King book I have ever read. By the time the fairy tale aspect finally began, I had lost any interest I had in the story in the first place.

Kings slow place is nothing new, but this one felt much much slower, it was bogged down with so many unnecessary details and I think that is what made the pace extra slow going.
Like it's cool that he can envision a story in such detail but he doesn't need to insert barely related details in parentheses in every single paragraph.
They weren't even interesting but unrelated details. Just boring ass details that added absolutely nothing, other then you now know that detail.

I really enjoyed this book, it was my first Stephen King. It's not at all scary (which is good, because scary is not my vibe), it leans more toward a fantasy with some dark fairy tale elements. 

Michelle Hruby

Zachary Roberts

Luka verhaege

A master of terror exploring other genres. He did it extraordinary. 

Joel Mendoza Sanchez 

Danny

I got really into it at first during the book, but up to a certain point I just lost interest and it started getting quite slow. Truthfully, I want to give it 2 stars but what keeps it at 3 is that the writing itself is good and there's 2 characters I LOVE that kept me interested while I was enjoying it. It's unfortunate that I had to DNF but I was not going to push myself. Maybe King's works isn't for me.

Closest I've come to crying at a stephen king novel 

T J 

(Found this review I wrote a little while back on keep notes in my phone. I never write reviews so sorry about this one.)


Well, once you've read one Stephen king book you've read em all, so they say. I think some authors are like that - they have a distinctive, some night say overbearing - style that screams "This book is by THIS GUY!" But for me, it's like putting on a cozy jumper. I got exactly what I expected from this book, no more, no less. Worth the price of admittance, certainly. I was very reminded of 11/22/63 - a dying man passing on a portal to another world. There were definite shades of From A Buick 8, too, if you've read that; the cockroaches could have easily come out of the trunk of the mysterious Buick. 

One thing that put me off a little, to start with at least, was the protagonist. In the beginning, Charlie is wholesome and hale and rather dull. He plays sports well, he fancies a blonde girl, he helps out old folks. He's ready to jump down a hole into a magical, dangerous land to extend the lifespan of an elderly dog he's only recently met. 
 There's nothing modern about Charlie, either. He could easily have been transported from 1950-something, airpods and "The Net" (lol) aside. He has friends with old man names: Andy, Bertie. This may be deliberate - intended to give it a timeless quality - but to me it smacked of writing by an old guy who has never met a teenager and was instead drawing on his memories of his own childhood in 1897, or whenever the hell Stephen King was a kid. (Of course, King, being King, is all too aware of Charlie's yawnsome qualities and reminds the reader of what a bad kid Charlie used to be. But I didn't find it convincing, so when our hero decides to break both of someone's wrists and hurl them over a fence it came a little out of the blue.) I liked Radar instantly, though. King always writes animals well when he's not trying to kill them off. 

When we finally get to Empris though, things pick up. Everday words like "Seafront" take on a magical quality quickly, and I found myself falling for the world fast. The way Leah eats is wonderfully horrible to begin with, and it only gets worse(better?) from there. Out of everyone Charlie meets on the road, Claudia was of course my favourite. She reminded me of Gordon Cole from Twin Peaks, and I laughed at everything she said, despite the steadily-darkening tone. 

And then of course, it all goes to crap. Charlie goes to prison and it's around that time I was legally dead of boredom and had to force myself to read the rest of the book Clockwork-orange style. I have absolutely no memory of what happened and I don't care to remedy that. 

You were doing so average, Mr King. Why ruin it?

Such a fun read and so unlike other SK books. Makes me want to read some more Fantasy!

John Vetter

When I started to get into this book I told a friend that it felt like reading “Goosebumps for adults” and I stick to that quote now that I’ve finished it! Stephen King has created another superb work of fiction which grips you from the opening chapter. The pacing is almost perfect, the character development well flushed out, taking the time to invest feeling and importance into each of his characters and the world building excellent. This is an adventure from start to finish, with a plot twist in the final third that ramps up the excitement! 

What a GREAT story of love and adventure! This was my first Stephen King read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved this book. It was emotional, exciting, heartbreaking, and also funny. 

I’ve heard that most King books are wordy and repetitive. While this one is not an exception, I never found myself bored or waiting for action. Something was always happening or about to happen.

I definitely recommend this book to those who like the classic fairy tale stories, perilous adventures, old people & German shepherds ♥️

Jillian Roberts

What a GREAT story of love and adventure! This was my first Stephen King read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved this book. It was emotional, exciting, heartbreaking, and also funny. 

I’ve heard that most King books are wordy and repetitive. While this one is not an exception, I never found myself bored or waiting for action. Something was always happening or about to happen.

I definitely recommend this book to those who like the classic fairy tale stories, perilous adventures, old people & German shepherds ♥️

Debbie Gaugler 

I listened to the audio book, and it was ok. I plan on reading the physical book because, in my opinion, I have a difficult time with the lack of suspense and climactic events when I listen to the stories.

I really enjoyed this - there was a part a little way in where I slightly lost interest but it soon picked up again and damn did it get good! Super fast-paced towards the end too! 

Robin

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was slow, but still kept me captivated. As it unravelled it got better and better. Definitely recommend. 

Jodie Reads

Judy Hutchins 

This was a revisiting of Jake(but not) in the dark tower series, and more!

Jazz

Bethany 

This is not only my favourite Stephen King book, I think it may be my favorite book of all time.

I have really enjoyed this one and will actually miss the world of empis :) 

Marcus Jeffery

This is my latest Stephen King novel in an audiobook that I finished. It's a long read. It is indeed an ode to Lovecraft and Bradbury. As the title connotes, it is a modern fairy tale studded with contemporary language. The narrator gave his best to make the dialogue interesting (grunting included). It's a story about a kid and his dog, Radar, and a grumpy old man who turned out to be someone else. It's a story about accidental friendships, love, and the triumph of good versus evil. Of course, there were those monarch butterflies and oversized bats and grasshoppers who can communicate. This is bereft of horror, of mystery, of scary monsters–well, there's one. If you're a big fan of King, you'll probably find this long novel a break from his usual shtick. 

Erwin Lemuel Oliva

I feel very indifferent about this story, what had the capabilities of being great just missed the mark, and trust me I feel blasphemous even saying this publicly about the iconic Stephen king. 

Fairy tale is tale about a high school boy named Charlie Reade who meets a estranged Mr Bowditch and his dog Radar, Charlie helps Mr Bowditch with day to day tasks after an accident and starts to drop hints about a big secret he has been hiding. 

The first 1/3 of this book had me captivated, the motif of “fairy tales” and realism was withheld and demonstrated beautifully throughout, however mr king tends to ramble it seems and it led to some scenes becoming lacklustre instead of impactful. 

Overall I think there are some more amazing king novels and stories out there, is this his best ? No, is this his worst? Also no. 

jaz ☁️

I feel very indifferent about this story, what had the capabilities of being great just missed the mark, and trust me I feel blasphemous even saying this publicly about the iconic Stephen king. 

Fairy tale is tale about a high school boy named Charlie Reade who meets a estranged Mr Bowditch and his dog Radar, Charlie helps Mr Bowditch with day to day tasks after an accident and starts to drop hints about a big secret he has been hiding. 

The first 1/3 of this book had me captivated, the motif of “fairy tales” and realism was withheld and demonstrated beautifully throughout, however mr king tends to ramble it seems and it led to some scenes becoming lacklustre instead of impactful. 

Overall I think there are some more amazing king novels and stories out there, is this his best ? No, is this his worst? Also no. 

Struggled to get through this story once Charlie went to the other world.

The first half was extremely enjoyable! I loved Charlie and Bowditch’s relationship, but once he went into the well I found Charlie so dislikable. King’s description of the magical world wasn’t something I could picture. 

Sam White

Struggled to get through this story once Charlie went to the other world.

The first half was extremely enjoyable! I loved Charlie and Bowditch’s relationship, but once he went into the well I found Charlie so dislikable. King’s description of the magical world wasn’t something I could picture. 

This was my first Stephen King book and it did not disappoint. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going in, but what I found was a modern fairy tale that didn’t shy away from having actually complex characters unlike one note Disney princesses of old. I enjoyed the subversion of fairy tales and enjoyed searching for them throughout the story. Also to me, I found the main character Charlie, though not without his own darkness, intensely likable and downright good. It was a breath of fresh air since I’ve been reading about so many “morally grey” people. This is definitely a slower paced book which I didn’t mind, but at the end King got so caught up in explaining this really convoluted setting that my eyes almost crossed and I didn't really care about it anymore. At the heart of this story though is really the love one boy has for his dog, and his willingness to do anything for her. And that I think, is something all dog lovers can get behind. If only their was a real magical sundial so no dogs would ever die. 

Rachel McKay &
Fairy Tale by Stephen King

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Fairy Tale by Stephen King