Fairy Tale
By: Stephen King
Primary Genre: Dark Fantasy
Year Published: 2022
Pages: 608
"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 seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.
Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.” And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.
A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying."
There was so much build-up to the main plot that the first quarter of the book felt like a completely different book. I got so wrapped up in the developing relationship of Charlie and Mr. Bowditch that I nearly forgot that we were supposed to be traveling to an alternate world. The blurb suggests that the main character, Charlie, meets a recluse and discovers weird sounds coming from his shed but there was so much more to it than that. Mr. Bowditch, Radar, and Charlie work their way into your heart long before Charlie starts poking around in the creepy shed.
During Charlie's stay at Mr. Bowditch's house he finds some cookie jars on the kitchen counter. He discovers a love for Pecan Sandies, which seem to be a staple in the Bowditch household. I love when books introduce me to new treats. I've never tried a Pecan Sandy, but I love pecans so I was happy to try a cookie that showcased them. I used this recipe from She Wears Many Hats. It is such a simple recipe so it's worth giving them a try, but if I'm honest, the cookies were underwhelming. It's not that anything went wrong. The recipe turned out just as described, but I personally thought they were just a bit bland and lacking in sweetness. There is a note at the bottom of the recipe suggesting that the cookies could be tossed in powdered sugar for added sweetness so maybe that's the ticket.
"I decided to investigate the cookie jar, which surely wouldn’t count as snooping. It was filled to the top with a mixture of pecan sandies and those chocolate-covered marshmallow jobbies. I decided that since I was dog-sitting, Mr. Bowditch wouldn’t miss one. Or two. Even four. I made myself stop there, but it was hard. Those sandies were certainly delicious."
I can't help, but make comparisons to other books I've read so to me Fairy Tale feels like it combines the winding storytelling of a John Irving novel with the eerie dark fantasy elements of a Neil Gaimon novel. It's a story that I think will stick with me and it has ignited a desire to start diving into Stephen King's backlist.
Fairy Tale: ★★★★☆
This is my first Stephen King book since reading Cujo in high school so I can't say how this compares to many of his other books, but I really liked it. I was fortunate to have the physical copy as well as the audiobook so I can safely tell you that the narration of the audiobook is perfect.
I will say that this book is a quite slow-paced. I mean just to get to the other world takes nearly 200 pages so be prepared to just sit back and enjoy the story. There are so many details (and yes I think some could have been left out without negatively impacting the story), but it also allowed the reader to really understand the characters and situations. Despite the slow burn, there were so many intense scenes and I was truly gripped several times and could not put this book down.
I really liked most of the characters. Oddly, the only one that fell kind of flat for me was Leah. Aside from being beautiful I'm not sure why Charlie was immediately hung up on her. For some reason Dora, Woody, and Claudia stuck out more to me than Leah. I just wish we had learned a bit more about her.
Negative thoughts aside, I love dark fairy tales and this one really delivered and I really appreciated that this was a stand alone. It's quite a lengthy stand alone so I didn't feel like I missed out on anything, but I've been reading so many series lately that it was refreshing to have everything wrapped up in one epic book.
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