Fairy Tale
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4.4 • 284 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A #1 New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice!
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 horrific accident when he was seven, 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.
Magnificent, terrifying, and “spellbinding…packed with glorious flights of imagination and characteristic tenderness about childhood, Fairy Tale is vintage King at his finest” (Esquire).
“Good, evil, a kingdom to save, monsters to slay—these are the stuff that page-turners are made from.” —Laura Miller, Slate
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this dark fantasy by horror legend Stephen King, an unlikely friendship reveals a gateway to another world. Teenager Charlie Reade follows a barking dog to elderly, cranky Howard Bowditch, collapsed on the ground with a broken leg. Charlie feels a strange connection to the old stranger and his faithful hound, so he befriends and cares for Howard. But where did that bucket full of gold in Howard’s safe come from, and what’s in that creepy padlocked shed out back? Turns out to be a hidden tunnel to a land with two moons, an awe-inspiring deserted city, and a sleeping terror. But what’s more dangerous: the monsters from that world, or the monsters from ours? Aspiring adventurers, survivors of difficult childhoods, and dog lovers will all find something they recognize in this tale of a youthful hero facing his first adult-level decisions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller King (Billy Summers) underwhelms in an overlong fantasy most likely to appeal to his YA fans. In 2003, seven-year-old Charlie Reade's mother dies in an accident, sending his father into an alcoholic tailspin. Ten years later, a chance event changes Charlie's life dramatically; while passing by a neighbor's home, he hears frantic barking, and a feeble cry for help. He discovers elderly Howard Bowditch badly injured from a fall and calls 911, earning him Bowditch's gratitude and a reputation as a hero. Charlie becomes the caretaker for both the dog, Radar, whom he grows to love, and Bowditch, who gradually reveals his secrets, including the source of the gold pellets he keeps in his safe: the mysterious shed on his property contains a portal to another world, one teeming with evil that wants to escape. Once the action shifts there, the plot becomes derivative, retreading standard portal fantasy tropes and the familiar struggle between good and evil. Illustrations at the start of each chapter, headed with descriptions of what they include, further convey a juvenile feel. This attempt at creating a sense of wonder and magic falls short.
Customer Reviews
He just knows how to write em
Felt like the book started off great and wrapped up a little too quickly, but was a good read.
Fairy Tale
What a wonderful childhood story filled with adventure, love, fear, hatred, and of course a story book ending. Wonderful, Mr. King. You have outdone yourself. I miss Charlie and Radar already.
Gratitude
Thank you Mr. King.