Stephen King has long been one of my favorite authors. So it should come as no surprise that I review yet another one of his books here.
When I first heard about this book, another King book, "The Eye of the Dragon," came to mind. And then I saw the artwork on the cover of the book, and it really, really reminded me of that earlier book. So I was expecting that the two books would have some strong similarities.
Now, yes, there are some similarities, and that goes beyond them having been penned by the same person. Indeed, they both have young male characters who, at least for a time, live in a fairy tale world, endure some hardships, and ultimately have to battle back to get what rightfully belongs to them.
However, this book felt considerably different than "Eyes of the Dragon" did, and right off the bat, too. Here's why: because it is about a pretty much normal American high school kid living in Illinois. He happens to befriend an old man with a secret. Namely, it is a sort of portal to another world. And this world is the fairy tale world.
Frankly, I actually rather enjoyed the part of the book before the fairy tale part of the book actually began. As mentioned earlier, King has long been one of my very favorite authors. And to me, his strong suit would be his character building. That means that I actually like, and sometimes even prefer, the parts of King books when others might claim that nothing is happening. A good chunk of the early part of this book is like that, as we follow Charlie Reade, who almost accidentally gets to know a Mr. Howard Bowditch, who holds the secret to gaining entry into a literal other world, as well as the gold which not only keeps him alive, but sustains him.
Eventually, though, Charlie does make it to that other world, which he realizes soon enough is a world that we would recognize as one of fairy tales. To be sure, this world is not exactly like what is conjured in the popular imagination when we think of fairy tales. Yet, there is undeniably a fairy tale world kind of element, or even magic, in this world.
This is my non-spoiler version of my review, so I will not get too much into the rest of this book. But suffice to say, I enjoyed it. Once again, King showcases his excellent writing abilities and character building while simultaneously showing off his incredible imagination. Indeed, you begin to believe you are right there along with Charlie during his visit to the world of fairy tales, which somehow King makes feel very real. For King fans, this world bears a strong resemblance to the world of the Dark Tower, as well, at least in certain instances.
One thing that I always also like about Stephen King books: they feel like a vacation from myself, and my own life. For the time when you are reading this book, it allows you to forget your own problems, and even the larger problems of this world. That is when reading is just fun, and you look forward to it. I listened to this on audio book, obtaining the cd's at my local library, since the hard copy of the book was taken, and I did not want to wait to obtain that copy, and then be given a few weeks to finish it. The audio book version I could evidently keep renewing, which is what I did. This was the first time that I read a King book first via audiobook. Was not sure it would feel the same, or that it would not detract from my reading experience. But you know what? I enjoyed it anyway, just as much as if I read the black and white pages of the hard copy of the book. In fact, it might have been even more enjoyable, because the narrator used voices and accents that breathed life into the characters, which really helped to make each of the characters come alive.
As mentioned earlier, this is my spoiler-free review of this book. Hopefully, I will get around to writing one that is more detailed, but which also contains spoilers. I will work to try and get one of those published in the not too distant future. For now, this will do.
This was a fun read, and comes highly recommended!
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