Welcome to my message board.

New member registration has been disabled due to heavy spammer activity. If you'd like to join the board, please email me at MaxDevore at hotmail dot com.

Fairy Tale — September 6, 2022

2456

Comments

  • First review, from Kirkus:

    Narnia on the Penobscot: a grand, and naturally strange, entertainment from the ever prolific King.

    What’s a person to do when sheltering from Covid? In King’s case, write something to entertain himself while reflecting on what was going on in the world outside—ravaged cities, contentious politics, uncertainty. King’s yarn begins in a world that’s recognizably ours, and with a familiar trope: A young woman, out to buy fried chicken, is mashed by a runaway plumber’s van, sending her husband into an alcoholic tailspin and her son into a preadolescent funk, driven “bugfuck” by a father who “was always trying to apologize.” The son makes good by rescuing an elderly neighbor who’s fallen off a ladder, though he protests that the man’s equally elderly German shepherd, Radar, was the true hero. Whatever the case, Mr. Bowditch has an improbable trove of gold in his Bates Motel of a home, and its origin seems to lie in a shed behind the house, one that Mr. Bowditch warns the boy away from: “ ‘Don’t go in there,’ he said. ‘You may in time, but for now don’t even think of it.’ ” It’s not Pennywise who awaits in the underworld behind the shed door, but there’s plenty that’s weird and unexpected, including a woman, Dora, whose “skin was slate gray and her face was cruelly deformed,” and a whole bunch of people—well, sort of people, anyway—who’d like nothing better than to bring their special brand of evil up to our world’s surface. King’s young protagonist, Charlie Reade, is resourceful beyond his years, but it helps that the old dog gains some of its youthful vigor in the depths below. King delivers a more or less traditional fable that includes a knowing nod: “I think I know what you want,” Charlie tells the reader, "and now you have it”—namely, a happy ending but with a suitably sardonic wink.

    A tale that’s at once familiar and full of odd and unexpected twists—vintage King, in other words.

    GNTLGNTKurbenLou_Sytsma
  • Publishers Weekly's negative review.  Apparently there are illustrations in the book.

    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.

    Hedda GablerGNTLGNTLou_Sytsma
  • Yes, there are black-and-white illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.
    Hedda GablerFlakeNoir
  • Without knowing shit about this particular book, i don’t think that reviewer knows how good steve is at fantasy and fairy-tell.  

    The illustrations being like a kid’s book sound perfect for a book titled Fairy Tale. Duh. 
    I have faith this story is good. 

    Give me the damn book to review. I guarantee it will be an honest review from someone who gets creativity . Who appreciates Stephen’s travels through the looking glass.  I adore his fantasy voice. 
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • I'm as old as shit and I adooooore fantasy, more than horror and I love Stephen's horror. But I love his fantasy more. 
    YA... whatever. Illustrations just add to the experience for me. I loved that Tad Williams did this in several series. 
    Hedda GablerGNTLGNTKurbenLou_Sytsma
  • Special Edition Books (apparently part of Hachette UK)  just announced a territory-restricted (no US or Canada sales) signed/limited edition, which sold out immediately!
    Hedda GablerFlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • Stephen King Reveals a Chapter from His New Book, FAIRY TALE

    Premieres Aug 11, 2022

    FlakeNoirHedda GablerGNTLGNTLou_Sytsma
  • Booklist review.

    King’s latest novel follows Charlie, a teen boy who befriends local recluse Mr. Bowditch and his elderly dog, Radar. Soon after, Mr. Bowditch passes away, leaving everything to Charlie, including a cassette tape that reveals the existence of a portal to another world in an old garden shed. Hoping to use the magic of this other world to restore Radar’s youth, Charlie enters Empis and becomes drawn into a desperate struggle to prevent this already sick and dying world from being finally destroyed. King’s fantasy otherworld, which some characters posit is the source of many fairy-tale or fantastic stories, is by its nature a bit of a hodgepodge of various existing references, with some occasional striking images of its own (millions of monarch butterflies, a telepathic cricket). While this novel certainly doesn’t break new ground for King or for the fantasy genre, it should please King’s existing fans, especially those who enjoyed the more complex otherworlds of the Dark Tower series or King’s earlier fantasy work, The Eyes of the Dragon (1987). HIGH DEMAND BACKSTORY: A new novel from King means lots of interest and lots of holds.

    — Nell Keep

    BevVincentHedda GablerKurbenGNTLGNTFlakeNoirLou_Sytsma
  • Listened to it. Too damn short! ❤️

    Obviously those crickets are going to remember Charlie and save his ass in Act 3. 

    I am waiting for this, Bev’s book and the Castlerock cookbook.  
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • The cricket is an interesting "character."
    Hedda GablerFlakeNoirKurbenGNTLGNT
  • The cricket is an interesting "character."
    Chekov’s cricket. 
    FlakeNoirBevVincentKurbenGNTLGNT
  • Now open it up to the first page and take a picture, then page 2, and so on and so forth. 

    😀😉 

    It looks beautiful. 
    not_nadineBevVincentFlakeNoirKurbenHedda GablerGNTLGNTLou_Sytsma
  • Are the puzzle pieces included?
    Hedda GablerGNTLGNTcatFlakeNoir
  • I want this book. Now now now now now. 
    catKurbenGNTLGNTFlakeNoir
  • Stephen King’s New Book Is the Best Kind of Page-Turner

    Fairy Tale will remind you how much fun reading can be.

    >> Laura Miller in Slate
    catLou_SytsmaFlakeNoirGNTLGNT
  • Stephen King’s New Book Is the Best Kind of Page-Turner

    Fairy Tale will remind you how much fun reading can be.

    >> Laura Miller in Slate
    There is a portal to another world in the basement? Sounds like The Dead of Winter. 


    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTcat
  • Awesome! We Constant Readers crave fun reading!  
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTcatHedda Gabler
  • It's in the "basement" of a shed. Big difference!
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTKurbenHedda Gablercat
  • It's in the "basement" of a shed. Big difference!
    It would be so cool if his characters met your characters in the portal.  
    FlakeNoircatGNTLGNTKurben
  • Listening to the audiobook ...
    BevVincentGNTLGNTFlakeNoircatHedda Gabler
  • It just so happened I took an extra long weekend and was home when it arrived at my front door this morning. I started reading it as soon as I brought it inside. It's like Christmas morning for us Constant Readers!
    Lou_SytsmaGNTLGNTFlakeNoircatHedda Gabler
  • My book was just delivered.
    BevVincentKurbenLou_SytsmaGNTLGNTFlakeNoircatHedda Gabler
Sign In or Register to comment.