Fairy Tale

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Scribner

Release Date: September 6, 2022

A book that is full of magic, fairy tale creatures, adventure, and a full escape from the crazy world we live in.

Charlie Reade has had his share of ups and downs growing up. His mom died when he was young causing his dad to drink too much, which left Charlie to grow up on his own. Later, after Charlie’s Dad has stopped drinking and their relationship is on the upswing, Charlie meets a dog named Radar who leads him to her owner, Howard Bowditch. Howard hurt himself and needs help. After years of being a recluse, Howard lets Charlie into his life and ends up sharing a secret with him on a tape minutes before dying. He tells him that inside his shed is a stairway leading down to another world, a world Charlie must see to believe and once he does, nothing will ever be the same.

This book is like a book within a book in certain ways. I read the first few hundred pages, which could have been a book on its own, and then the story took off in another direction that was creative and had a way of bringing fantasy into reality in way I haven’t read in a really long time. It has been an incredibly long time since I have read anything by Stephen King, and I had this one recommended to me by a friend. I’m glad he did because it was so different from anything I have read this year that it made it that much more enjoyable. I do feel like 50-100 pages could have been slimmed down in the middle and made it a more enjoyable read. At times I got lost in the other world and all that was happening, along with the massive number of characters throughout, some with only appeared for a few moments. Charlie and Radar were a great pair and a great way to show love in a different way. To me, this was a great Stephen King book, it wasn’t gory or crazy scary, just a fun escape into the world of fiction and fantasy.