Fairy Tale

Switching gears to a heavier story, Fairy Tale by Stephen King. This was a monster 24-hour listen on Libby!

Goodreads Stats

Why I Read This Book/How I Heard About It

It wouldn't be right to start this review without acknowledging that I have been a massive fan of Stephen King since I was in high school. The first story of his that I ever read was Thinner, recommended by my stepdad. After that, I read Pet Sematary and I was hooked. Since then, I've read countless books of his with mixed reviews. For instance, I love stories like The Dead Zone, full of eerie supernatural occurrences. On the flip side, I found his novella Elevation to be derivative of some of his past work and extremely predictable. And I know I'll disappoint some hardcore fans here, but I must admit it's taken me about a decade to work my way through his magnum opus, The Dark Tower series. I still have one book left to read in that one. So, I pretty much know going into any King book that I'm either going to love it...or not.

The reason I picked up this one (aside from the cool cover art - shut up, you know you judge books by their covers too) is because my husband and I actually share a Libby account. This was my first Libby experience! Yay! Still hadn't jumped on Goodreads, but we are getting there! Anyway, my husband finished this book and suggested I read it too.

Basic Summary

This is a story about a 17-year old kid named Charlie Reade who befriends an old, cranky man named Mr. Bowditch and his German Shepherd, Radar. Charlie, the son of a single alcoholic father, spends a lot of time with Mr. Bowditch and discovers a locked shed emitting mysterious sounds in his backyard. Mr. Bowditch passes away and, to Charlie's surprise, leaves him everything, including the house, a ton of gold coins, Radar, and a cassette tape that divulges all his secrets. The shed turns out to be a portal to another world. You guessed it...a fairytale world. And this world has a sundial with the power to reverse time.

First Impressions

As with all King's books, the narrator of the audiobook, Seth Numrich, is fabulous. And, thank god for that, because I could not have listened to over 20 hours of horrible narration (hello, Game of Thrones). In fact, Seth won an Audie Award for Best Male Narrator in 2023. I'm not sure how I feel about this, since my favorite audiobook narrator of all time is Scott Brick and I just can't see how anyone could ever compare to him, but I guess this guy really deserves an award so I'll allow it.

If you've read Stephen King, you know how rich, detailed and nostalgic his writing can be when he's got a young teenage boy as a main character. He captures boyhood so well. I was immediately drawn in to the characters in this book and Charlie was just so endearing and complicated. And, oh my god, the dog was so cute!

Final Thoughts

As with many of King's super long books, this one felt more like two books smooshed into one. It felt, to me, like the whole Charlie/Mr. Bowditch story could have been an entire story in itself and if it ended with Bowditch dying, I would have been just fine with that. But, no...there's an entire second book in there...the other side of the story, which is the parallel fairytale world. I was pretty excited to jump into this side, but in true Stephen King form, things were never as you expect them to be. His fairytale world was just so...weird and strange and sometimes gross. I mean, I did expect a bit of that, seeing as he's primarily a horror writer. But I wouldn't consider this a horror book. In the same way Stand By Me wasn't horror, this felt like a completely different genre, something more akin to The Dark Tower, which is probably why my husband liked it so much. Honestly, King is so prolific, you never know what you're gonna get! That's one of the coolest things about his books.

The fairytale side was...interesting and there was certainly a lot of action. But some sections were just very long to slog through. I always appreciate beautiful phrasing and descriptive language (King is a master of it), but I was really wishing he would hurry up and get to it near the end of the book. I can say with total honesty that I didn't see any of it coming, so that's a good thing. But I also wasn't riveted like I was at the start of the book. Perhaps it's because I am a true blue ISFJ/Cancer emotional being. I love characters and relationships in books, movies and TV. Action? I can take it or leave it, I guess.

In the end, I wouldn't say I was disappointed with this book, but I just wish it was a little bit shorter. Worth checking out if you like Stephen King and fantasy genre, but it's definitely not horror.

Rating on Goodreads

I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars.

My rating method:

• I rarely rate books 5 stars. I save this for the absolute best books I've read. You know the ones...the ones that you can't get out of your head, even after you've finished them. The ones you think about for weeks afterwards.

• If a book is really, really good, I'll give it 4 stars. If you see a 4-star rating from me, I'd definitely recommend it to you to read.

• If it's just OK, it gets 3 stars. Basically, it means I could take it or leave it. I'd probably read it again because it wasn't terrible. But not like a favorite or anything.

• If I rate it 1 or 2 stars, I would not recommend anyone read it. It either didn't hold my interest or I couldn't relate to the characters/plot.