Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the 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 their 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 hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.” And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.

My Verdict

I used to read a lot of Stephen King in high school and college. Then some of it moved to far into horror for me. I love when he writes fantasy thrillers, though. And this is firmly entrenched in that genre. While many can write a thriller, no one does it quite like King. He is a master writer. Sometimes it takes him a while to tell the story, but he weaves the story and creates the picture like no one else can.

Because of the length of this book, I made a decision to listen to the audiobook and that was a lengthy 24 hours long. No, I did not read it in a day. It was narrated by Seth Numrich and Stephen King and the narration is masterful. I highly recommend it.

This novel was a product of the pandemic and lockdowns. This can be seen in King's descriptions of the hidden world under the shed. As Charlie – who does sometimes appear preternaturally well read, intelligent and brave for a 17-year-old – makes his way deeper into this new world, to find out “what sleeps in the Dark Well” at its heart, he feels increasingly uneasy, and eventually realises why. “I was able to understand what was so frightening and strangely disheartening about the empty streets and houses. To use one of Lovecraft’s favourite words, they were eldritch.” Thus fairytales and Lovecraftian horror crash together, and Charlie realises “the great distance – the chasm, the abyss, between fairytale magic, like sundials that turn back time, and the supernatural”.

It's not a complex story but it makes up for that in the richness of its world and details. King doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the book’s influences. Charlie himself remarks that the well leading to a world full of gold and a giant guarding it bring to mind the image of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Two of his antagonists are described as looking like Grimms’ “Rumpelstiltskin.” A fountain palace was inhabited by a mermaid, but not “Ariel, the Disney princess.”

But the references to fairy tales and King’s frequent returns to his own leitmotifs don’t bring with them a sense of unoriginality. “Fairy Tale” doesn’t simply cover old manuscripts, but skillfully incorporates the visible traces of folk tales and common fable motifs — or perhaps a collage arranging cultural and literary tropes into an uncomplicated but entertaining narrative. I enjoyed the story and give it 4.5 stars.