Stephen King’s “Fairy Tale” Review
In his love letter to all things fantastical, King delivers a memorable (if messy) hero’s journey.
BY MATTHEW ZEICHERT
With over 50 published novels to his name, Stephen King is no stranger to storytelling. The 74-year-old author has written for virtually every genre as well; therefore, writing a fantasy novel is by no means new territory for him. Many consider King’s Dark Tower saga to be a masterclass in fantasy writing, albeit a fantasy saga with a distinctly western flare.
“Fairy Tale” will probably be available on bookshelves labeled “Fantasy” once it is no longer a New York Times bestseller, yet “Fairy Tale” is so much more than fantasy. At its core, “Fairy Tale” is an ode to fairy tales that have enthralled both children and adults for well over a century, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Rumplestilskin; you name the fairy tale, “Fairy Tale” probably alludes to it.
But apart from providing Grimms’ fairy tales fans with overwhelming fanservice, “Fairy Tale” is a deeply human story. The story’s main character is young adult Charlie Reade. Charlie deals with the grief of losing his mother in a tragic accident and the alcoholism of his father that follows said death all within the first hundred pages (it’s a 608-page novel, so strap in). Shortly after Charlie’s father commits to sobriety with the help of AA, fate and fright cross paths as Charlie is forced to visit the neighborhood’s only creepy old house out of fear for its owner’s wellbeing. The impromptu wellness check spawns an unlikely friendship between him and the curmudgeonly yet chummy Mr. Bowditch after Charlie saves his life. Charlie also befriends Mr. Bowditch’s dog, Radar. Somewhere along the way, Charlie finds himself the sole proprietor of Mr. Bowditch’s estate: an estate that includes none other than a portal into a fantasy land filled with mythical things, both good and bad. Needless to say, both Charlie and Radar the dog embark on a journey into the fairytale land.
In the same vein as his “The Stand,” Stephen King’s “Fairy Tale” is the classic story of good vs. evil… until it isn’t. Charlie indeed sets out to rejuvenate a dying dog with a fountain of youth referred to as The Sun Dial and even restore order to the land of Empis, but it is also true that Charlie spent much of his adolescence as a hellion who went as far as to smear dog excrement onto a teacher’s car. In the fantasy realm he finds himself in, Charlie is also forced to make decisions that don’t fit the dictionary definition of “good.” That’s the point. Although he doesn’t create an anti-hero outright", Stephen King does try his damndest to create real and miniature morality plays throughout “Fairy Tale”.
“Fairy Tale” is a great achievement in literary fiction. Is it the best Stephen King novel of the last twenty years? No. Despite its cleverness, fluid storytelling, and impressive worldbuilding, “Fairy Tale” often struggles with balancing originality and homage. Readers will be introduced to interesting and otherworldly characters, only for them to be reduced to caricatures found in other Fantasy genre staples. In simpler terms, the devil is certainly in the details in this book. All that aside, one can’t help but think that “Fairy Tale” is a ‘fairly good’ fall read.