Fairy Tale
A #1 New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice!
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest 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 that 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 horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Magnificent, terrifying, and “spellbinding…packed with glorious flights of imagination and characteristic tenderness about childhood, Fairy Tale is vintage King at his finest” (Esquire).
“Good, evil, a kingdom to save, monsters to slay—these are the stuff that page-turners are made from.” —Laura Miller, Slate
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest 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 that 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 horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Magnificent, terrifying, and “spellbinding…packed with glorious flights of imagination and characteristic tenderness about childhood, Fairy Tale is vintage King at his finest” (Esquire).
“Good, evil, a kingdom to save, monsters to slay—these are the stuff that page-turners are made from.” —Laura Miller, Slate
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Community Reviews
This was such a beautiful and vividly imagined story. Truly King at his best, creating other worlds while tapping into one of our deepest longings as pet lovers, to magically extend the life of our pet. Read this just as my own dog was declining in health and cried salty tears. So so good!
I really loved Fairy Tale. One of my favorites by SK. I don’t typically read a lot of fantasy (mostly horror) but this was a fun step back towards that genre. Plus I’m a sucker for an adventurous tale that includes a pup. ^_^
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Spellbinding, High-Stakes Journey with a Heart of Gold
Fairy Tale is Stephen King at his most magical and heartfelt—a sprawling, high-stakes adventure wrapped in rich world-building and anchored by one of the best human-animal bonds I’ve ever read. From the very first page, this book pulled me in and never let go.
Charlie Reade is an incredible protagonist—flawed, resilient, and so deeply human. Watching him navigate this dark and wondrous world felt like stepping into a classic fairy tale, only with King’s signature edge of unease humming beneath every moment. But the true heart of this book? Radar. Their relationship is everything. Charlie’s love and devotion to this old, loyal dog made the stakes feel even higher, and every moment between them was filled with so much warmth and depth that I felt emotionally invested in every step of their journey.
The world-building is breathtaking. King crafts an entire hidden realm that feels vast, lived-in, and dripping with history. The eerie, decaying beauty of this place, the strange and sinister forces at play, and the looming sense of something much bigger than Charlie understands made every twist and turn feel electric. There’s a weight to this story, a feeling that what’s unfolding is important, and that adds so much richness to the adventure.
And the stakes? Absolutely sky-high. The deeper Charlie goes, the darker and more intense the story becomes. This isn’t just a whimsical fairy tale—it’s dangerous, filled with unsettling moments, impossible choices, and real, tangible consequences. King doesn’t just throw Charlie into a fantastical world—he makes him fight for every inch of progress, making the victories all the more satisfying and the losses all the more gut-wrenching.
Fairy Tale is a masterpiece of imagination and heart. It’s dark, whimsical, terrifying, and deeply moving all at once. If you love rich world-building, nail-biting tension, and a bond between a boy and his dog that will absolutely break you, this book is unmissable.
A book about a young boy who cares for an injured old man, that leads to secrets and secrets that get deeper and deeper. Leading to surprises of what this young boy now has to take responsibility for in a fantasy world of monsters and evil power ruling that world where he needs to decide if he wants to save that world from it's evil or not. . . It is a great read, however, there is a lot of profanity that is over used in certain characters that I feel is unnecessary which is why I rated it a 7.
I enjoyed this book. Definitely has the tone of a Stephen King novel, but truly is a fantasy fairy tale as intended. He did a good job of weaving in what makes his style so unique but giving the story what it needed to become an epic fantasy. His world-building was pretty fascinating and a little dark. I probably could have done without the premise of the book being written by the protagonist as a memoir of sorts, but it did add an extra layer to the story. Overall, I would recommend it. It might be my new Stephen King favorite...
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