Fairy Tale

I haven't read an ending like Fairy Tale in some time. And I haven't savored
the words quite as much as I did for the last fifty pages of this book.

This is vintage King–his strengths are evident as are his weaknesses. The
story flows and King wraps us in the life of Charlie Reade until the
fantastical elements King hints at in the first 300 pages or so finally become
our milieu.

The next 400 pages are an action adventure novel to match the best
of Edgar Rice Burroughs–but with King's fine touch of character and his deft
ability to make his story exciting and complex and founded in the history of
classical fantasy as well as SF and horror. It's a tour de force. The only
caveat I have is King's penchant for true, grisly horror which at times is a
little much for me.

But it is the final 50 pages that make the book and leave me feeling satisfied
and full and, yes, happy. I savored those pages and didn't want them to end.
And I loved that King told me the happy ending was coming.

King is a master of what he does. Many times he is simply a master. I will
always wonder what could have been if he had been able to tame the nasty demons
within himself that more often than not overwhelmed the immense talent he has
for writing stories about people we care about with ichor and gore.