Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

17 reviews

karapillar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

topherisswell's review

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty

delwithit's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, and War

Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

boglord's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Infertility, Sexism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, Cannibalism, and Colonisation

billyjepma's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

As far as Stephen King goes, this is pretty mid-tier. It's advertised as the book he wrote in quarantine to bring himself some enjoyment, and it shows, in good and less-than-good ways. The positive stuff includes King's usual strengths: excellent foreshadowing, endearing characterization, enticing ideas, you get the gist. And that stuff rules! It's been a minute since I've picked up a King book, and this was a wonderful reminder of why he's the best at what he does. Watching him develop the relationship between protagonist Charlie and old-man Mr. Bowditch and his aging dog, Radar, is a treat, especially once he begins teasing the dark, fantastical mysteries that are coming. Those first 150+ pages are all about that relationship, and it's the anchor that keeps the rest of the story from unmooring (although there are some close calls).

Bowditch is the book's highlight, arguably, and viewing him as King's self-insert character (as I did) gives the story some potentially meta-commentary elements that I liked. I doubt this is intentional, as the book doesn't explore those elements, so take my assessment with a grain of salt. King isn't interested in interrogating or subverting the fairy tale ideas he's using, opting instead to enjoy them as toys for a relatively by-the-numbers tale that's content to be a soft remix of the greatest hits. On those terms, Fairy Tale is an easy, enjoyable read, even though I kept waiting for it to become something more.

Ironically, the most effective parts of this book take place outside of the fantasy world, as it's there that King's writing is most touching and memorable. After the fantasy starts, things regrettably grow a little dull. King's characterization and pacing falter, as does his plotting. We're introduced to some wonderful supporting characters and big, exciting ideas; they just don't go anywhere. Charlie becomes a less interesting protagonist, too, as his role in the traditional fantasy adventure is as by-the-numbers as they come. King's attempts at giving it some teeth are more monotonous than anything, too, and eventually, my earlier investment in Charlie took a nosedive.

Still, despite its shortcoming, I love a good fairy tale and getting to read one of the best storytellers of a generation tell one was a ride I'm glad I took. The ending wraps things up on the kind of nostalgia-tinged note I'm always a sucker for and nails the balance between bitter and sweet like all fantasies should. I won't be running back to this one, but the vibes and visuals will happily linger in my head for a while. The book gets a 3.5/5 from me, but Radar the Very Good Dog™️ gets a 12/5.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Racial slurs, Torture, and Abandonment

braiths_book_thoughts's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I LOVED this book. 

It brought me out of a reading slump and allowed me to enjoy the works of Stephen King. I don't enjoy the genre of horror, so when this fantasy book came out I was excited. It did not disappoint!

I completely and utterly fell in love with the characters, they weren't always brave people or good people, some choices they made were cruelty for the sake of cruelty. Yet, they were perfect for this story. 

Some things happened too fast, sometimes the story would build up to a fight and it would be over faster than expected, but for me, this did not take away from the joy and pleasure of reading this. 

If you love portal world fanatsy, this one is for you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and War

kittyswinny's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As a fan of Stephen King, I'd say this is something quite different to his usual style but extremely enjoyable. For fans of adventure, classic fairy tales with a grotesque twist and a journey, it's perfect! 

<Spoiler>I would perhaps say that there weren't as many catastrophes as there should have been. Sometimes it seemed too easy for our hero Charlie to succeed. There were opportunities to have me on the edge of my seat but they fell just a little flat.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail