First of all, Jake, I was very happy that your vlog had spoilers. Having finished the audiobook version of Fairytale a couple of days ago, I wanted to hear someone talk about it completely! Thank you for that.👌 I did like the story enough that I will buy the book, and liked what you liked, and agreed with with your disappointments also. Everything after the the quest of getting Radar treated at the sundial, had an adhock feeling of Mr King making it up as he wrote along! I really felt like that's what he was doing, as we really did not know why Charlie was put into the situations he was put in until the climax. And depriving us of that made any feelings of suspense null and void. WHY? Another annoyance for me was S.K.'s name for one of Charlie's prison cellmates. He was called Iota, I for short. Having the book in the first person, AND a character referred to as "I" was bloody stupid! And made listening to the audio version confusing! And it was both too long and too short. I would have much preferred more information after Charlie returned to our world as well as you, Jake. I am looking forward to seeing the illustrations in the book when I get it. I enjoyed your drumming as well.👍
So many book tubers panned this book. I don't get it. I have read all of his biggest hits and found this one quite different, refreshing, enthralling, and I actually loved the huge setup and then dive deep down into the new world. Amazing.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, collectively a lot of us didn’t enjoy the fantasy element, I wasn’t expecting so many people to have the same opinion, I was one of the first people to upload my review and I was worried if I was the only one to give it a low rating lol but I wasn’t
Wow Jake, you rock! I came for the book review and I'll come back for the drums...and more reviews. I've read every King book so I'll be taking this one on, too, but I appreciate your take. I don't shy away from King spoilers ever since I was traumatized by the end of Cujo. Thanks.
I agree with the ending. It felt slapped on and it would have been better to make the fantasy part shorter and spend more time with the reunion with his dad and the ending. Great review!
Ironically, once the story gets to the actual fairytale, it drops off for me. You're told about this fantastic world that felt rather flat because once we got there, we were on a timer to get to the plot and wrap it up.
I loved the first 3rd of the book. Listening to it at work was great and entertaining. My favorite char being Mr bodich(sp?). I went in blind, so was kind of sad he died so early. Had hoped there would be more references to his time in the portal amd what he did. The first part of the portal story was good, especially the imagery. I liked Dora Leah and Claudia. For me it started to fall apart a bit in part 3, and took a bit of a nose dive once they escaped. It felt rushed and kind of tacked on compared to the world building earlier in the story. As for the ending, it felt kind of empty
I loved this book every which way. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next, and was enthralled every time. It's definitely in my top 5 King novels. Edit: I also want to add that Radar is hands down my favorite character
[MILD SPOILERS] Just finished it last night, my first Stephen King read. I feel similarly about the book, though I think I enjoyed it a bit more than you might've. First off, I agree that the first third with Mr. Bowditch was the best bit. After that it began to remind me of Pilgrim's Progress of all things. Someone treking along on their journey and, not only side questing, but constantly noting that this thing is reminiscent of this or that. I think there was potential in the idea of stories and fairy tales spilling over into our world, but it was never fully realized. Had something to accomplish this been at least fitted into the end, I think it would have gone from a good book to a fantastic one. That being said, I did still overall enjoy the story. I think my favorite part of the book was the imagery you spoke of. With distinct landmarks and the such I can see this novel living in my mind for a while. I may easily joke about needing a trip to the sun dial or about a roach being straight out of Empis. I might think of the night soldiers while around someone I find absolutely draining or of monarchs when I see flocks of birds cloud the horizon. Hell, I'll never look at my shed the same again, especially since my dog frequently barks at whatever creature lives under there. I'll have to see how time treats my memory of these images but, much like a fairy tale, I do think it has the potential to sort of embed itself in the mind. If it had more fully incorporated the idea of stories spilling into our world, I think it could have embedded itself into our culture.
I thought this was really weak story-wise. Written well, but not much substance. Also, I agree that the portal should have been discovered. The tape player could have been inside the shed and discovered by Charlie. Also, it was extremely repetitive. Extremely so. (He repeats how the language was different from English and his father's alcoholism). Then it's contradictory about the language effect. At the end he's able to use words that they don't understand like "riling up"... Confusing. Finally, naming a character "Iota" with the nickname of "I" is poor planning for an audio book...
I've been more hyped for this video than I've been for the book itself!! I know it's one I'm not interested in reading but I want to hear all the thoughts and opinions! See, the spoiling the death thing doesn't bother me. When they did that in Mr Mercedes I thought it was a fantastic way to build the tension, making you wonder when and how it would happen. I'm not a fan of animal companions or animal-focused narratives. Like that cozy mystery sub-genre where the detective is a cat 🙄The illustrations look lovely, and are a nice attention to detail for a book called Fairy Tale, since most fairy tale books seem to have illustrations. Wow what a bummer that none of the portal characters were good, aren't great new characters the point of a portal world? Curious to know how you'd rank it now that a little time has passed.
Thanks Kevvie! I’m actually releasing a video tomorrow going over all of the illustrations lol I have NO idea as of yet where I would rank this, it would be fairly low I think 🤣
The Princess and Prince theme didn’t really sit with me. Other than that the 2nd part of the book especially the ending felt rushed. I’m glad I read it though.
Although its not one of my favorite King book. Ive read them all, I do think that its his best in a LONG time. After Billy summers, that is my least favorite book ok his, I was really worried that the King Ive loved sense the 90s was gone. My faith is restored now
WOW. The comments here are weirder than the book. I also have the hardcover & audio. How the F does that equate to pollution? It’s paper, it’s recyclable. I’m not getting rid of it. I don’t imagine you’re driving it to the nearest dump and chucking it over the fence. WTAF LOL even if I end up hating a book I’ll pass it on so someone else might be able to enjoy it. Are you running into the kitchen and throwing your books in the trash to do your part in overwhelming a landfill? 🤨 Argh I’m not talking about the story. Idiot tangent. Ok I agree, best part of this book is the first third. The second third was interesting to hear about the lay of fairyland, the people living there, the problem they’re having, all the fan servicey drops/Easter eggs & his quest to save something in his life, the dog, I doubt she’s a mom-replacement but he does seem to need a win. The last third … the Lovecraftian aspect THREW ME! LOL I’m not a huge cosmic horror fan … ooooo tentacles 🙄 but he does make it gross enough which I enjoyed! That one page sex seen at the end was HILARIOUS … I can imagine a 17 year old “Prince” Charlie recounting THAT scene pre-adventure would have been a lot different … and I feel some editor or w/e told King to include something like that … and that was his snarky response? So the book felt like 3 completely different parts … since Charlie is telling the story you can feel the focus for him was connecting with Bowditch & how it changed his life. There’s so much going on here that I might not throw my book in the garbage … I might actually read the entire thing with my eyeballs in a reread plus keep it on my bookshelf to read again at a later date. Thank you for your speedy review. I enjoy differing perspectives & totally understand your views on the story. I feel this is the closest I’m going to get to a love letter or hug from Stephen King.
Thanks for the review. Loved it personally but I’m not a critic. Not a typical king novel but enjoyed my time with the book. I’m a fan of Sanderson and such and this slides that way a bit. Imo so likely leads to me liking
First of all sorry for my english 😅 I‘m german. Thanks for your review. I though I was the only one who felt this way. I loved the story until the portal thing happens…. In Germany the book got 4,8/5 rating. So i was wandering what is wrong with me that i‘m not liking it 😅 But this video gave me faith that my taste in books is still normal 🤣 Keep on Rocking and greetings from Germany.
I not sure i know what actually happened, but I have a conspiracy theory that perhaps what “really” happened, isn’t what really happened at the end of the book. Which may have been why King was so blatant about the “Here’s your happy ending,” chapter. It’s what you expect from a “fairy tale.” But what if Charlie never made it back? It came back and found out something bad happened to his dad? This would open King up to revisiting this, in a “ok, so I lied, here’s what really happened,” kind of thing. Also, the quick scene where one of the women has sex with him…what if she had an altered motive to try and get pregnant by their Fabled Prince, before he leaves? It’s seems to random to not have another intention (especially since it wasn’t the Goose Girl who he was in love with). Just some fun questions/theories I had after finishing it last night.
@@BookishDrummer Slightly sad but it was a great read IMO. And this is coming from someone who's only really read Harry Potter and a couple YA novels. I didn't care too much for the majority of the dungeon section but I felt like it picked back up and ended well. I didn't wanna leave the world behind.
Great video, Jake! I enjoyed hearing your spoiler-filled thoughts, and I agree with you on many points. I think this will be a hit for many Bradbury and H.P. Lovecraft fans. I felt the same way about the characters in the second half of the book. Bowditch was my favorite character!
Thanks Johanna! I’m glad I’m not the only one, I was nervous that I was gonna be the Debbie downer lol but a lot of people are having the same issues, which is disappointing but also reassuring
You saying you wanted to finish reading it to just get it over with is how I felt about the first Mr. Mercedes book... I didn't read any of the other books in that series... pretty disappointing :/
What was up with the Prince? That confused the hell out of me. Was it supposed to be an angel/deity? Did the Prince save Charlie's father from alcohol and possesed Charlie as repayment? I have been looking at reviews of this book to try to understand this character. No luck so far... Did he make an appearance in other books? I know SK will sometimes reuse characters as interdimensional beings. Does the Prince remind you of anyone?
@@cwesley2005 I went into the book knowing it was portal fantasy, still didn’t love it haha. I loved the first part BEFORE the fantasy elements. Also, I love fantasy, but this book didn’t do it for me.
I got to 57% of the book and finally just gave up! So I just watching this video to find out what happened. I’m happy I didn’t keep reading! But it does sucks to put so much time into a book and not finish. Thanks for the video!
I’ve finally finished Fairy Tale after having a busy September and the first thing I did was come here! I loved the first third of the book and everything else was okay. Totally agree with everything you said but I think enjoyed it a little more since my name is Charlie ha-ha
[Heavy Spoilers] I think I liked the (audio)book until Charlie got caught by the night soldiers. ^^ Until that point I assumed getting caught means getting killed. So the actual stakes were lower than I thought. Furthermore I felt like after that point the story looses focus. Things just happen to the character and he has no clear goal he is working towards. The games were not interesting to me either and from my point of view they didn’t fit into the “fairy tale theme”. I also don’t understand why he became the prince of the dark world instead of representing ours. For me it started to feel like a mashup and new short term goals were literally added or changed along the way. I had also problems imagining Empis. Since I associate fairy tales with a medieval times, everything that didn’t fit in pulled me out, and I was left wondering which time period would be the closest resemblance to imagine the overall look of buildings, streets etc.. By now I would guess maybe roughly the end of the 19th century. I don’t know. Personally I liked the idea of a romantic subplot in a fairy tale, but first they don’t get any meaningful time together and when they finally have the chance to talk it felt very awkward that the “young princess” is all of the sudden “too old” for Charlie and doesn’t want to look at him, because of her bad memories and associations. On top of that he had also suddenly sex with a random girl instead of her. I really hated that, because it made his feelings much less believable for me. Well, as I said, I liked the idea, but if you include a romantic plot I also want a true happy ending, especially in a fairy tale. The bad guys don’t win and doing the right thing by closing the gateway didn’t make me feel happy at all. Not even Charlie was happy with his “Happy Ending”. I think I would have preferred a story without the prison, maybe searching for a way to break the curse in the dark woods together with Leah and Radar. Something with a clear main goal, a typical fairy tale location and the development of a real relationship along the way. In a world with magic it should have also been possible to come up with better solution than closing the gateway. :(
Reading the book right now...well listening to it. My first Stephen King book actually and thus far I found it enjoyable (2h in). I agree with the interactions between the old man, his dog and the kid. Hopefully the fantasy part is as good. Might pick up the Shinning or Salems lot next as I like King´s writing - it truly sets pictures in my minds eye.
The dungeon chapters kept dragging on and on and on. I made myself read it. Took me a month or so because I kept taking a break because it was so boring. But I did enjoy he and Leah's relationship and I did like that his dad visited the world.. It Was not his best. I agree ⭐⭐⭐
Like you I enjoyed the first third of the book which was great. I think I enjoyed the next third better than you did because I liked his walk to the city especially the characters of Dora and Claudia. Once Charlie got to the city, especially after he saved Radar, I did start to lose interest. I liked the red cricket. I was listening to the audiobook but I fell asleep a couple of times after he entered the city for the second time. I am giving it four stars.
I am at chapter 10. Pretty good so far. I had to skip most of the video. I will say that I am a fan of King's classic era. I like that the book is illustrated.
Yes it just has somethings in it from other books that if you read them you’d be like ohhh see what you did there lol but if you haven’t read the other books then you won’t catch it which doesn’t do anything for the story overall just little reminders of the other books he’s wrote
(Major spoiler in this comment.) I loved the book until the ending. I knew how it would end, i even predicted it before I started reading which made it all the worse! The kid goes to this fantasy world, risks life and literally Limb to save this place, facing down imaginable trials just to go back home and live in a mundane and unremarkable world!
@@josebro352 being very vague, it does have a somewhat similar plot line for some of the story, but I’d say it’s better and slightly different, especially during the beginning of fairy tale
@@BookishDrummer Thanks!! I'm really looking forward to reading it. Just bought my copy yesterday. I absolutely loved The Talisman (wasn't all that happy with Black House) and I noticed that Charlie Reade sounded very similar to Jack Sawyer. Epic quests and all. Sad to hear of Peter Straub s passing. Always hoped they'd collaborate on a third and final book. Maybe Fairy Tale was King's way of doing it on his own. Awesome review by the way!! Thank you!
@@josebro352 I know, that is sad. I actually bought a few of Straub’s books the other day. Even though I didn’t like The Talisman, I’m still curious to see what his writing style is like without King.
@@BookishDrummer You told in the video YOU ALREADY WENT DIGITAL, AND NEVER READ PHYSICAL. So basicaly your physical copy is just pollution. Same thing I spotted for all book-channels I stumbled into. They buy the physical book to flash it to the screen, then dump it into the trash-bin. A lot of times not even just 1 physical copies, but several. Phsycal copies for book-.channels are just decorative statues.
@@AmityvilleFan I did not say that lol I’ve always said on my channel that I love to immersion read, where I listen to the audio while I physically read. That’s what I started doing when I got the physical edition. And I certainly don’t throw away the book when I’m done, that’s insane. I wait until the paperback is released and I either sell the book for store credit or give it to someone else who wants to read it.
@@BookishDrummer Ye, you SAY you read, but turns out you don't. You listen audiobooks. While you also order a physical copy. Thus you become promoting pollution.
Yep I agree mostly with you. I did like Charlie, Mr Bowditch and Charlie's dad and Claudia. I didn't care abt the rest. I read through the part where you said "now what?" And started skimming then read the last ch and epi... so dnf. I didn't care abt the rest and I hated the virtue signaling and a few other things. I would give it probably 2.5 stars
@@BookishDrummer im pretty sure it was Sentry, Illinois. I do agree with your point that the first third of the book was the best. I was dissapointed that you didn't mention Peterkin the drawf. When he got killed by Red Molly i was overjoyed lol.
You know what else I hate about these book-channels? I HATE that I leanr not what the books are about. This is a prime examplery video about why: you are not a fan, you are a cult-leader. You talk about writer X because you need traffic, because you need money. Turns out you not just not read (but listen to audiobooks), but you don't even pay attention, thus of course you can't tell the audience what the book is about. You namedrop some characters, some set-pieces - but not what the book is about. Because you have zero idea about that, and that'd require actual effort the very least.
@@Melissa-hx3ye What does the two have to do with each other? That beside, stop hopi9ng, start acting on it! Tell me what's the friggin point of the book!
