There’s plenty of fresh invention in “Fairy Tale,” but much of what Charlie encounters reminds him of something else he’s seen or read. Most notable among the sufferers whom Charlie meets on his quest is Leah, a deposed princess whose “storybook loveliness” is marred by her missing mouth, “a knotted white line” ending in “a dime-sized red blemish that looked like a tiny unopened rose.” (How Leah manages a drink provides one of the novel’s most arresting images, a pure jolt of classic King-style body horror.) There Charlie finds a kingdom in dire need, its royal family long ago overthrown by the usurper Flight Killer, who has inflicted a mysterious disfiguring illness called “the gray” upon the populace. It takes many pages and foreshadowings for Charlie to get into that shed, but he finally arrives in Empis with Radar at his side and Bowditch’s. Inserting himself into Bowditch’s life as a make-do nurse and handyman, Charlie slowly discovers that his neighbor is addicted not just to solitude and secrets (and, eventually, pain pills), but to the treasures of a place called Empis, a kingdom he visits by descending “185 stone steps of varying heights” beneath Bowditch’s locked backyard shed.

Twenty years later, King and Straub sent Jack on another Territories adventure in “Black House,” this time connecting his story to the Dark Tower books and King’s larger multiverse.įollowing in Jake and Jack’s footsteps comes Charlie Reade, the 17-year-old hero of King’s latest novel, “Fairy Tale.” A talented athlete, Charlie saves the life of Howard Bowditch, an eccentric recluse who lives alone with his ancient German shepherd, Radar.

In “The Talisman ,” co-written with Peter Straub, 12-year-old Jack Sawyer “flips” between America and the fantastical Territories on a quest to save his mother’s life.

In “The Gunslinger,” the first volume of his epic Dark Tower series, King gave us 11-year-old Jake Chambers, who arrives in Roland of Gilead’s world after dying in ours. OL20923370W Page_number_confidence 93.88 Pages 198 Partner Innodata Ppi 300 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20200718160126 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 903 Scandate 20200704093828 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 9780263771596 Sent_to_scribe Tts_version 4.Stephen King is no stranger to the portal fantasy genre, or to the kinds of young, unwitting protagonists who end up traveling to other worlds. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 10:01:09 Boxid IA1881918 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

Dark Guardian by Rebecca King