by Katie Nalle
Fairy Tale is the newest edition to Stephen King’s nearly 65-book repertoire. Although King is most well-known for his horror novels, Fairy Tale delves into the world of fantasy. Charlie Reade, the novel's main character, is a 17-year-old boy with a difficult family situation who is looking for an escape route. Luckily, he discovers a portal to another world right in his own backyard. True to its name, the film pays homage to classic fairy tales such as Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, and Grimms’ Fairy Tales. One reviewer even went so far as to describe the novel as “a love letter to The Brothers Grimm.”
The novel has been positively received. King stated that when he sat down to start writing what would become Fairy Tale, he was determined to write something that would make him happy and that he would enjoy. Fittingly, many reviews state that the lighthearted premise of the book made it all the more enjoyable. Fans of King have also expressed excitement at the novels’ length. Fairy Tale sits at around 600 pages while King’s other recent novels have been between 150 and 500 pages. In his early career, King was well-known for writing books 800 pages or longer, so it is exciting to see him return to a longer format. When King’s 2021 novel Billy Summers was released, the fans communicated that the novel was too dull for their liking, but ever since King published Fairy Tale, fans have felt refreshed and have expressed their relief for the novel's success.
Fairy Tale is King’s 26th book to reach the status of No. 1 bestseller. All summer, Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us and Delia Owen’s Where The Crawdads Sing have gone back and forth occupying the number one spot, but both novels have now been bumped down the list in exchange for Fairy Tale. Despite only having been released on September 6th of this year, the No. 1 bestseller has already been picked up for a film adaptation. Filmmaker Paul Greengrass, known most notably for the Bourne Identity film series, announced his intentions to direct the film only a week after the novel’s release. Greg Goodman will also join the cast as a producer.
King brings his own flare to the fairy tale genre in this novel and has been rewarded accordingly with the No. 1 bestseller spot. Fairy Tale is enchanting as it brings back memories of the stories we know and love from our childhoods. King encourages us to escape the monotony of everyday life and sit back for 600 pages of wonder and fantastical journeys.