1987;
380 pages. Original Title : Napkins.New Author? : No. Genre : Fantasy. Overall Rating : 8*/10.
King Roland is dead, and it was Murder most
foul. Someone poisoned him, and all the
evidence points to his eldest son, Prince Peter.
This is shocking to many, since Peter had always seemed the devoted
son. And head-scratching too, since
Roland was aged and in poor health. Upon
his natural death, Peter would inherit the crown. But perhaps the heir grew impatient.
The younger son, Prince Thomas, now rules instead, and with some
reluctance. Thomas may have been jealous
of his brother when Roland doted upon Peter, but he never aspired to sit on the
throne. And he has seen something that
puts the lives of both siblings in peril.
Through the Eyes of the Dragon.
What’s To Like...
The Eyes of the Dragon is a nice one-off offering
by Stephen King, in that it is purely a fantasy novel. Yes, there is a scary Ultimate Evil, but all
Fantasies have such a baddie. And this
would never be shelved in the Horror section of a bookstore.
Stylistically,
it is written in an almost singsong fashion, as if the target audience is
YA. The chapters are short, and there
are some way-kewl drawings scattered throughout the book. There is a lot of “scene-setting” in the
beginning of the book, and a lot of the events therein seem somewhat
superfluous. But don’t be lulled into
skipping pages, Stephen King is a master at weaving such tangents into a twisty
and unexpected plotline later on, and he does so here, even with such mundane
things as napkins and dollhouses.
OTOH,
King tends to ‘telegraph’ events throughout the first third of the book, which
for me lessened the tension of the storyline.
You know that Peter will be imprisoned and Thomas will spy on matters
he’ll later regret because King tells
you about such events many chapters ahead of their taking place.
Still, once the scene is set, with Peter in jail (and forced into being
a stylite, no less) and Thomas sitting uneasily on the throne, King stops
telling you what’s going to happen, and it is an action-packed ride from there on. The ending is clever, spellbinding, exciting, and surprising, especially with regard to Thomas. You’ll be happy you didn’t give up on the
book in the early going.
Kewlest New Word. . .
Forrad (adj.) : dialectical
variant of ‘forward’. Here, “things’ll
go forrad here just as the always have…”
Others : Buttle
(v.).
Excerpts...
In stories of
wizardry, there are three kinds that are usually spoken of almost carelessly,
as if any second class wizard could do them.
These are turning lead into gold, changing one’s shape, and making
oneself invisible. The first thing you
should know is that real magic is never easy, and if you think it is, just try
making your least favorite aunt disappear the next time she comes to spend a
week or two. Real magic is hard, and although it is easier to do
evil magic than good, even bad magic is tolerably hard. (pg. 76)
Outside, the wind
screamed and gobbled – old wives cringed in their beds and slept poorly and
told their husbands that Rhiannon, the Dark Witch of the Coos, was riding her
hateful broom this night, and wicked work was afoot. The husbands grunted, turned over, told their
wives to go back to sleep and leave them alone.
They were dull fellows for the most part, when an eye is wanted to see
straws flying in the wind, give me an old wife any day. (pg. 108)
“My head is a silly thing,
but I’ve decided I’d like to keep it on my shoulders a while longer.” (pg. 377)
Stephen
King already had a slew of Horror best-sellers by the time he published The Eyes of the Dragon in 1987. Reportedly, some of his fans were a bit
tepid about his diverging to write a Fantasy novel.
Personally, I like it when an author tries something new. There is an inherent risk to this, of
course. J.K. Rowling was hugely successful
with the Harry Potter series, but got slammed by critics and readers alike when
she tried to expand into the “adult fiction” genre with A Casual Vacancy.
FWIW, I think King’s foray into Fantasy was
successful. The “telegraphing” in TEotD bothered me a bit, but only mildly. Then again, I doubt I’m part of the target audience. Maybe those telegraphs turn into “hooks” when
a teenage boy reads this book.
8 Stars. Add ½ star if
you happen to be a YA reader. This
book’s aimed directly at you.
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