Fantastic story! I hope that one day King writes a follow up. Must read for any King fans.

A truly special story

What an inviting story this was! I thought the narrative was simple but very effective. King's imaginativeness is second to none. I felt like this was such a classic good vs evil story. King is always able to create the most evocative characters. This was a lot different than a "typical" King story but still very entertaining. The climax was super exciting and emotional. I felt like the ending was gratifying. I'm confident King can write well in any genre he chooses!

This is a pretty big departure from what you'd normally think of as Stephen King territory. It's essentially a fairy tale that combines The Man in the Iron Mask with the Princess Bride. It's different, but I really liked it. I wish that King would have delivered on the teased sequel, because I'd really like to see more stories with these characters in it. Maybe we'll get one somewhere in the future.

What a fascinating little book. All the Dark Tower parallels and references had me hooked from the beginning, but I also loved the story in itself.

Full review to come.

Please note: The rating above is a spite rating, though, in all honesty, I'd have given this all the stars in 1987, too. However, I am spiting Jeff whose opinion is horrible and should be rectified with electro-shock therapy, or something.

Interestingly, I'm stealing my review from a comment I made in another of his S. King threads. This is all getting very meta.

Comment/Review:
Aww, man!
I loved The Eyes of the Dragon!
It pissed my mom right off, though. She got it when it came out and was expecting...oh, probably what all King fans were expecting. I hated King's work at that age so HAD to read it when I found out my mom didn't like it. It became my most favorite book by him ever at that time. Of course, it was also an age-appropriate read for me and not so much for my mom.

Titulo: Los Ojos del Dragon
Autor: Stephen King
Motivo de lectura: #StephenKingChallenge
Lectura / Relectura: Relectura
Mi edicion: Tapa dura, 325 paginas, Circulo de lectores
Puntuacion: 3.5/5



Este es un King absolutamente distinto a lo que veniamos acostumbrados hasta ahora.
Stephen se sumerge en el genero de la fantasia como un acto de amor para con su hija Naomi, para quien va dedicado este libro (ella tenia 13 años entonces).
Teniendo en mente este hecho, y la edad de su hija, es entendible que este libro este muy cercano a un middle grade/YA.

En general la historia entretiene, pero en mi caso no me gusta la fantasia, asi como tampoco las lecturas middle grade o YA (por un tema obvio que hace rato que no soy target de esta clase de libros). Igualmente recalcar que un adolescente sin dudas disfrutaria de la historia.

Es grato ver las conexiones entre sus obras, asi que aca nuestro Ranfdall Flagg esta presente..



..un personaje recurrente en el multiverso de King, esta vez presentado como un mago envenenador de mentes.
Me gusto mucho el guiño para Lovecraft usando el nombre Alhazred.

La trama es muy predecible, y el final parece desaparecer en una neblina, como si perdiera fuerza.
Es lo mejor de King? No! Es lo peor de King? No! Es una obra con un nivel intermedio, que sinceramente pienso que esta dirigida hacia un publico infantil/adolescente.

Five stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️!! A story of good versus evil. A story of loyalty and treachery. A story of level-headedness and wisdom. A story of Flagg, whose name even puts a sour poisonous taste in my mouth. Ruling by fear on one level and ruling righteously on another. I totally enjoyed this book. Long live King Peter!

Full Video Review Here: https://youtu.be/wG7Lhb5y-T4

It's a rare case when I pick up a Stephen King book and it is not for a re-read.

After the fiasco that was my "break up" with Stephen King in 2004 when I read the last 2 Dark Tower books, I wrote off The Talisman and Eyes of the Dragon because the last thing I wanted was Stephen King doing fantasy again. Yes, I was that petty 16 years ago.

Now, doing my "Into the Multiverse" series for the channel, it came time for Eyes of the Dragon, a book that many a King fan puts near the bottom of their rankings. So, was it as bad as I was told? Heck no, I loved it.

Going into this with the knowledge that he wrote the story for his daughter really helped me to approach it as a fairy tale rather than epic fantasy. The Eyes of the Dragon is every bit a fairy tale. A very, very charming fairy tale.

What I didn't expect was so many Dark Tower references (maybe?) in this one. Any time you get more of arguable King's greatest villain ever created in Randall Flagg, well it's going to be a good time. Add to this not one, but two coming of age stories under very different circumstances and it is King at his best; even if there isn't the usual horror and bad language.

I had a ton of fun with this one and I'm already planning for it to be my oldest son's gateway into Stephen King when he's ready. I think this is absolutely the perfect book for Constant Readers to pass on to their kids should they want to share a love of King with them.

Whoever said the second time wasn't a charm? This fine little book, written some 35 years ago during the time King was writing other stories like IT and Misery, had escaped my attention since first reading not long after IT. You can't compare The Eyes of the Dragon to the books that had come before it (many being big and scary), unless you were King's daughter at the time. I read somewhere that his son Joe had read a couple of King's books by that point, even if he was younger than his sister. But Naomi hadn't (the scary stuff just wasn't for her). So her dad asked her what she most liked, and then wrote this story during the mornings (while working in tandem on Misery), with no intention to publish. King also said, or so I've heard, that when you write you can't write for another person only. You also have to write for yourself. I know that's a big reason why I like The Eyes of the Dragon. Like most good books, this reads for adults as well as the young. The idea of morality is in here. “Good vs Evil” is in here as well, like so many of Stephen King's works. Roland though, he is unlike the Roland of Gilead that I know. Weak and without will, this Roland flounders. So the good is left to his son Peter instead, until he runs into trouble. And of course that's where the evil presents itself. As they say, “Where there is good...”. Randall Flagg. He is the same in name, and almost in persona too - he always seems to change a little with each story, but that's what he does and who he is.

Very glad to have reread this one. It's not something I'd actively planned to do, until I started rereading The Dark Tower Series. It doesn't advance that series, but it has a way of rounding it out with the concept of “other worlds” in ways I hadn't thought about.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Fantasy + Young Adult

This is a straightforward fantasy story with less complexity and less emphasis on world-building. Mainly catered for the young adult audience. I have not read any Stephen King YA books before. Actually, I’m not sure if any of his other books are even in this genre. Still, you know this is King writing the story. You can tell from his writing even if you had no idea. All his quirky additions are still there and provide a great reading experience.

The story is about king Roland who has a wicked magician advisor (Randall Flagg). This magician keeps plotting to destroy Delain (the Kingdom). He causes big harm to the King’s family and a feud between his sons Peter and Thomas. I’ve read this book after The Stand in which Flagg is the main villain there and here as well. It is amazing how Stephen King lets his characters appear in different books even though the books are not in the same series. But they are all in the same Stephen King’s world. I’m very glad that I am reading these books in this order as I keep knowing these characters more and getting closer to them. I highly recommend the extended reading order for The Dark Tower series. It will take time to finish the series that way but I feel it gives me a much better understanding of the characters and their motives.

So should Stephen King write more young adult fantasy? Absolutely. I’m usually very picky about things when it comes to the YA genre, especially in fantasy. But this story was very pleasant. I think it might be a good entry point for those who never read a King’s book before but do not want to start with his usual horror stories.

Note: The Eyes of the Dragon comes as a part of my reading of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. This is Book No.4 of 24 books I am going to read for this series.

The Eyes of the Dragon is billed as both King’s only high fantasy and his only novel that could be classified as a children’s book. I wasn’t sure how successful he’d be with either of those things, but now I really wish he would write more of both. This book so radically exceeded my expectations that, even though I’ve come to passionately love King’s work, I couldn’t help but be surprised. I loved everything about this, and it’s the first King novel I’ve ever read that I could comfortably recommend to literally anyone of any age.

“He knew as well as we in our own world do that the road to hell is paved with good intentions--but he also knew that, for human beings, good intentions are sometimes all there are. Angels may be safe from damnation, but human beings are less fortunate things, and for them hell is always close.”

I love the change in voice King uses here. The presence of an omniscient narrator who makes his own personality known frequently throughout the telling of the story is so reminiscent of classic fairy tales, and it was a sweet, and very successful, decision. King’s storyteller in this book is pitch perfect and wonderfully balanced, and I wish I could read a dozen more stories told in this voice.

“I tell tales, not tea leaves.”

Character development has alway been one of King’s strengths in my opinion, and that strength was well showcased here. Peter could have easily been too perfect to be believable if King had not deftly fleshed him out well enough to come across as wholly three dimensional. Thomas could have been so easy to hate, but King managed to make him sympathetic. The supporting cast could have been cardboard cutouts just fulfilling their designated jobs, but King made sure that readers would see them as actual people. And then there’s Flagg. If you have any experience with King, you’ve probably heard the name. I won’t get too into his character and role in the book except to say that he’s absolutely terrifying.

“One of the great things about tales is how fast time may pass when not much of note is happening. Real life is never that way, and it is probably a good thing.”

The Eyes of the Dragon is a great example of classic high fantasy. This is a genre that produces such a multitude of works that many entries end up feeling derivative and predictable. However, I felt that in this book King actually did some things in the genre that I had actually never seen before. It was really refreshing. And considering the fact that this was written in 1987, I think the fact that it still feels so fresh speaks so highly of both the book and the author.

“Did they all live happily ever after?

They did not. No one ever does, in spite of what the stories may say. They had their good days, as you do, and they had their bad days, and you know about those. They had their victories, as you do, and they had their defeats, and you know about those, too. There were times when they felt ashamed of themselves, knowing that they had not done their best, and there were times when they knew they had stood where their God had meant them to stand. All I'm trying to say is that they lived as well as they could, each and every one of them; some lived longer than others, but all lived well, and bravely, and I love them all, and am not ashamed of my love.”

This is a book that I would happily read to a classroom full of students. I would gift it to fantasy fans and people who don’t usually like King’s writing. I would read The Eyes of the Dragon again in a heartbeat, and would as just quickly recommend it to almost every type of reader. I loved it.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

La típica historia de cuentos de hadas con giritos inesperados de terror.

He disfrutado mucho.