The Eyes of the Dragon: A Novel

From my book review blog post [...] post 07-29-2011

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King takes place in the realm of Delain (which, I have since found out, is located within In-World from The Dark Tower series). This beautiful and poetic tale is told from the perspective of a narrator who speaks as if he were an old friend, frequently adding his own commentary on characters' motivations and the like; just as an uncle would.

King Roland is a middle-aged king who marries late in life and finds a wife who is both young and intellegent. The Royal Wizard Flagg, Roland's advisor, attempts to assassinate Queen Sasha because he dislikes her good influence. He finally succeeds in forcing the Queen's maid to kill the queen while she was giving birth to Thomas, her second child. As time passes, Peter, the older brother, grows older and he begins to show a great deal of his mother's common sense and intelligence. Flagg realizes that the Crown Prince is a far greater threat to his position as royal wizard than was Sasha. Therefore Flagg has King Roland poisoned and Peter framed for the murder.

Twelve-year-old Thomas witnesses the murder through the glass eyes of the mounted head of King Roland's greatest trophy, the dragon which he once killed in an act of incredible bravery. After a brief trial, Peter is judged to be guilty, and he is locked up in the enormous tower called the Needle in the center of the city. His younger, weaker brother Thomas is then crowned King, although he is only twelve years old. Due to his youth, inexperience, and fear of both his own precarious position and Flagg, Thomas allows Flagg to become the defacto ruler, earning the hatred of the people in the process.

This story is told in a lyrical, old-fashioned way that is reminiscent of the way the great fairy-tales were told in my childhood. King's prose is poetic and beautiful; it draws you in to his world and paints a vivid picture of the events that unfold before you. If you have never read a Stephen King novel because you 'don't read horror' then this is the novel for you. In my opinion it is his finest work, and it was the first novel I ever read of his. I highly reccomend this book!

3.5/5 - This book reminds me of Stephen King's The Talisman in terms of style and setting, although I think The Talisman is the superior story between the two. I loved the beginning of this one but I feel like some parts dragged a bit from about the halfway-point on. I read somewhere that King wrote this one for his young daughter, and that makes a lot of sense to me as it reads a bit younger than his other books. Overall, I did like it, but I guess I just am not as excited about it as I am some of his other masterpieces.

"Kingdom Fantasy" or fantasy stories that take place in or near a castle, with good vs. evil, are some of my favorites. I'm not sure if that's a real term, but that's what I call it. So I did enjoy this one, but I was just not expecting the near-YA-ness of it. It was fun to see the nods to Lovecraft and King's Big Bad Guy Flagg play a prominent role. IT was also a small part of the story's background, which was awesome.

Not to sound snobbish, but it's hard for me to understand that others found this a "page turner" or "one of his best books". It probably would have enthralled me if I was still in Jr. High but it was far too predictable and lacked the depth that I normally feel from his writing. Hopefully your experience will be better than mine. Regardless, he is still a great writer and I will continue to read his books.

This was not the story I was expecting - from the title, I thought there would be more dragons! This was a good coming of age tale with a dark antagonist, an admirable protagonist, and an assortment of other characters in a full range of good and evil - some unwittingly so!

I'm beginning to wonder if Stephen King is for me. I'm going to continue reading his works, but so far I have given 3 stars to all those I've read. His writing style throws me off at times.