Stephen King - Eyes of the Dragon - 8
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 9:32 am
Eyes of the Dragon : a story
This is the first King book I've read, and I did enjoy it. In essence, the story is a fairy tale with a down-to-earth narrator stopping it seeming too cliched - and it works quite well.
The plot is inherently an old one, being primarily a combination of the stories of Bluebeard and Goldilocks, with a few snippets of other tales thrown in for seasoning. On the other hand, the characters are nicely drawn if in the monochrome of the genre - from the pure and good prince, to the evil magician, to the faithful butler. This is quite well disguised by the setting itself, which is a little more down to earth than it's characters (it has taxed and droughts and civil unrest).
The real stylystic gem of the story if the narrative voice chosen - the whole story is told (along with editorial asides) by the omnipresent Storyteller, who manages to humanise the archetypical characters, and mythologise the prosaic kindgdom where the action is set, allowing him to slip seamlessly between the epic and the mundane - making the whole thing seem like it could really happen.
All in all, the story does absolutely nothing new, and isn't even outstandingly well written - but it is free of horrible flaws, and maintains it's conceits strongly. This is I think going to be my example of a book that does everything in the average - it has no visible flaws, but nothing really excels either. That said, the book had me hooked, and it wasn't time wasted reading it - indeed, I would recommend it to just about anyone.
Have you read this book? Click here to rate it!
This is the first King book I've read, and I did enjoy it. In essence, the story is a fairy tale with a down-to-earth narrator stopping it seeming too cliched - and it works quite well.
The plot is inherently an old one, being primarily a combination of the stories of Bluebeard and Goldilocks, with a few snippets of other tales thrown in for seasoning. On the other hand, the characters are nicely drawn if in the monochrome of the genre - from the pure and good prince, to the evil magician, to the faithful butler. This is quite well disguised by the setting itself, which is a little more down to earth than it's characters (it has taxed and droughts and civil unrest).
The real stylystic gem of the story if the narrative voice chosen - the whole story is told (along with editorial asides) by the omnipresent Storyteller, who manages to humanise the archetypical characters, and mythologise the prosaic kindgdom where the action is set, allowing him to slip seamlessly between the epic and the mundane - making the whole thing seem like it could really happen.
All in all, the story does absolutely nothing new, and isn't even outstandingly well written - but it is free of horrible flaws, and maintains it's conceits strongly. This is I think going to be my example of a book that does everything in the average - it has no visible flaws, but nothing really excels either. That said, the book had me hooked, and it wasn't time wasted reading it - indeed, I would recommend it to just about anyone.
Have you read this book? Click here to rate it!