Krishna
Can you imagine the Master of Horrors, Stephen King writing a veritable Roald Dahl like Fantasy fiction? I couldn’t either. But he has done it and done it very well too, by the looks of it.
The entire story is told in an easy and conversational style by a mysterious narrator, and follows the life of King Roland and his two sons, Peter the crown prince and Thomas, the younger prince.
The King’s magician Flagg is the personification of that timeless evil, who has spread destruction throughout the ages.(Some reflection on the evil wizard in his brilliant work, ‘The Storm of the Century‘). He uses a little known poison called the Dragon Sand to kill King Roland. He gives this in wine and frames Peter. Peter is condemned to life imprisonment in a tower based on the evidence, the sentence being handed out by the loyal and upright judge Penya.
Thomas is crowned King and Flagg finally has a pliant King to wreak the destruction he always sought to unleash on Delain (the Kingdom).
Of course, this being a fairy tale, there is a a happy ending. The tale is told in a J.K. Rowling like easy style but is not as complex as the famed Harry Potter series of J.K Rowling. It is a pleasure to read, and just jogs along, carrying you with the flow.
The biggest surprise is the style and the story genre are so different from what King usually does. He has done this very well too.
I would recommend it to even readers who are not traditionally King fans. It is worth a read.
I will surely give it a 8/10
— Krishna