My first Stephen King book. I bought this one because I didn't really want a thriller/horror book. And this was totally it.
I now understand why King is considered one of the best writers of our time.
I read this book and I wanted to keep reading. It felt like a bed time story, told by a grandfather, by the fireplace, on a winter night.
Safe, good versus evil, not really politically correct.

Most of the time I was thinking "If I have children I want to read them this book as bed time stories".

If like me you wanted to try King and were afraid of his "scary" books, this might be the one to try.

It's a coming of age story about a prince who has to be king after the evil court magician kills his father... ( )

Totally awesome. I kept waiting for the totally, unreasonably, and unnecessarily gross scenes Steven king has given in to lately to show up and they weren't there! Definitely closet to the stand than dreamcatcher. ( )

It was okay. It was a nice departure from King's usual fare, and as a fantasy novel, it delivers a nice story with tension building throughout.

What was good:

• The fantasy setting. King doesn't get bogged down in world-building, but still his world is believable. It also has a bit of its own history that gets fleshed out, and that was nice to see. Its vaguely Medieval feel lets it feel right at home in the high fantasy genre.
• The minor and supporting characters. They are interesting and nuanced. The villain is super creepy, even if some parts of him don't make sense. (He's super powerful and magical and demonic, yet he'll still follow their laws? A minor point. He's still a great villian.) Peter's friends have an intersting arc, too, and I enjoyed following their story.
• The heroic dog. There's a dog, and some parts of the story are told from the canine perspective, which is amazing. Animal viewpoints, even in fantasy, are rare. All too often, they are either saccharine or too anthropomorphized. This felt real.
• Themes of forgiveness. Characters make mistakes (except Peter) and grow from them.
• Themes of courage. Often a must in fantasy novels, but difficult to do well.
• It's memorable. Still thinking about it all this time later.
• It's unique. I've never read anything quite like it.

What was bad:

• The plot. It's an incredibly simple story. This is disguised by the fact that it jumps around so much chronologically. It feels as though it's building to something that never happens. For a good long while, I thought that whole business with Peter being arrested for a crime and trying to clear his name was the setup for the book's main plot. Turns out, that's pretty much just the whole plot.
• The tone. It feels like a children's tale. Nothing wrong with children's stories, except that this isn't meant for children. Marital sex (and impotence and a "flaccid penis") and rape and wife-beating and all sorts of things that usually aren't found in children's fantasy stories abound in this tale. Yet the narrator also talks directly to the reader in a folksy homey sort of way, kind of like the narrator in The Hobbit (which is, by contrast, an actual children's tale).
• The content. This was gross. I mean, really super gross. Way too many references to bodily functions, especially (but not exclusively) "boogers." People keep having them, eating them, looking at them, and thinking of them. Even when mucous isn't involved in a scene, people keep talking about it. There's nothing like a little random mention of "boogers" to turn even the most mundane conversation inane. Is this a Stephen King thing? Are his other books like this? It felt weird and out of place here. Worse, there is a sad scene when Peter gets spat on by strangers. If I hadn't just read umpteen references of gratuitous, gross bodily functions by the time I reached that part of the story, I might have felt something a little more deeply in the scene where this stuff actually mattered.
• Peter. Oh dear. He's the hero of the story, and I don't like him—not as a person, and not as a character. This made it hard to read the book, since he is the center of this relatively simple story. As a character, he is too perfect. He never does anything wrong. He instinctively knows things. He can out-reason or out-fight everyone else in the tale (except the main villain, at least at first). People he defeats are overcome with hero-worship for him. The wise, stern authority figure (who truly believes that Peter is a spoiled brat who murdered his father) still respects him, even reveres him, enough to donate money for bribes to get him luxuries in prison. People are falling over themselves telling each other how wonderful he is. And Peter, even as a young boy, still instinctively knows exactly what to say to sound wise and strong and dignified while still getting his own way. Granted, I liked Peter too at the beginning of the story. He reminded my of the heroic boy from the Narnia series (also named Peter) in that he was strong and wise and kingly. But this isn't as well-done as Narnia, nor is C. S. Lewis ever as preachy as Stephen King manages to be here. As for Peter (this Peter, not the Narnian one) as a person, well, the thing is that he *does* fall short. He may be a great son and wise ruler, but he is a lousy brother. He ignores his brother for much of their childhood, he doesn't notice his pain, and he doesn't try to engage him in any kind of meaningful conversation (so far as we know). In one scene, he wants his brother to join him for something nice. The brother doesn't understand, so Peter just leaves him out. He doesn't even try to connect with him or explain it to him. Full stop. And in the future, he doesn't even invite him. Sure, Peter may not have been evil-ambitious enough to overthrow the king, but neither was he humble or gentle or even kind enough to be close to someone he outranked. And in all Peter's years of imprisonment, he never seems to hold himself accountable for this. I'm not blaming Peter for his brother's sins, per se, but I do blame him for ignoring his brother's suffering all those years and for the role he played in isolating him. He left him vulnerable to be exploited.
• The ending. Wow, what a cop-out! 'Nuff said. ( )

I picked up "The Eyes Of The Dragon" by Stephen King at the local Friends of the Library book sale. Science Fiction/Fantasy are not in my top three genres of reads. However, the cover looked interesting, and it was, after all, a Stephen King novel. Wow, was I not disappointed! This has to be the best science fiction/fantasy that I have ever read! I equate it to a Grimm's Fairy Tales for YA/adult readers. The characters were fascinating, the plot was unique, and the setting fit the storyline perfectly. If you have not read this wonderful gem, or have (it's worth rereading), I would definitely recommend adding it to your tbr list! I'm certainly going to add the additional Stephen King fantasy novels to my tbr list! ( )

This is probably one of my favorite King books. A fantasy tale about a king and betrayal. The writing style was a nice change of pace; not quite breaking the 4th wall but having a Narrator. I may read this tale to my grandkids someday. This story of Peter and Randall Flagg was good one. ( )