Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I check out the next upcoming novel from legendary author Stephen King, Fairy Tale, a twisted and inventive dark fantasy novel that I am extremely excited for.

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After a reading career spent mostly devoid of the works of iconic author Stephen King, 2021 was the year that I started getting into this talented and twisted writer.  This was made easy by the fact that King released two particularly awesome novels, both of which were extremely cool and fun to read.  The first was the horror thriller, Later, a unique coming-of-age story that followed a young boy who can see the dead, and who finds himself thrust into dangerous and terrifying situations as a result.  Kings second book was the incredible Billy Summers, a powerful thriller that followed a titular assassin whose entire life is changed by his final job and a fateful encounter that followed.  I deeply enjoyed the captivating and deep Billy Summers and it ended up being one of my favourite books of 2022.  As such, I am extremely keen to read more of King’s work, and while I am considering diving into previous impressive books, I have also been keeping an eye out for his next upcoming book.

Well, I just found out some details about King’s next book and boy does it sound like it is going to be one heck of a unique read.  This new book, which is currently set for release in September 2022, is Fairy Tale, which will take another teenage protagonist on a powerful and intense journey to the dark side of reality where he comes face to face with an ancient evil.

Synopsis:

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and his aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale about another world than ours, in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy—and his dog—must lead the battle.

Ok, now this sounds like it is going to be something special.  I love the various intriguing elements that Fairy Tale’s synopsis hints at, especially as it will pit King’s typical young adult protagonist against a mysterious evil from another realm.  The idea of a young man being thrust into a struggle between good and evil in an alternate, dark fantasy dimension has a lot of potential, especially when combined with King’s extremely well proven writing style and ability to craft great characters.  I am really intrigued by this idea of another realm, and from the sound of some of the quotes from King that are being released as marketing for this book, it looks like the author really went out of his way to make it as inventive and crazy as possible.

Look let us be honest here, we already know that Fairy Tale is going to be a great book.  King has been on a role lately, and after 40 years of writing some of the best books out there, he really knows how to create an exceptional read.  I am particularly drawn to the synopsis above and I think that a cool, alternate fantasy realm storyline helmed by this great author has an unbelievable amount of potential.  This is easily going to be one of the best books of 2022 and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.