Special thanks to the person who confirmed the dog doesn't die in this.

Jesus F*cking Christ this was a long book.

Stephen King has written one of my favorite books of all times: IT. There is nothing like that book and those characters out there. I think he truly delivers magic when it comes to coming of age stories and he adds so much soul to mundane characters.

This book feels like Stephen, but also doesn't at the same time. It's not quite a horror book, and it's not quite a fantasy book, it's somewhere in between.

It was really easy to connect to Charlie during the first half. He is a young man with an alcoholic father. Charlie begged God to help his father sober up, and he did. And because of that Charlie became the most reliable person in the world, because he truly believed that if he broke his part of his deal with God, his dad would go back to the alcohol.

He did great in school, at sports and helped his dad with work. Until one day, when walking back home from school, he hears his old neighbor's dog barking like crazy and once he checks it out, he finds the poor old man on the ground with a broken leg.

The first half of this entire book had [b:The Old Man and the Sea|2165|The Old Man and the Sea|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329189714l/2165._SY75_.jpg|69741] vibes. The grumpy old man falls in love with Charlie, and so does the dog. Charlie creates the most emotional routine with them, non-romantic love hits SO DIFFERENT.

He takes the dog on daily walks, feeds him, and also helps Howard with his meds and keeps him company.

It's the perfect recipe to make you bawl your eyes out. And I did cry about five times for the first half of this book.

I don't want to drop you any spoilers here, because this book is SO LONG, and it really does carry 3 different stories all at once. 3 different worlds. Stephen was inspired by the old school Grimm tales and this turns into one, it was beautifully crafted, his writing is so so so great and honestly so satisfying to read, but unfortunately, the last 300 pages of this were unbelievably boring and slow.

Basically, all you need to know about this book is: this is the story of a young man who fell in love with a dog, the dog is old and about to die, and he is willing to do WHATEVER it takes to make this dog stick around forever. That's where magic comes in, in this urban fantasy Stephen King tale. If you're ok with the slow pace of the book, you might actually love this one, because honestly? I'd also travel to an unknown world, talk to messed up creatures, make deals with the devil and face any kind of dangerous magic to make sure my dog lives forever.

Fairy Tale - Likewise Book Reviews

151 Reviews