Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.
Introduction
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King is a traditional fantasy. King Roland of Delain has two sons. Prince Peter is his heir who is the perfect prince and ready to lead. His younger son is Prince Thomas, who is too young and malleable to Flagg, the court advisor, and magician. Flagg secretly assassinates the King and frames, Peter, for the murder. How will Peter clear his name, defeat the ancient Flagg, and claim his rightful throne?
Summary
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King is his first traditional fantasy novel. King Roland earned his kingdom by slaying a dragon. The dragon’s head is mounted on the wall in the King’s study. Peter was his firstborn son and heir. Queen Sasha died giving birth to Thomas. Flagg is the court advisor. He is a magician and a master of poisons who has been the power behind the throne for generations. Flagg thinks Peter would make too strong of a king, so he plots the fall of King Roland and Prince Peter to elevate the boy Thomas to the throne. He thinks he can control Thomas and lead the kingdom into chaos. Flagg’s plan involves the sinister poison, Dragon Sand.
The king is dead and Peter is imprisoned for the regicide in the Needle’s top, a tower prison. Thomas is King and Flagg controls him. Dennis is Thomas’s butler and his devoted servant. Peter’s best friend is Ben, he thinks Peter is innocent, and Ben finds the exiles north of the kingdom. Naomi of the exiles is a tracker who has a pack of dogs, including the dog Frisky.
Flagg is happy with the state of his plans. He has a two-headed parrot as his familiar. Thomas learns more from Flagg than Flagg ever expects he can. Peter’s escape plan involves his mother’s dollhouse and threads from many cloth napkins. Ben also has a plan to free Peter. Dennis learns some truth and delivers a letter to Ben. Ben, Dennis, Naomi, and Frisky make a plan and head to the castle.
Either Flagg will bring chaos to the Kingdom of Delain, or Peter will escape and claim his rightful kingdom.
Recommendation
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King is the author’s spin on a classic fairy tale. On the dust jacket, the author says he started writing this story to give a book to his young daughter who didn’t want to read his other stories of “vampires, ghoulies, and slushy crawling things.” The plot follows: the prince is wronged and must redeem himself to win his kingdom. King spins the story in his way. Flagg is a complicated villain, though he makes an unforced mistake at the end of the story. The only thing I wanted was to bring Naomi into the narrative earlier. I think a love triangle between Peter, Naomi, and Ben would have tied the story together. David Palladini enhances the story with excellent interior drawings. I added a picture of the title page below. The novel was light and interesting read.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/655707.The_Eyes_of_the_Dragon
The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.