The Eyes of the Dragon

The author is quite known to inspiring writers and readers around the world. Stephen King is a highly successful author from America who has sold over 350 million copies of his works worldwide. He is most known for his interesting horror novels that have been adapted to movies and comic books. He is best known for his horror novels such as It, Carrie, The Shining, Misery and The Dark Tower series. A lot of people I know have said their favourite novel from King is It, which was converted into a film that starred Tim Curry.

I love Stephen King's work a lot. What I participially like about his writing style how rich and powerful the detail is. The information is very high and the pace is decent. It's straight to the point which I found quite relaxing, even though there are times when King's work can be described as vicious.

In an interview, Stephen King once said that he likes to hurt the reader, but also to exhilarate the reader at the same time. He wants his books to be alive and dangerous and to be read with caution. I think he's hit the mark on there, though the only time his books have ever hurt me was when one of his books fell on my head at work.

It's this that helps him create truly compelling characters such devilishly scheming Flagg from the Dark Tower series who is also is a major antagonist in this book. King states the inspiration for the character came out of nowhere, which I find amusing because Flagg has seemed to have inspired a lot of villains in modern literature villains and is often compared to Shakespeare villains.

The novel was released in 1987 and showed a change in direction for King. Eyes Of The Dragon is very different compared signature novels such as Carrie, It and The Cell. There are still some horror vibes present, but nowhere near as gory. I wouldn't say this is the best novel to introduce Stephen King, but I still think it's a very good book.

My copy of the novel has seen better days. I bought it in a bookshop in the Isle Of Wight during my holidays for a respectable £3. I think you can get it for a better price and in better condition. I could tell it was read a lot of times from fragile state of the spine. When I first had a browse I thought it would be a little similar to the Dark Tower series.

Behind the cover there's bold red text explains the novel as "a captivating tale of heroic adventure, of dragons and princes, of mysterious mice and magical men, as only Stephen King can tell it."

My cover is in black, has the author's name in bold white text filling 2 thirds of the cover and the title of the book in red at the bottom. Between the font is a dragon's eye copied and pasted in. In the dragon's piercing red eye, you can see the reflection of Thomas and Flagg. At the back, the page was filled with a black and white photo of Stephen taken by his wife, Tabitha King.

We also have a white strip of information. It shows that the recommended price is £6.99 at the time, the ISBN number which is 0-7515-0457-2 and it credits Tabitha for the author photo and the illustrations by Christopher Brown. There are some very fascinating and raw illustrations that contain as much detail as Stephen's writing. I think it works very well. I don't think the illustrations are available in the later editions of the book.

Things seem to be going well in Delain. King Ronald is trying his best to be a good king, although he's not the best in the world. He promises his elder son, Peter that he would be king. His younger brother, Thomas doesn't get as much praise being the younger one so there is a sense of sibling rivalry and jealousy. Things are bound to crack and they did; King Ronald is poisoned by Flagg, Peter is framed and jailed for it, leaving Thomas to be potentially blackmailed by Flagg and be crowned at the age of 12.

King makes it very easy to like Peter. Not only is he described as smart and handsome, but he also makes people feel sorry for him. He seems to be a very nice and brave lad who receives such an unfortunate twist in his life. I quite like the addition of his loyal butler Dennis joining him in prison.

Thomas, on the other hand, will separate most readers. I feel quite sorry for him at times while other times found his clumsiness a little bit irritating. He's what you can describe a tragic hero in some degrees. It's quite tragic how his weak mind is easily manipulated by Flagg, and also how he's one of Thomas' only close companions. On the other hand, it shows why Flagg is such a strong and influential villain. What adds more tension to the relationship between Thomas and Flagg was who Flagg got his mother killed during the time he was born.

It's a classic for me. The story is very satisfying and uses the elements of fantasy to very good use. This can easily appeal to much younger readers. Everything from beginning, middle and end was satisfying. I would certainly read it again.