Chris-funny you should mention the bedtime story tone of The Hobbit. When i was little, maybe 8 or so, my dad told my sister and I The Hobbit from memory. I thought he was making up the story himself! I liked the part in EOTD where King actually writes something about this is good place to put the book down and sleep.

I finished EOTD this weekend, and I started The Hobbit today. Both are re-reads for me. I actually feel like King is hitting the same story voice level that Tolkien had with The Hobbit. The bedtime story fantasy aspect of it is there in both. And while it is for a younger reader, the language doesn't come across as talking down to the reader.

Uncle Stevie is telling us a bedtime story! :)

I read this earlier this summer, and I loved it. It felt completely different than anything else I've read by King. I haven't read the DT series yet, but it seems as though there are a lot of tie ins there. I want to try to get through a bit more of the overall Stephen King universe before I read DT. Then maybe I'll go back and revisit Eyes of the Dragon.

And I agree Rachel. When I was reading it, I got the same exact feel that it was like a bedtime story.

It's like a great bedtime story/fairy tale. wonder if it's on audiobook and who reads it?

I read this and loved it! But besides the relationship to The Dark Tower Series, I feel it is a simple fairy tale. Don't get me wrong, I feel its unique as far as King's other books goes and it was great, but nice and simple. :)

I doesn't seem too many people read this book... or there isn't a lot of discussion coming from it. What do you guys think?

Nilofer wrote: "I've always rated EOTD as in my top 5 of King books, because its different from his others, in his style, but still linked into his Dark Towers universe - and it has a fairytale charm of its own - ..."

I quite agree Nilofer. I quite liked the change of story which you usually associate with Mr. King. I also liked the fact that Flagg was in the story.

I've always rated EOTD as in my top 5 of King books, because its different from his others, in his style, but still linked into his Dark Towers universe - and it has a fairytale charm of its own - what do you all think?

Benjamin wrote: "Yeah I dont put much faith in wiki, too much bs to believe without verification. Ya listen to wiki, one would think that Obama is a great man, instead of the moron that he is."

I don't think that this is the place for that.

I'm usually very quick to jump on stuff like that; pat myself on back for not rising to the bait this time :)

Lori wrote: " Benjamin, you made a sly comment in another thread about our president, & Chirs was going to tag it. Now it doesn't matter who voted for who, or if he's a dick or not. What matters is this isn't t..."

Sorry if i over stepped myself Angie. I know your the moderator, but it had to be said. :)

Yes I think it is sad that we have moved to politics in this thread. There are a lot of groups on Goodreads for that purpose. I don't mind someone throwing it in now and then (obviously we get off topic all the time here) but be sure to put it in when appropriate. Thanks

All political parties to the back of the bus. Now jump off. PLease do Mark, it just makes King dirty. LOL So please & thank you!

Yes, Angie. Very sad. But we can rest assured that when they nominate Sarah Palin in the next election she doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning; in part because she doesn't read. She couldn't even think of one periodical or newspaper that she reads regularly. Instead she said she reads ALL OF THEM! Haaaaaa! What an idiot. (See how I made my comment relevant to the site?) Anybody read her book yet? Going Rogue... HAAAA! She is good for a laugh at the very least!

Sorry, Lori! I will cease and desist from here on.

Benjamin, you made a sly comment in another thread about our president, & Chirs was going to tag it. Now it doesn't matter who voted for who, or if he's a dick or not. What matters is this isn't the place for it. Go and make you a thread if you like but please stop trying to start trouble here. Thank you

Benjamin wrote: "Yeah I dont put much faith in wiki, too much bs to believe without verification. Ya listen to wiki, one would think that Obama is a great man, instead of the moron that he is."

SAD!

Yeah, I caught that too, the witch of Coos.

Here's another DT tie-in I found. Page 89 in the hardcover, chapter 30 early on:

"...old wives cringed in their beds and slept poorly and told their husbands that Rhiannon, the Dark Witch of the Coos, was riding her hateful broom this night, and wicked work was afoot."

Little things like this are cool. When I read TEOTD the first time, I hadn't read any DT books. Little passages like that didn't mean nearly as much as they do since I have since.....

Yeah I dont put much faith in wiki, too much bs to believe without verification. Ya listen to wiki, one would think that Obama is a great man, instead of the moron that he is.

spoilers for Dark Tower:

this is what I found on wikipedia

A tale set in the Middle Ages most likely the In-World of the Dark Tower series. The main antagonist is Flagg (The Man In Black, Randall Flagg, The Walkin' Dude, Marten Broadcloak, Walter O'Dim, Walter Padick, etc.) is the king's evil advisor, conspires to kill the king (and earlier, his wife, the queen) and tries to ultimately cause anarchy in the kingdom. He imprisons the prince, but later flees to another world once his plan fails. He is followed by Prince Peter and his servant Dennis, who run into Roland during the Dark Tower series.

Also I found this:
but they were only briefly mentioned in The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three where Roland says that he encountered both Flagg and Thomas and Dennis.

Roland mentions Garlan near the end of The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, as a remote kingdom of Mid-World known for its poisons. In The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Roland says that his grandfather Alaric went to Garlan, the land next to Delain, to slay a dragon but got there too late because the last dragon in that part of the world had already been killed by another king who was later murdered. He also says in The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands Lands that there may have been a civil war in Garlan at some point.

I thought Roland actually saw them but I guess not.

Benjamin wrote: "Angie wrote: "Weren't Peter and Thomas in one of the DT books? "

Not that I recall. Been a year since ive read the series for the second time though."

Well I only started the series in March of this year & finished them a couple of months back & I can`t remember them showing up in the books. Mind you I was processing a lot of information in a short space of time, so I could be wrong!

Angie wrote: "Weren't Peter and Thomas in one of the DT books? "

Not that I recall. Been a year since ive read the series for the second time though.

Now that my dear Allison is a very good sound theory. The world does move on.

Lori wrote: " That's an interesting theory. But as the gunslinger books evolve we find out about Roland, where he comes from, how he grew up, what makes him take after the man in black, friends, family, lovers,..."

Also, we run into Flagg in either the 3rd or 4th Dark Tower book and he's not the same character as the Man in Black.
However, what if Thomas is one of Roland's ancestors?

Weren't Peter and Thomas in one of the DT books?

I'd say it's definitely a parallel world. The part I just read today had Flagg consider that Peter is probably an aspect of the White.

That's ok, i'm the worlds worst, i sound like a broken record. LOL We all got our vices! :o)

Thats what I love about his books...there are so many connections and parallels....you are never "just" reading a book. You are entering his world! (Oh, jeez, I sound like a book jacket. lol)

Yeah i know. That's why i said it's a good theory. With Sia King one can never tell. :)

Lori wrote: " That's an interesting theory. But as the gunslinger books evolve we find out about Roland, where he comes from, how he grew up, what makes him take after the man in black, friends, family, lovers,..."

Yeah, but there are many layers of the King Universe, this story does seem to parallel it somewhat. You can't help but think about it, ya know?

That's an interesting theory. But as the gunslinger books evolve we find out about Roland, where he comes from, how he grew up, what makes him take after the man in black, friends, family, lovers, basically his life.

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

Kathy, I would agree with you on that.
SPOILER . . .

Another hint may be Thomas' penchant for weaponry; i.e. he may well evolve into a Gunslinger.

SPOILER above

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but now that I've finished it....and absolutely loved it....it fits so well into the Dark Tower saga...

SPOILERS.....

When Thomas leaves at the end to go after Flagg, it made me wonder if he...perhaps out of respect.... takes his father's name, Roland, when he goes out to pursue Flagg (the dark man). And thus starts The first book in the Dark Tower series.

Did anyone else get that? Or am I looking too much into it? It just totally made me wonder.

I read this book about 7 years ago, but I do remember thinking that it could have taken place in a kingdom near Gilead. Their worlds are just so similar.

*****May contain some spoilers!*****

I've read this book a couple of times, & never gave a thought to any meaning in the dollhouse. I always thought Peter wanted to be closer to his mom, & by playing with it he was. At the beginning you feel bad for Thomas, sickly, inapt, slow at learning, none of Sasha's looks or charm. But from the time he saw Flagg poison his dad i felt pity, & anger at him. Thomas knew Peter had nothing to do with their fathers death, but he let him take the fall, & to Peter's credit he let his brother put him in the tower. Now i know a few of you will think Thomas was under Flagg's control, and he may have been just a little, but what you have to see is that Thomas was always a jealous, & insecure child. For every good deed Peter did Thomas was envyus of him. Not that Thomas didn't try he did, but it seemed to fall short for him. All but archery, which he came by quite naturally, that he got from his father. As in all great stories you have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And this one was no different, & by the end i had forgiven Thomas all his deeds because that's what family, & especially brothers, and sisters do. Peter gets the kingdom back, & Thomas gets a life, a brother, & a friend. I love this story and i always come away feeling good, happy. The bad guy gets what's coming to him and they all live life to the fullest. Hope i didn't spoil to much of it for anyone. :)

I started this book yesterday. I had been wanting to read this for ages, and finally I'm into it. I am about a quarter into and and I can't put it down! I love the tone and how he's telling the story! It's like Uncle Stevie is telling us a bedtime story. Which is probably how he intended it to sound for his daughter. I love that Flagg is in it and Roland The Good. This totally reminds us of all the realms in King's Universe. And it seems that Flagg and Roland's paths cross in every realm.

I just can't seem to get into this book. It's so unlike his other ones.

Kandice wrote: "I'm not reading it right now, but if I remember correctly, the dog sees scent lines in colors and the boys is electric blue. I thought that was such a clever, but simple way to describe the way a d..."

yeah i could too, and more importantly, felt like i could see it through the dog's eyes.

I'm not reading it right now, but if I remember correctly, the dog sees scent lines in colors and the boys is electric blue. I thought that was such a clever, but simple way to describe the way a dog follows a scent trail. I could just see it.

i really like when Stephen King writes from the POV of a canine character, like in Cujo, Eyes of The Dragon or the Stand.

Ive been reading Needful Things for a month now and only halfway through. I wish I had more time for it but oh well. So I wont be reading Eyes of the Dragon, but its a good book. I liked the chapters from the point of view of the dog, those were unique.

I agree that the idea is scary, but in a different way than King usually writes scary. There is no gore, and while Flagg is infinitely evil, he acts in covert ways. That's not any less scary, but just not so "in your face".

I think one of the things that makes King as popular as he is, is that even in the middle of all the terror, he explores love, fealty, loyalty, friendship in very real and believable ways. This book is no exception and actually shows very young people acting in incredibly responsible ways. That's not an exception either, but because they aren't surrounded by terror and gruesomness...it is.

Just finished the book, & I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good I thought the book was. I didn`t have much expectations before begining it, due mainly to reviews I`ve seen of it.

I don`t want to give much away about the story for those that may not have started yet, but I must say that I admire King for doing so well with a story that`s outside his comfort zone. This story is certainly a fantasy, which is not exactly King`s area (I know that the `Dark Tower`novels are considered fantasy novels, but this story is more of your traditional type of fantasy story).

Overall it was a good story which say saw King from a different angle from which you usually see him, with interesting characters, particularly Flagg, who is your ultimate villain.

*Spoiler alert*
Kandice wrote: "I think part of the huge appeal of Flagg being a main character, is that King DID write this as a "non-scary" story for his daughter, and yet managed to include one of the scariest characters he ha..."

Even though it reads like a fairy tale at times, I do find the whole premise pretty scary, that an innocent child can be convicted of murder and put in prison for years and years and chased by an evil magician who wants his head... not to mention how he corrupts Peter's younger brother in the process, IMO. This may have started out as a "non-scary" story for SK's young daughter, but I definately didn't sleep well after reading it - just thinking about roaming through corridors with a scary dude like Flagg was enough :)

I think part of the huge appeal of Flagg being a main character, is that King DID write this as a "non-scary" story for his daughter, and yet managed to include one of the scariest characters he has ever invented. Pretty cool!

About 300 pages in and enjoying it (once again). Peters drawn out escape from the top of the needle put me in mind of Andy Dufraine’s escape from Shawshank.

I really love the quality of the story teller’s voice in this book as it paints such a rich picture. Without this voice it might simply be a run of the mill high fantasy novel.

I love this book and reread it recently. My 14-yr old son really liked it too - I find its a milder version of SK's usual stuff, but it still has his trademark sensitivity to the human angle. The father/son relationship is well-done, I feel, with the butlers. EOTD has a dreamlike quality, moving smoothly even though awful things are happening. Makes it even more scary for me:)

Just picked it up from the library yesterday. Hope to start it this week. I've never before read this one.

It's funny - it's been so very long since I read "Eyes of the Dragon" that I ordered one of those penny "used" copies from Amazon. I loved it so much that I ordered a GOOD copy as a birthday present for my "adopted" grandaughter. I read it yesterday (all day looong)