by Stephen King
This is a dark fantasy book set in a sort of medieval age, of castles and wizards. It is a story of a young prince, Peter who is framed by Flagg, the magician/advisor of King Roland, Peter's father. He is then sent to live out the rest of his life in the top of a tower that overlooks the whole city, called the Needle. In the meantime, Peter's younger brother Thomas takes over the kingdom and being so young and not very bright, Thomas is simply a puppet to Flagg's will. In all this while, Peter sets about setting things right and starts to hatch a plan to escape and reclaim his throne and clear his name. All this Peter must do before Flagg causes the whole kingdom to riot in arms from the high taxation and injustice of the courts he has imposed.
I think this is not one of King's best works. It seems to simple and the world's coloring and texture is very thinly veiled. The concept are also not explored into much depth. I felt there was very little to make this story have any sort of fantasy feel, or is it not supposed to be fantasy but just set in medieval times. I wonder. Anyways, it is also not dark and scary enough.
With other King books I have read, I always felt sick to my gut about how mentally disturbing it is. For instance, when I read Rose Madder, even thought the overall plots was not very well put together, the depth and substance of the characters are enough to make you feel and sick with everything, which is where I set the bar for King's fiction.
Overall, the story is decent and the characters are likable but at the end of it I felt it could have been so much more and I did not feel particularly horrified by any of it.
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