Eyes of the Dragon of The Talisman

The Talisman is one of King’s longest novels to date and, unfortunately, is a bit difficult to dive into at first. To truly be rewarded, the reader must be willing to stick with both King and Straub as they attempt to set up the history and story of Jack Sawyer and the quest to save his dying mother.


While The Talisman is not one of King’s greatest efforts, it’s also an amazing story at the same time that not only ties into his popular Dark Tower series, but also makes a nice introduction to the characters and world of Black House, which might just be a bit more involving than The Talisman.


The Talisman is a brave undertaking by both critically acclaimed authors and if the reader can stick with it, they will find a collaboration that grows in its confidence as the pages tick by and that is fully formed by the opening of the duo’s next novel, Black House.



Eyes of the Dragon is Stephen King’s first and, for the most part, only venture into the genre of sword and sorcery fantasy. Written because his daughter Naomi disliked his fictional explorations into the horror genre, readers might also be interested to find out that one of the characters, a peasant girl, is also named after King’s daughter.


Following the classic template for general fantasy, Eyes of the Dragon is a tale of good and evil with a host of characters whose names will be familiar to those who are familiar with King’s work. The villain of this novel, Randall Flagg, also makes appearance in King’s Dark Tower series and The Stand, among other works.
Eyes of the Dragon is the tale of Prince Peter of Delain, beloved son of King Roland (a name that will also be familiar to readers of the Dark Tower series) and rightful heir to the thrown of Delain. The tale takes a turn as the result of sibling rivalry when Peter’s younger and weaker brother, Thomas, becomes a pawn of the king’s magician, Randall Flagg.


After King Roland is murdered and Peter framed for his murder, Thomas is made King of Delain and Flagg his chief advisor. Peter is imprisoned in the Needle, a structure that towers over the Kingdom of Delain. Under the rule of Thomas and the deception of Flagg, Delain begins to move quickly into chaos.
Peter, trapped inside the Needle, begins to plot an escape in order to save his Kingdom from the evil Flagg as Thomas becomes nothing more than a puppet of Flagg. Requesting only his mother’s dollhouse and a royal napkin with each meal, Peter begins to plot to save his kingdom and clear his name.

Thinner than Stephen King's Lips

Thinner is yet another novel that King penned under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. Unlike the other Bachman tales such as Roadwork or The Long Walk, this tale is not one of desperation, but one of guilt and regret. It does, however, take us to the edge of desperation within the last chapters of the volume.
The story is one of Billy Halleck. Billy is a well-to-do lawyer with connections within the town that always serve him well. Billy also has quite a gut on him. Lazy, overfed, and greedy, Billy and his wife, Heidi, make their way across town one night in Billy’s automobile. And this is where the story truly begins.
As Billy enjoys the ministrations of his wife next to him, reveling in the pleasure he is being given and worrying little about the road in front of him, he hits an elderly gypsy woman and kills her. Disturbed, but undeterred, Billy manages to side step the charges and come away a free and untarnished man with the help of his many connections within the court system.


It is, however, the touch of a gypsy man, who whispers, “Thinner,” as he touches Billy that sets his life on a crash course toward the seemingly indescribable. He soon begins to lose a good amount of weight, going from overweight to slim in a matter of no time. However, just as he begins to lose pounds, he also begins to lose those around him as they veer away from Billy wanting nothing more to do with them.


Billy is desperate at this point and makes his way to the gypsy camp in which the old gypsy man and subsequently the old gypsy woman once lived. What he finds, however, is that there is no easy way out of the curse, making the journey a suspenseful and fulfilling one for the reader.
Thinner is different from many of King’s works in that it deals more with guilt than actual horror, isolation or desperation. Thinner is ultimately a story of attempted redemption and a hopeful lesson learned.


In 1984, horror master Stephen King teamed with another conductor of creep, Peter Straub, to pen a novel by the name of The Talisman. Almost twenty years later, the novel was continued by the duo with the 2001 release of Black House which featured the character of Jack Sawyer, The Talisman’s young protagonist, now grown and once again battling the forces of darkness.


In The Talisman, however, Jack Sawyer is simply a boy of twelve. With his mother dying of cancer, Jack is determined to find a mystical item known as The Talisman, which may or may not be able to save his mother from the grip of cancer. The only problem is, in order to find said artifact, Jack must travel not only cross-country, but also through space and time.


Determined to find the talisman and, in turn, save his mother, Jack finds himself in a parallel world known as “The Territories.” There he befriends a young werewolf who, while good-hearted, has nothing more than the mind of a child. The two become companions as Jack struggles against forces who want nothing more than to stop Jack from finding the fabled talisman.