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This is a solid 3, with an engaging middle, a horrible start, and a short-and-underwhelming end. I would sum it up as a high quality airport book read.

The story follows the classic good vs evil set up, with a good prince, a weak prince, and an evil wizard. You'd think it will have a unique Stephen King-esque twist. But sadly, no. It's a fairy tale, an okay-ish fairy tale. No surprises. Please move along.

*The horrible start*

1) Stephen King can get away with a lot of things, including his long (very long) exposition in the beginning. I wasn't keeping count, but it felt like a good 30% of the book was pure telling (vs showing). He built enough trust, that i was willing to see it through.

2) He also decided to tell the story with a narrator voice that appeared to be from our world today vs the fantasy world of the past that he should be from. In many parts, he kind of broke the world he was building, by throwing examples and commentary by the narrator referring to 20th century things (e.g. while Peter was descending the Needle, he described the height as a 4 story building).

*Engaging middle*

Although a classic tale, he threw a lot of interesting ingredients in the mix (dragon sand, the prince's doll house, the secrete passage way). I was hoping that these things will come back later and have a 'stephen-king' spin on the classic trope... but no. Nevertheless, the middle was interesting (under the circumstances).

*Underwhelming end*

- He decided to introduce a character last minute into the novel (the random lady that married Ben)
- He never got back one of the main characters and just left him be (the judge)
- He never circled back to a few great things he introduced in the beginning
- The ending was anti-climactic
- The antagonist was too easy to beat

*Side note*

As a Dark Tower fan, I liked seeing references to its characters in Eyes of the Dragon. Flag, Roland, the Tower. It got me thinking what seeds did Eyes of the Dragon have on the Dark Tower.