Of course Stephen King can write fairy tales. Bwaaaahaahaaa!

In his most recent novel Steven King returns to Mid-World, the setting for his Dark Tower series, and seems mighty glad to be there. I had never been to Mid-World before, but within a few deftly written pages, the master storyteller had me well oriented, introduced to the main characters, and ready for what would come next. He did cheat a bit and used a forward to accomplish this, but it got the job done and saved me a bit of puzzlement.

The Wind Through the Keyhole is a Mid-World fairytale. This gem of a story nestles snugly inside another story, which nestles inside another story. The reader gets three stories in one. But the heart of the book is the story of Tim Ross, son of Big Ross, the woodcutter. And like all good fairytales it begins “Once upon a bye, long before your grandfather’s grandfather was born, on the edge of an unexplored wilderness called the Endless Forest…” It is a tale of death and terror and heartbreak that would make the Brothers Grim green with envy. It features a wicked stepfather instead of a wicked stepmother, because the main character is a boy not a girl. It borrows gently from the King Arthur legend, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Babba Yagga, and Hansel and Gretel. And last but not least, it carries the same psychological punch as a well-crafted fairytale—Carl Jung would approve.

An excellent read. I was sorry when it was over.