Featuring 21 charming illustrations by David Palladini, this is an adventure fantasy for young adults--or very old prepubescents--and among King's most accomplished works (though readers who groan at King's unremitting vulgarity in his adult novels will again have a few quarrels to pick). Prince Peter, 17, is the elder son of Roland, beer-drinking king of Delain who had managed to stay unwed until 50. Father Roland's not much for sex and manages it only about six times a year, with the aid of an aphrodisiac from court magician Flagg--despite the fact that his Queen Sasha was only 17 when he married her. Roland is renowned for having killed a dragon With his famed arrow Foe-Hammer and eaten its nine-chambered heart, which keeps his heroic aspect alive under his beer fat. After Sasha dies giving birth to their second son Thomas, the demonic magician Flagg, who is apparently 400 or more years old, desires chaos in the kingdom and fears that young Prince Peter, when crowned king, will bring good sense instead; and so Flagg wants the inferior, bumbling, manipulable second son Thomas to be king. With this aim in mind, he poisons King Roland with dragon sand, blames the murder on Peter and has him imprisoned in the 300-foot-tall prison called the Needle. The boy Thomas is crowned, but becomes a winebibber and beer. drinker and as round-gutted as his father. During his five years in the tower, Peter has his mother's fabulous doll-house to play with, but is secretly spinning an escape rope with threads from dinner napkins he weaves on the small doll-house loom. What Flagg does not know is that Thomas, hidden in a secret passage and looking into his father's room through the eyes of the stuffed dragon's head on the wall, saw Flagg give the king the poisoned wine. And so the time comes when Foe-Hammer must again be brought to bear on tho dragon. But which brother can actually slay Flagg? Some of King's smoothest writing and slickest effects, with the usual supercosmic horror scaled down to reasonably familiar villainy--though the sales, one assumes, will be supercosmic. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In a charming fairy tale of good versus evil that comes complete with poisonous brews, secret passages, and malevolent sorcerers, a magician schemes to do a well-loved prince out of his royal inheritance. (N 1 86 Upfront)

Advance publicity hails this ``story'' (not labeled a novel) by the popular writer as appealing to ``readers of all ages,'' although its genesis was in a story King told to his children. King's legion of fans are likely to find that a restrained maturity marks the differences between this stylish, successful effort at fantasy (illustrated by 21 half-tones) and his earlier, sometimes overwrought writings. Eyes details the crusade of Peter and Thomas, two princely brothers, to destroy the 400-year-old Flagg, the evil magician who threatens to control the kingdom of Delain after the death of their father, King Roland, who remained unwed until he was past 50. Flagg has imprisoned Peter, the heir apparent, on suspicion of murdering the king (actually it was Flagg who did it) and installed the profligate second son, an easier mark, on the throne. Surprisingly, Eyes is a gentle story, despite violence, gore and his standard vulgarity, because King has ingeniously interposed himself between reader and narrative as if he were telling the tale aloud, with a soothing cadence practically audible in the evocative prose. This heartwarming chronicle of brotherly love may be enjoyed by young adults and their parents. 1,000,000 first printing; $300,000 ad/promo; BOMC selection. (February 2) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

YA A fantasy set in the mythical kingdom of Delain. Aging King Roland is murdered by his court magician, who sees to it that the king's eldest son and heir, Peter, is blamed for the crime. Peter is imprisoned and his younger brother Thomas ascends to the throne. Thomas is easily manipulated by the evil magician, and the kingdom's last hope is Peterif he can escape from prison and set things right again. The Eyes of the Dragon starts out slowly, but, as in most of King's books, the pace speeds up steadily, building to an exciting and satisfying climax. While some King fans who want their favorite horror writer back might grumble, fantasy or adventure fans of more open mind will find The Eyes of the Dragon a thoroughly entertaining book. Karl Penny, Houston Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.