The Eyes of the Dragon

The Eyes of the Dragon is a fantasy novel by the American writer Stephen King, first published as a limited slipcased hardcover by Philtrum Press in 1984, illustrated by Kenneth R. Linkhauser. It was later issued in a trade edition, and it is one of the few of his books written as a straight fantasy.

The kingdom of Delain is ruled by Roland, whose sons Peter and Thomas are the story's young protagonists. When Flagg, the king's magician, has Roland killed and the murder blamed on Peter, Thomas takes the throne and Peter is locked in a tower with no door, and the novel follows the friends who set out to free him, the magician's long-running plans and the narrator's habit of telling the reader what is coming before it arrives.

King wrote the book for his daughter, who wanted a story with dragons in it, and he tells it with a narrator who addresses the reader directly and often. It is shorter and more traditional in shape than most of his novels.