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Six unlikely but resilient kids confront the path of a vast and terrible supernatural malevolence that has entered our existence from the deepest abyss of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle battling it, experiencing terror upon terror in the struggle.

A Resonant Plot with a Distinctive Twist

This describes the premise, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It similarly frames of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s new massive horror novel, in which a close-knit group invoke the ancient, infinitely malicious dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark to help them defeat some villains. As one might expect, their otherworldly invocation goes awry.

Celebrating a Authorial Heritage

Joseph Hillström King started his career making great efforts to distance himself from his renowned parent, publishing under the pen name he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his father). But in this latest novel, he leans into it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that recalls a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and we delight along with him.

Meet the Central Figures

Back to those friends: most are scholars at the imagined Rackham College in this northeastern locale. First is Arthur, bookish and gifted, deciphering ancient puzzles in his free moments; another key figure, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie herself. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their band as they experiment, somewhat credulous, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Summoning

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s forced to acquire the institution’s prized and disturbing work: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (put to death “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what the author references as a cunning serpent to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Fluidity and Inventive Scope

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with natural fluency between genres: as the companions attempt to deal with the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to sacrifice, or seeking means to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from thriller to shadowy tale, covert operations to romance to fright. A standout transition was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves under the English county, a section infused with JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Canvas of Horror and Optimism

There are trolls – those living under bridges and online ones, properly scary and superbly depicted. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of valor and ones of appalling malevolence, both mortal and extraterrestrial. It stands as a masterpiece: a chilling book that is above all a ode to the human inventiveness, and to devotion and companionship. “We required a narrative to trust and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the companions assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their serpent to life with the force of their minds.

As Hill puts it in his opening statement: “This is dragon territory”. Do not overlook this.