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Six oddball but brave children confront the path of a colossal and fearsome paranormal malevolence that has invaded our existence from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They have no choice but to devote their lives fighting it, experiencing one nightmare after another in the process.

A Resonant Premise with a Distinctive Approach

This describes the premise, roughly, of the master of horror’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no debate). It similarly frames of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest chilling tome, in which six friends invoke the primordial, deeply sinister dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark to help them defeat some antagonists. As one might expect, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Acknowledging a Authorial Heritage

Joe Hill began his writing journey making great efforts to distance himself from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he still uses today and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he exhibits a strong similarity to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. Certain passages that consciously reflect some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a scene that recalls a recurring theme in King’s works (a riddling contest). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and we delight along with him.

Introducing the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: most are scholars at the imagined this academic setting in Maine. There’s Arthur, bookish and intelligent, cracking Old English riddles in his free moments; Colin, wealthy, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; the twin siblings; the attractive Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they experiment, half believing, partly skeptical, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, obliged to take rare books from his cherished academic collection by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s compelled to seize the collection’s foremost and unsettling title: the journal of occultist Enoch Crane (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators peruse the diary, discover they could summon what the author references as a “proud worm to aid our hero with his coercion issue – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a different victim every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Dexterity and Creative Scope

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the allies attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to immolate, or searching for methods to destroy the entity themselves, we move between page-turner to grim fantasy, black-ops torture to romance to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths beneath this UK region, a part infused with JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Tapestry of Horror and Hope

We encounter trolls – the classic variety and digital trolls, properly scary and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, heart-stopping scenes of bravery and scenes of terrible wickedness, both human and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is primarily a paean to the creative spirit, and to devotion and companionship. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says this character as the friends sit around the table, preparing to summon their beast into existence with the power of their thoughts.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Don’t miss them.