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A group of six oddball but brave children fall into the way of a colossal and dreadful supernatural malevolence that has entered our world from the outer limits of oblivion. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes battling it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

An Echoing Premise with a Distinctive Twist

This outlines the narrative, roughly, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s latest chilling tome, in which six friends summon the ancient, utterly malevolent beast King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Celebrating a Literary Heritage

Joe Hill began his writing journey making great efforts to remain separate from his famous father, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he exhibits a strong similarity to his father). But in this latest novel, he leans into it. Certain passages that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

Introducing the Main Characters

Back to those friends: five of them are pupils at the fictional the esteemed institution in Maine. There’s Arthur, studious and brilliant, solving ancient puzzles in his free moments; Colin, affluent, astute, and known for crushing those who oppose him; Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but becomes a key part of their group as they experiment, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Ceremony

The protagonist finds himself, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his cherished academic collection by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, especially when he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and unsettling work: the diary of adept Enoch Crane (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is made from his skin). These young investigators read the journal, realize they are able to call forth what Crane describes as a armored demon” to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a fresh offering each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Genre Versatility and Imaginative Range

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with effortless ease through various literary forms: as the allies endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to sacrifice, or seeking means to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from suspense to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to love story to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths below Cornwall, a part sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was gloriously terrifying.

A Detailed Mosaic of Horror and Hope

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, truly terrifying and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, heart-stopping scenes of courage and scenes of dreadful evil, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is primarily a paean to the human inventiveness, and to affection and camaraderie. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the companions assemble around a surface, making preparations to call forth their beast to life with the force of their minds.

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