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Six quirky but resilient kids encounter the path of a vast and terrible otherworldly malevolence that has entered our existence from the deepest abyss of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle battling it, facing terror upon terror in the process.

A Familiar Premise with a Distinctive Approach

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s recent massive horror novel, in which six friends summon the age-old, utterly malevolent dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark to aid them in overcoming some antagonists. Unsurprisingly, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Acknowledging a Literary Heritage

The author launched his profession striving diligently to remain separate from his famous father, using the pseudonym he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his parent). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a incident that recalls a King plot point (a riddling contest). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Protagonists

Returning to the group: five of them are students at the imagined Rackham College in this northeastern locale. There’s Arthur, bookish and gifted, deciphering historical enigmas in his free moments; the character Colin, affluent, sharp, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the attractive Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but emerges as crucial of their circle as they dabble, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Ritual

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer rare books from his beloved college library by a bunch of local criminals. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and chilling publication: the logbook of practitioner this enigmatic character (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is made from his skin). The intrepid group read the journal, discover they could summon what the author references as a cunning serpent to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative enduring the repercussions. This ancient entity will indeed rid them of those troublesome local drug dealers, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice every twelve months or become his victim themselves. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Stylistic Versatility and Inventive Range

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with seamless grace between genres: as the companions endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or seeking means to destroy the entity themselves, we go from page-turner to dark fantasy, covert operations to affectionate subplot to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a adventure narrative, within the subterranean depths beneath this UK region, a segment tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

A Detailed Tapestry of Horror and Optimism

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and digital trolls, properly scary and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and ones of dreadful evil, both mortal and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is primarily a tribute to the imagination, and to love and friendship. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the companions gather at the table, getting ready to invoke their beast into being with the power of their thoughts.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Do not overlook this.