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A group of six unlikely but doughty children confront the path of a colossal and fearsome paranormal evil that has infiltrated our realm from the outer limits of oblivion. They have no choice but to devote their lives fighting it, experiencing terror upon terror in the ordeal.

An Echoing Plot with a Fresh Spin

This describes the premise, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no debate). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s latest chilling tome, in which six friends invoke the primordial, utterly malevolent dragon King Sorrow from the Endless Night to help them defeat some villains. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Embracing a Literary Lineage

Joseph Hillström King launched his profession going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his parent). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (that classic opening line); a moment that evokes a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

Meet the Protagonists

Returning to the group: the majority are pupils at the made-up the esteemed institution in the New England state. First is Arthur, bookish and brilliant, deciphering ancient puzzles in his free moments; Colin, rich, clever, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but emerges as crucial of their group as they experiment, somewhat credulous, somewhat doubtful, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ritual

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, forced into stealing valuable volumes from his beloved college library by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and disturbing work: the diary of adept Enoch Crane (executed “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators read the journal, learn they can invoke what Crane describes as a armored demon” to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a fresh offering annually or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Versatility and Creative Scope

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with seamless grace between genres: as the companions endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to sacrifice, or searching for methods to slay the beast themselves, we move between thriller to grim fantasy, black-ops torture to romance to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a section infused with JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Tapestry of Horror and Courage

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, properly scary and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and instances of terrible wickedness, both earthly and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is above all a ode 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 friends gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their serpent to life with the force of their minds.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Ensure you experience it.