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A group of six oddball but resilient children confront the trail of a vast and dreadful paranormal evil that has invaded our realm from the outer limits of shadow. They must wage a lifelong battle fighting it, experiencing horror after horror in the ordeal.

A Familiar Plot with a Distinctive Spin

This is the plot, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s new massive horror novel, in which a band of six call forth the age-old, infinitely malicious beast King Sorrow from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some antagonists. As one might expect, their supernatural ritual goes awry.

Acknowledging a Family Heritage

Joseph Hillström King launched his profession making great efforts to distance himself from his well-known dad, using the pseudonym he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his parent). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. Several quotes that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene 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 family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Central Figures

Returning to the group: five of them are students at the fictional this academic setting in Maine. There’s Arthur, academic and intelligent, cracking ancient puzzles in his spare time; Colin, wealthy, sharp, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the attractive the lovely Allie. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but assumes a vital role of their group as they dabble, somewhat credulous, half not, in the occult.

The Pivotal Ritual

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and unsettling work: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (put to death “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is fashioned from his hide). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a cunning serpent to help Arthur out with his blackmail problem – and devote the remaining story reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As our protagonist states: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Versatility and Creative Scope

Covering a generation, the author shifts with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the friends attempt to deal with the circumstances they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, choosing undeniably wicked targets to immolate, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we go from page-turner to shadowy tale, clandestine torment to romance to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a segment tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Mosaic of Horror and Hope

There are trolls – the classic variety and online ones, properly scary and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of courage and scenes of dreadful evil, both human and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is primarily a tribute to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “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 assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their beast to life with the strength of their collective will.

As Hill puts it in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Do not overlook this.