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Six quirky but resilient youngsters confront the path of a vast and fearsome supernatural evil that has invaded our realm from the deepest abyss of shadow. They are compelled to devote their lives confronting it, enduring horror after horror in the struggle.

A Resonant Storyline with a Distinctive Twist

This is the plot, roughly, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (his best; no debate). It is also the plot of King’s son Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group call forth the age-old, infinitely malicious serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to help them defeat some villains. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony goes awry.

Celebrating a Authorial Lineage

The author started his career making great efforts to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a strong similarity to his parent). But in this latest novel, he leans into it. Several quotes that consciously reflect some of King’s most famous (that classic opening line); a incident that evokes a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). Throughout this massive book, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his family connection, and readers share in the joy.

Meet the Central Figures

Returning to the group: five of them are scholars at the made-up the esteemed institution in Maine. We have Arthur, academic and intelligent, solving Old English riddles in his spare time; Colin, rich, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. And there’s Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, half believing, half not, in arcane arts.

The Critical Ritual

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, forced into stealing valuable volumes from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s made to take the institution’s prized and chilling publication: the diary of practitioner Enoch Crane (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what the author references as a “arrogant beast to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a new sacrifice every twelve months or become his victim themselves. As our protagonist states: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Dexterity and Imaginative Breadth

Moving through four decades, Joe Hill transitions with effortless ease through various literary forms: as the friends strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we go from page-turner to shadowy tale, covert operations to romance to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, deep in the caves beneath this UK region, a segment infused with the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Mosaic of Dread and Hope

There are trolls – those living under bridges and online ones, genuinely frightening and superbly depicted. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of valor and instances of dreadful evil, both mortal and otherworldly. This is a remarkable achievement: a horror novel that is primarily a ode to the imagination, and to affection and camaraderie. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the companions sit around the table, preparing to summon their serpent into being with the force of their minds.

According to Joe Hill in his opening statement: “This is dragon territory”. Ensure you experience it.