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Six quirky but doughty youngsters fall into the path of a colossal and dreadful supernatural malevolence that has entered our existence from the outer limits of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle fighting it, enduring horror after horror in the struggle.

A Familiar Plot with a Distinctive Approach

This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s novel It (his best; no debate). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s new massive horror novel, in which six friends call forth the primordial, infinitely malicious dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to help them defeat some baddies. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Celebrating a Authorial Legacy

Joseph Hillström King launched his profession going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a uncanny likeness to his parent). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that intentionally mirror 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). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: the majority are students at the made-up Rackham College in Maine. We have Arthur, academic and intelligent, solving historical enigmas in his free moments; Colin, affluent, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the beautiful Allie. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but emerges as crucial of their group as they dabble, partly convinced, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Pivotal Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer rare books from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s made to take the institution’s prized and unsettling publication: the journal of adept Enoch Crane (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, realize they are able to call forth what Crane describes as a “proud worm to aid our hero with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative facing the fallout. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a fresh offering each year or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Versatility and Creative Scope

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the friends attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we go from suspense to grim fantasy, clandestine torment to romance to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface under the English county, a section infused with JRR Tolkien that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Tapestry of Fear and Courage

There are trolls – those living under bridges and internet antagonists, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. There are magical swords and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and scenes of terrible wickedness, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is above all a paean to the creative spirit, and to affection and camaraderie. “We required a narrative to trust and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the allies 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: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.