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Six unlikely but doughty youngsters encounter the trail of a vast and fearsome supernatural evil that has invaded our world from the deepest abyss of darkness. They must spend their lifetimes battling it, enduring one nightmare after another in the process.

A Familiar Storyline with a Fresh Twist

This is the plot, in essence, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; undeniable). It similarly frames of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group call forth the ancient, utterly malevolent beast the Dragon King from the Long Dark to aid them in overcoming some villains. Unsurprisingly, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Authorial Heritage

The author launched his profession making great efforts to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, publishing under the pen name he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his father). However, in his newest work, he fully acknowledges it. Several quotes that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that recalls a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Protagonists

Back to those friends: most are scholars at the fictional this academic setting in the New England state. There’s Arthur, studious and brilliant, deciphering historical enigmas in his spare time; Colin, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling those who oppose him; the twin siblings; the attractive Allie. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they dabble, half believing, somewhat doubtful, in arcane arts.

The Fateful Summoning

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his cherished academic collection by a group of neighborhood thugs. This devastates his scholarly soul, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and unsettling publication: the journal of adept the historical figure (condemned “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the cover is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators read the journal, realize they are able to call forth what the author references as a cunning serpent to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice every twelve months or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Stylistic Dexterity and Creative Scope

Covering a generation, Joe Hill transitions with seamless grace across narrative styles: as the allies endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from suspense to shadowy tale, covert operations to affectionate subplot to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, far beneath the surface beneath this UK region, a section tinged by the fantasy maestro that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Canvas of Dread and Optimism

The novel features trolls – the classic variety and online ones, properly scary and superbly depicted. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of valor and instances of terrible wickedness, both mortal and extraterrestrial. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is chiefly a paean to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the companions assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their dragon to life with the force of their minds.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.