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A group of six oddball but resilient youngsters encounter the way of a vast and dreadful supernatural malevolence that has entered our existence from the deepest abyss of oblivion. They are compelled to devote their lives fighting it, experiencing horror after horror in the ordeal.

A Resonant Plot with a New Spin

This is the plot, in essence, of the master of horror’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no debate). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest massive horror novel, in which a close-knit group call forth the primordial, utterly malevolent beast the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to help them defeat some villains. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Embracing a Authorial Heritage

Joe Hill launched his profession making great efforts to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, using the pseudonym he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he exhibits a uncanny likeness to his dad). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. Several quotes that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a incident that evokes a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Protagonists

Back to those friends: five of them are scholars at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. We have Arthur, academic and gifted, solving Old English riddles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, sharp, and prone to trampling those who oppose him; the twin siblings; the stunning Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their group as they experiment, somewhat credulous, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Summoning

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, forced into stealing rare books from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and disturbing work: the journal of occultist this enigmatic character (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the cover is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators peruse the diary, discover they could summon what the occultist details as a “proud worm to help Arthur out with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will certainly eliminate those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Dexterity and Inventive Breadth

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency between genres: as the friends endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or seeking means to destroy the entity themselves, we move between page-turner to dark fantasy, clandestine torment to love story to horror. A standout transition was to a quest story, far beneath the surface under the English county, a part tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Canvas of Horror and Courage

We encounter trolls – the classic variety and internet antagonists, properly scary and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of courage and scenes of appalling malevolence, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is above all a paean 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 the wealthy student as the companions sit around the table, preparing to summon their dragon to life with the strength of their collective will.

In the author’s own words in his opening statement: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.