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A group of six oddball but resilient kids confront the trail of a colossal and fearsome supernatural malevolence that has entered our existence from the outer limits of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle battling it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

A Resonant Storyline with a Fresh Twist

This is the plot, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (his best; no arguments). It is also the plot of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest massive horror novel, in which six friends call forth the primordial, utterly malevolent dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to help them defeat some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Family Lineage

The author started his career going to great lengths to remain separate from his renowned parent, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a striking resemblance to his parent). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. Several quotes that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.

Introducing the Protagonists

Returning to the group: five of them are students at the imagined Rackham College in this northeastern locale. First is Arthur, academic and brilliant, deciphering Old English riddles in his leisure hours; Colin, rich, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the attractive Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their band as they toy, partly convinced, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Fateful Ceremony

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the institution’s prized and unsettling title: the diary of occultist Enoch Crane (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group peruse the diary, discover they could summon what Crane describes as a clever snake to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a different victim each year or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Stylistic Dexterity and Inventive Breadth

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with seamless grace between genres: as the companions attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or searching for methods to slay the beast themselves, we transition from suspense to grim fantasy, clandestine torment to affectionate subplot to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a adventure narrative, within the subterranean depths under the English county, a section infused with the fantasy maestro that was wonderfully frightening.

A Detailed Mosaic of Fear and Optimism

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, truly terrifying and perfectly brought to life. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and scenes of dreadful evil, both human and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a chilling book that is above all a ode to the imagination, 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 this character as the companions assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their serpent into existence with the force of their minds.

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