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Six unlikely but resilient children encounter the path of a immense and dreadful otherworldly malevolence that has invaded our realm from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes confronting it, enduring horror after horror in the ordeal.

An Echoing Plot with a Fresh Approach

This describes the premise, in essence, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (his best; no arguments). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest chilling tome, in which a close-knit group invoke the primordial, infinitely malicious dragon King Sorrow from the Endless Night to assist them in vanquishing some villains. Unsurprisingly, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Celebrating a Authorial Lineage

Joe Hill started his career making great efforts to remain separate from his well-known dad, publishing under the pen name he continues to employ and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. Several quotes that consciously reflect some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that brings to mind a King plot point (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Back to those friends: five of them are students at the made-up Rackham College in the New England state. First is Arthur, studious and gifted, cracking ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; another key figure, wealthy, astute, and known for crushing those who oppose him; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they experiment, partly convinced, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Pivotal Ceremony

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s forced to acquire the institution’s prized and unsettling publication: the diary of occultist the historical figure (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group read the journal, learn they can invoke what Crane describes as a armoured devil” to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and devote the remaining story enduring the repercussions. This ancient entity will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they must select a different victim every twelve months or become his victim themselves. As our protagonist states: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Versatility and Inventive Breadth

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency between genres: as the companions endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to immolate, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we move between thriller to grim fantasy, black-ops torture to love story to horror. A standout transition was to a quest story, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a section infused with the Lord of the Rings author that was gloriously terrifying.

A Detailed Mosaic of Dread and Courage

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, genuinely frightening and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and instances of dreadful evil, both human and extraterrestrial. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a paean to the human inventiveness, 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 this character as the allies gather at the table, preparing to summon their beast to life with the force of their minds.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Do not overlook this.