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Six unlikely but resilient youngsters fall into the way of a vast and fearsome supernatural darkness that has infiltrated our world from the deepest abyss of darkness. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle fighting it, enduring horror after horror in the process.

An Echoing Premise with a Fresh Approach

This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (a standout in his career; no debate). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s recent horror doorstopper, in which a band of six summon the age-old, utterly malevolent dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some antagonists. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Literary Lineage

Joe Hill launched his profession going to great lengths to remain separate from his famous father, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his parent). But in this latest novel, he leans into it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (that classic opening line); a scene that evokes a King plot point (a game of puzzles). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: the majority are scholars at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. We have Arthur, academic and intelligent, deciphering Old English riddles in his free moments; another key figure, rich, sharp, and prone to trampling those who oppose him; the twin siblings; the beautiful Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they toy, partly convinced, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Ritual

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s forced to acquire the library’s most valuable and chilling work: the journal of occultist this enigmatic character (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, discover they could summon what the author references as a “proud worm to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. This ancient entity will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a new sacrifice each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Versatility and Inventive Breadth

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with effortless ease between genres: as the allies strive to manage the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to sacrifice, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we go from thriller to dark fantasy, covert operations to romance to fright. A standout transition was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths under the English county, a part infused with the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Canvas of Fear and Courage

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, breath-taking moments of courage and ones of appalling malevolence, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is chiefly a tribute to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “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 sit around the table, preparing to summon their dragon into existence with the force of their minds.

In the author’s own words in his opening statement: “Here be dragons”. Ensure you experience it.