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Six unlikely but brave kids fall into the trail of a colossal and fearsome otherworldly darkness that has infiltrated our world from the deepest abyss of darkness. They must devote their lives confronting it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

An Echoing Storyline with a Fresh Twist

This is the plot, roughly, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no debate). It similarly frames of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s latest chilling tome, in which six friends summon the ancient, utterly malevolent beast King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. As one might expect, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Acknowledging a Authorial Legacy

Joseph Hillström King started his career striving diligently to distance himself from his renowned parent, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his dad). However, in his newest work, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that evokes a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: most are pupils at the made-up the esteemed institution in this northeastern locale. We have Arthur, bookish and intelligent, deciphering ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, clever, and known for crushing those who oppose him; the twin siblings; the beautiful Allie. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their band as they dabble, partly convinced, partly skeptical, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ceremony

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s compelled to seize the collection’s foremost and unsettling publication: the journal of practitioner 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, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a cunning serpent to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and devote the remaining story reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a different victim each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As our protagonist states: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Versatility and Inventive Range

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with effortless ease between genres: as the companions attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or searching for methods to destroy the entity themselves, we go from suspense to dark fantasy, covert operations to love story to horror. My favorite genre switch was to a quest story, within the subterranean depths below Cornwall, a section tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

An Expansive Canvas of Dread and Courage

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, properly scary and superbly depicted. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, breath-taking moments of courage and instances of terrible wickedness, both earthly and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is chiefly 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 friends gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their beast into existence with the power of their thoughts.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Ensure you experience it.