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Six quirky but brave youngsters encounter the trail of a vast and dreadful otherworldly evil that has infiltrated our world from the outer limits of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, facing horror after horror in the ordeal.

An Echoing Premise with a New Twist

This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no debate). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s new chilling tome, in which a band of six call forth the ancient, deeply sinister dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Celebrating a Literary Lineage

The author started his career going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his parent). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. Several quotes that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that evokes a King plot point (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and we delight along with him.

Meet the Main Characters

Focusing on the companions: five of them are pupils at the imagined this academic setting in Maine. We have Arthur, bookish and gifted, solving Old English riddles in his leisure hours; another key figure, rich, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but becomes a key part of their band as they experiment, partly convinced, half not, in arcane arts.

The Critical Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, forced into stealing prized manuscripts from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This wounds his academic spirit, notably because he’s forced to acquire the library’s most valuable and unsettling title: the diary of occultist Enoch Crane (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang examine the log, discover they could summon what the author references as a “arrogant beast to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. The dragon will certainly eliminate those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice annually or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Versatility and Inventive Breadth

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with effortless ease between genres: as the companions endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from page-turner to grim fantasy, clandestine torment to love story to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths beneath this UK region, a section tinged by the fantasy maestro that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Tapestry of Horror and Courage

There are trolls – those living under bridges and online ones, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and instances of terrible wickedness, both human and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is chiefly a tribute to the imagination, and to affection and camaraderie. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says this character as the companions gather at the table, getting ready to invoke their dragon to life with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.