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Six oddball but resilient youngsters encounter the way of a vast and fearsome paranormal darkness that has invaded our world from the deepest abyss of darkness. They are compelled to devote their lives confronting it, facing one nightmare after another in the struggle.

A Familiar Storyline with a Fresh Spin

This is the plot, in essence, of Stephen King’s novel It (his best; no debate). It similarly frames of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s new chilling tome, in which a band of six call forth the age-old, utterly malevolent dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Abyssal Void to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Celebrating a Literary Legacy

The author launched his profession making great efforts to avoid any connection from his famous father, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a striking resemblance to his parent). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that brings to mind a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: five of them are scholars at the made-up Rackham College in Maine. There’s Arthur, bookish and brilliant, cracking Old English riddles in his spare time; the character Colin, wealthy, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their group as they toy, somewhat credulous, somewhat doubtful, in the occult.

The Fateful Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and disturbing publication: the journal of occultist the historical figure (condemned “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang read the journal, learn they can invoke what the author references as a clever snake to help Arthur out with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative facing the fallout. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice annually or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Stylistic Dexterity and Inventive Range

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with seamless grace between genres: as the allies strive to manage the predicament they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from suspense to shadowy tale, covert operations to romance to horror. A standout transition was to a quest story, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a part sprinkled with JRR Tolkien that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Canvas of Dread and Optimism

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and superbly depicted. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of bravery and ones of terrible wickedness, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is above all a ode to the creative spirit, and to devotion and companionship. “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 allies gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their beast into existence with the strength of their collective will.

As Hill puts it in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Do not overlook this.