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A group of six unlikely but brave kids confront the path of a vast and dreadful supernatural evil that has infiltrated our realm from the outer limits of darkness. They have no choice but to devote their lives battling it, experiencing horror after horror in the process.

A Resonant Storyline with a New Approach

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s recent chilling tome, in which a close-knit group call forth the primordial, utterly malevolent serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their arcane ceremony goes awry.

Embracing a Family Legacy

Joseph Hillström King began his writing journey striving diligently to remain separate from his famous father, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and avoiding meeting his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his parent). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. Several quotes that intentionally mirror some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that evokes a signature King element (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

Meet the Protagonists

Back to those friends: the majority are scholars at the imagined Rackham College in Maine. There’s Arthur, studious and intelligent, cracking historical enigmas in his spare time; the character Colin, wealthy, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; 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 supernatural practices.

The Critical Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, forced into stealing valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s made to take the library’s most valuable and unsettling work: the journal of occultist Enoch Crane (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group read the journal, realize they are able to call forth what the occultist details as a armored demon” to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a different victim each year or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Dexterity and Creative Breadth

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency between genres: as the allies endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, picking people who are obviously evil to offer up, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we transition from suspense to shadowy tale, clandestine torment to romance to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, far beneath the surface beneath this UK region, a segment tinged by JRR Tolkien that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Tapestry of Horror and Optimism

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and internet antagonists, properly scary and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and betrayals, heart-stopping scenes of valor and instances of dreadful evil, both earthly and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a frightening tale that is primarily a ode to the creative spirit, 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 assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their serpent into being with the strength of their collective will.

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