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A group of six unlikely but brave children encounter the path of a colossal and dreadful paranormal evil that has infiltrated our existence from the outer limits of shadow. They must spend their lifetimes battling it, experiencing one nightmare after another in the process.

An Echoing Premise with a Distinctive Approach

This describes the premise, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It parallels of King’s son Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which six friends summon the age-old, utterly malevolent dragon King Sorrow from the Endless Night to assist them in vanquishing some villains. Unsurprisingly, their supernatural ritual goes awry.

Acknowledging a Authorial Legacy

Joseph Hillström King began his writing journey going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he maintains to this day and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his parent). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that evokes a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: most are students at the imagined Rackham College in Maine. First is Arthur, bookish and gifted, deciphering Old English riddles in his leisure hours; another key figure, affluent, clever, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but becomes a key part of their band as they toy, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Fateful Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take rare books from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the institution’s prized and unsettling work: the journal of occultist the historical figure (put to death “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators examine the log, learn they can invoke what the author references as a armored demon” to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. The dragon will certainly eliminate those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Genre Fluidity and Imaginative Range

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with seamless grace between genres: as the friends endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from thriller to grim fantasy, covert operations to affectionate subplot to terror. A standout transition was to a heroic journey, deep in the caves beneath this UK region, a part infused with the fantasy maestro that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Canvas of Fear and Optimism

There are trolls – those living under bridges and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and expertly realized. There are magical swords and betrayals, heart-stopping scenes of valor and scenes of appalling malevolence, both earthly and extraterrestrial. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is above all a paean to the human inventiveness, and to love and friendship. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the allies gather at the table, getting ready to invoke their serpent into existence with the strength of their collective will.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.