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Six oddball but brave children fall into the way of a colossal and fearsome otherworldly malevolence that has infiltrated our existence from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They must devote their lives fighting it, facing horror after horror in the process.

An Echoing Plot with a Fresh Twist

This describes the premise, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which six friends summon the age-old, deeply sinister serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some villains. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Celebrating a Authorial Heritage

Joseph Hillström King began his writing journey making great efforts 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 exhibits a striking resemblance to his parent). However, in his newest work, he fully acknowledges it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a incident that evokes a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, the author rejoices in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

Introducing the Central Figures

Returning to the group: five of them are scholars at the made-up Rackham College in Maine. We have Arthur, bookish and brilliant, solving ancient puzzles in his free moments; the character Colin, wealthy, astute, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. Then we have Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their circle as they dabble, somewhat credulous, half not, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ceremony

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his cherished academic collection by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and unsettling work: the journal of adept Enoch Crane (put to death “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). Our Scooby gang examine the log, realize they are able to call forth what the author references as a armoured devil” to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. The dragon will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they must select a new sacrifice each year or fall prey to the beast. As our protagonist states: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Fluidity and Creative Scope

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with natural fluency between genres: as the allies strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to offer up, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from suspense to dark fantasy, clandestine torment to love story to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths under the English county, a section tinged by the fantasy maestro that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Canvas of Dread and Courage

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and scenes of appalling malevolence, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is primarily a tribute to the imagination, 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 the wealthy student as the companions sit around the table, preparing to summon their beast into being with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “This is dragon territory”. Do not overlook this.