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A group of six quirky but doughty youngsters encounter the trail of a vast and fearsome otherworldly malevolence that has entered our existence from the deepest abyss of darkness. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes confronting it, facing one nightmare after another in the struggle.

An Echoing Plot with a Distinctive Approach

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of Stephen King’s novel It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It similarly frames of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s latest chilling tome, in which a band of six invoke the age-old, utterly malevolent dragon King Sorrow from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some villains. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

The author began his writing journey striving diligently to distance himself from his famous father, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. There are lines that consciously reflect some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Protagonists

Back to those friends: most are students at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. First is Arthur, academic and intelligent, cracking Old English riddles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, astute, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful the lovely Allie. And there’s Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their group as they experiment, half believing, half not, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, compelled to pilfer rare books from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s made to take the library’s most valuable and chilling work: the diary of adept this enigmatic character (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang examine the log, realize they are able to call forth what Crane describes as a armored demon” to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a new sacrifice every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Genre Versatility and Inventive Breadth

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with seamless grace across narrative styles: as the allies attempt to deal with the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or searching for methods to slay the beast themselves, we transition from page-turner to grim fantasy, black-ops torture to love story to horror. A standout transition was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a segment sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

An Expansive Mosaic of Fear and Hope

There are trolls – the classic variety and online ones, properly scary and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both earthly and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is primarily a ode to the creative spirit, 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 this character as the allies assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their serpent into existence with the power of their thoughts.

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