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A group of six quirky but resilient kids confront the way of a vast and terrible supernatural evil that has invaded our existence from the deepest abyss of oblivion. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle fighting it, enduring one nightmare after another in the struggle.

A Familiar Premise with a Distinctive Spin

This describes the premise, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (his best; no arguments). It is also the plot of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s new chilling tome, in which a band of six invoke the age-old, utterly malevolent serpent King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some antagonists. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony goes awry.

Embracing a Authorial Heritage

The author started his career going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his famous father, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he exhibits a strong similarity to his father). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. Several quotes that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (that classic opening line); a scene that brings to mind a King plot point (a riddling contest). Throughout this massive book, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

Introducing the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: the majority are students at the made-up this academic setting in Maine. There’s Arthur, academic and gifted, solving ancient puzzles in his spare time; Colin, wealthy, clever, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their circle as they toy, somewhat credulous, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer prized manuscripts from his cherished academic collection by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, especially when he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and unsettling publication: the journal of occultist the historical figure (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators read the journal, learn they can invoke what the author references as a armoured devil” to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative enduring the repercussions. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Versatility and Creative Range

Covering a generation, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the companions strive to manage the predicament they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, picking people who are obviously evil to offer up, or seeking means to destroy the entity themselves, we move between suspense to grim fantasy, covert operations to romance to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths under the English county, a section infused with the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Canvas of Dread and Hope

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and superbly depicted. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, breath-taking moments of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both earthly and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is primarily a paean to the human inventiveness, and to devotion and companionship. “We required a narrative to trust and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the allies assemble around a surface, making preparations to call forth their serpent into existence with the power of their thoughts.

In the author’s own words in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.