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A group of six oddball but doughty kids encounter the way of a colossal and fearsome otherworldly malevolence that has infiltrated our realm from the farthest reaches of shadow. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes confronting it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

A Resonant Plot with a Fresh Approach

This describes the premise, roughly, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (a standout in his career; undeniable). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s recent chilling tome, in which a band of six call forth the ancient, deeply sinister serpent King Sorrow from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some antagonists. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Acknowledging a Authorial Lineage

Joe Hill launched his profession striving diligently to avoid any connection from his famous father, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a strong similarity to his father). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a incident that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, the author rejoices in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

Introducing the Protagonists

Returning to the group: most are students at the imagined this academic setting in Maine. There’s Arthur, academic and gifted, cracking Old English riddles in his spare time; another key figure, affluent, sharp, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their group as they experiment, half believing, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Summoning

Arthur is, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, especially when he’s forced to acquire the institution’s prized and chilling publication: the logbook of occultist Enoch Crane (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group examine the log, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a cunning serpent to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and devote the remaining story facing the fallout. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Dexterity and Imaginative Scope

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the allies attempt to deal with the predicament they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from page-turner to grim fantasy, black-ops torture to affectionate subplot to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, within the subterranean depths under the English county, a segment infused with the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Canvas of Horror and Courage

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, properly scary and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and betrayals, heart-stopping scenes of courage and ones of appalling malevolence, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is above all a paean to the human inventiveness, and to devotion and companionship. “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, preparing to summon their beast into existence with the power of their thoughts.

As Hill puts it in his introductory quote: “Here be dragons”. Ensure you experience it.