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Six quirky but brave youngsters encounter the path of a vast and dreadful paranormal malevolence that has infiltrated our existence from the outer limits of oblivion. They must devote their lives confronting it, experiencing one nightmare after another in the process.

A Familiar Plot with a New Spin

This describes the premise, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It similarly frames of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest chilling tome, in which six friends invoke the primordial, deeply sinister dragon the Dragon King from the Long Dark to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

Joseph Hillström King began his writing journey striving diligently to distance himself from his renowned parent, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he possesses a striking resemblance to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. Several quotes that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a incident that recalls a King plot point (a riddling contest). In this whopper of a novel, the author rejoices in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Main Characters

Focusing on the companions: most are students at the imagined Rackham College in this northeastern locale. We have Arthur, bookish and intelligent, solving ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; Colin, wealthy, clever, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the stunning Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their circle as they dabble, 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 cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling work: the logbook of practitioner the historical figure (put to death “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what Crane describes as a armored demon” to assist Arthur with his coercion issue – and devote the remaining story facing the fallout. King Sorrow will certainly eliminate those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they must select a fresh offering each year or become his victim themselves. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Narrative Versatility and Inventive Range

Covering a generation, Joe Hill transitions with effortless ease between genres: as the friends endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to offer up, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we transition from thriller to dark fantasy, covert operations to romance to horror. A standout transition was to a heroic journey, deep in the caves under the English county, a section infused with JRR Tolkien that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Mosaic of Dread and Courage

We encounter trolls – the classic variety and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, breath-taking moments of bravery and scenes of dreadful evil, both earthly and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a horror novel that is primarily a ode to the imagination, and to affection and camaraderie. “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 friends assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their dragon to life with the force of their minds.

According to Joe Hill in his opening statement: “Here be dragons”. Ensure you experience it.