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A group of six unlikely but brave kids encounter the path of a colossal and dreadful supernatural malevolence that has invaded our realm from the outer limits of shadow. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes fighting it, enduring one nightmare after another in the process.

A Resonant Premise with a New Spin

This is the plot, roughly, of the master of horror’s novel It (his best; undeniable). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s latest chilling tome, in which a band of six invoke the ancient, utterly malevolent serpent King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some villains. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

Joe Hill began his writing journey striving diligently to distance himself from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a striking resemblance to his father). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a incident that brings to mind a signature King element (a battle of wits). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Protagonists

Returning to the group: five of them are scholars at the fictional Rackham College in Maine. First is Arthur, academic and brilliant, solving historical enigmas in his leisure hours; another key figure, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling those who oppose him; Donna and Donovan; the attractive the lovely Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their group as they toy, somewhat credulous, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take valuable volumes from his beloved college library by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the institution’s prized and unsettling publication: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is fashioned from his hide). The intrepid group read the journal, discover they could summon what the occultist details as a armoured devil” to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they are required to pick a different victim each year or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Versatility and Inventive Breadth

Spanning forty years, Hill also moves with seamless grace between genres: as the allies strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from suspense to shadowy tale, clandestine torment to affectionate subplot to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a quest story, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a part sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Mosaic of Horror and Hope

We encounter trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and perfectly brought to life. There are magical swords and betrayals, breath-taking moments of valor and ones of appalling malevolence, both human and supernatural. It stands as a masterpiece: a horror novel that is chiefly a paean to the imagination, 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 the wealthy student as the allies assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their beast into being with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Ensure you experience it.