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Six unlikely but brave kids fall into the path of a immense and terrible paranormal evil that has invaded our existence from the deepest abyss of darkness. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle fighting it, facing one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

A Familiar Premise with a New Twist

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; undeniable). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest massive horror novel, in which a band of six summon the primordial, utterly malevolent serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Endless Night to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Literary Lineage

Joseph Hillström King started his career making great efforts to distance himself from his famous father, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he exhibits a uncanny likeness to his father). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. There are lines that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (that classic opening line); a scene that brings to mind a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this epic story, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Central Figures

Returning to the group: the majority are pupils at the made-up this academic setting in this northeastern locale. First is Arthur, bookish and gifted, cracking ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, half believing, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Ritual

Our hero becomes, due to circumstances beyond his control, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his beloved college library by a set of regional villains. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s made to take the institution’s prized and disturbing work: the journal of practitioner Enoch Crane (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators examine the log, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a “arrogant beast to aid our hero with his coercion issue – and devote the remaining story facing the fallout. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they are required to pick a fresh offering every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As our protagonist states: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Fluidity and Creative Scope

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the allies 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 destroy the entity themselves, we go from thriller to dark fantasy, clandestine torment to affectionate subplot to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a section tinged by JRR Tolkien that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Mosaic of Horror and Hope

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and ones of appalling malevolence, both mortal and supernatural. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is above all a paean 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 Colin as the allies gather at the table, getting ready to invoke their dragon to life with the force of their minds.

In the author’s own words in his opening statement: “Here be dragons”. Ensure you experience it.