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Six unlikely but resilient children encounter the trail of a immense and fearsome otherworldly evil that has entered our realm from the outer limits of darkness. They have no choice but to devote their lives battling it, experiencing one nightmare after another in the struggle.

A Resonant Premise with a New Approach

This outlines the narrative, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; undeniable). It parallels of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest massive horror novel, in which six friends summon the age-old, deeply sinister beast King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

Joe Hill started his career 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 bears a strong similarity to his father). Yet with this recent release, he leans into it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (that classic opening line); a incident that recalls a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this epic story, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Main Characters

Returning to the group: most are pupils at the imagined this academic setting in this northeastern locale. There’s Arthur, bookish and brilliant, deciphering Old English riddles in his free moments; another key figure, wealthy, astute, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in the occult.

The Fateful Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, compelled to pilfer rare books from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and chilling title: the diary of adept Enoch Crane (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang read the journal, learn they can invoke what Crane describes as a “proud worm to assist Arthur with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. King Sorrow will certainly eliminate those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice annually or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Fluidity and Creative Range

Spanning forty years, Hill also moves with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the friends endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we go from page-turner to dark fantasy, clandestine torment to romance to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths below Cornwall, a segment tinged by JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

A Detailed Canvas of Horror and Courage

We encounter trolls – the classic variety and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and expertly realized. There are magical swords and deceptions, breath-taking moments of courage and ones of dreadful evil, both human and otherworldly. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a paean to the creative spirit, 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 Colin as the friends assemble around a surface, making preparations to call forth their serpent into existence with the strength of their collective will.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Don’t miss them.