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A group of six quirky but resilient kids confront the path of a immense and dreadful otherworldly malevolence that has entered our realm from the deepest abyss of darkness. They must wage a lifelong battle battling it, facing horror after horror in the ordeal.

An Echoing Plot with a New Spin

This outlines the narrative, roughly, of Stephen King’s novel It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It is also the plot of King’s son Joe Hill’s recent horror doorstopper, in which six friends invoke the ancient, utterly malevolent beast King Sorrow from the Long Dark to help them defeat some antagonists. As one might expect, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

The author began his writing journey making great efforts to avoid any connection from his famous father, adopting the nom de plume he maintains to this day and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (that classic opening line); a incident that recalls a King plot point (a riddling contest). Throughout this massive book, the author rejoices in his family connection, and readers share in the joy.

Meet the Main Characters

Back to those friends: the majority are scholars at the made-up Rackham College in Maine. There’s Arthur, bookish and intelligent, cracking ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; Colin, rich, astute, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but becomes a key part of their group as they dabble, half believing, partly skeptical, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his beloved college library by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and disturbing publication: the journal of occultist this enigmatic character (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). The intrepid group examine the log, realize they are able to call forth what Crane describes as a cunning serpent to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative enduring the repercussions. King Sorrow will certainly eliminate those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Genre Dexterity and Imaginative Scope

Covering a generation, Joe Hill transitions with seamless grace between genres: as the friends endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to sacrifice, or seeking means to kill the dragon themselves, we move between thriller to shadowy tale, covert operations to love story to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a section tinged by the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Mosaic of Fear and Hope

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, properly scary and superbly depicted. We see enchanted blades and betrayals, breath-taking moments of bravery and instances of appalling malevolence, both mortal and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is above all a paean to the human inventiveness, 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 friends assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their beast to life with the power of their thoughts.

In the author’s own words in his introductory quote: “This is dragon territory”. Do not overlook this.