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A group of six unlikely but doughty youngsters confront the way of a immense and dreadful supernatural evil that has entered our existence from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They are compelled to spend their lifetimes battling it, enduring terror upon terror in the struggle.

A Resonant Plot with a Distinctive Approach

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no debate). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest chilling tome, in which a close-knit group invoke the age-old, deeply sinister dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Family Heritage

Joe Hill began his writing journey making great efforts to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he exhibits a uncanny likeness to his parent). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. Several quotes that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that recalls a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this epic story, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Back to those friends: five of them are pupils at the imagined Rackham College in the New England state. First is Arthur, studious and gifted, solving ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, wealthy, astute, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; twins Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their circle as they toy, partly convinced, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer rare books from his beloved college library by a group of neighborhood thugs. This wounds his academic spirit, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the collection’s foremost and unsettling publication: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators read the journal, learn they can invoke what the author references as a “arrogant beast to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative enduring the repercussions. The dragon will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a different victim annually or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Stylistic Versatility and Imaginative Breadth

Moving through four decades, Joe Hill transitions with effortless ease between genres: as the allies endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or seeking means to slay the beast themselves, we move between thriller to grim fantasy, covert operations to romance to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, deep in the caves under the English county, a part tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Tapestry of Horror and Hope

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and internet antagonists, genuinely frightening and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of bravery and ones of appalling malevolence, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It stands as a masterpiece: a horror novel that is above all 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 gather at the table, getting ready to invoke their dragon into being with the power of their thoughts.

As Hill puts it in his opening statement: “This is dragon territory”. Do not overlook this.