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A group of six unlikely but resilient kids confront the path of a immense and fearsome otherworldly darkness that has invaded our world from the deepest abyss of shadow. They must devote their lives fighting it, experiencing horror after horror in the process.

A Resonant Storyline with a Distinctive Approach

This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s iconic book It (his best; undeniable). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s new massive horror novel, in which a band of six invoke the primordial, deeply sinister beast the Sorrowful Monarch from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some antagonists. Unsurprisingly, their supernatural ritual has unintended consequences.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

Joe Hill began his writing journey going to great lengths to distance himself from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his father). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that evokes a signature King element (a riddling contest). Throughout this massive book, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and we delight along with him.

Introducing the Protagonists

Back to those friends: five of them are scholars at the made-up this academic setting in Maine. First is Arthur, academic and brilliant, solving Old English riddles in his free moments; another key figure, rich, clever, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning the lovely Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their group as they dabble, somewhat credulous, 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 tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s forced to acquire the institution’s prized and unsettling title: the journal of occultist the historical figure (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators examine the log, learn they can invoke what the author references as a cunning serpent to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a different victim each year or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Narrative Versatility and Creative Scope

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the allies strive to manage the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to sacrifice, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we go from thriller to shadowy tale, clandestine torment to affectionate subplot to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths below Cornwall, a part tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Tapestry of Dread and Hope

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and ones of appalling malevolence, both human and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is above all a tribute to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the friends gather at the table, preparing to summon their serpent into being with the force of their minds.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.