🔗 Share this article

Six quirky but doughty youngsters confront the trail of a immense and fearsome otherworldly evil that has entered our existence from the outer limits of oblivion. They must wage a lifelong battle fighting it, experiencing terror upon terror in the ordeal.

An Echoing Plot with a New Twist

This describes the premise, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (his best; undeniable). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s new massive horror novel, in which a band of six invoke the primordial, utterly malevolent serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Endless Night to help them defeat some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Celebrating a Literary Legacy

Joseph Hillström King began his writing journey striving diligently to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his parent). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that brings to mind a signature King element (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Main Characters

Returning to the group: five of them are pupils at the fictional the esteemed institution in Maine. We have Arthur, studious and gifted, solving Old English riddles in his spare time; Colin, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the beautiful Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they dabble, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in arcane arts.

The Fateful Summoning

Arthur is, due to circumstances beyond his control, forced into stealing rare books from his cherished academic collection by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling title: the diary of occultist the historical figure (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is made from his skin). The intrepid group peruse the diary, realize they are able to call forth what the occultist details as a “proud worm to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and devote the remaining story enduring the repercussions. This ancient entity will indeed rid them of those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a different victim every twelve months or become his victim themselves. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Fluidity and Inventive Breadth

Moving through four decades, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the companions endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to offer up, or seeking means to slay the beast themselves, we move between thriller to dark fantasy, covert operations to affectionate subplot to horror. A standout transition was to a adventure narrative, within the subterranean depths below Cornwall, a segment infused with the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Canvas of Horror and Courage

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, properly scary and superbly depicted. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both earthly and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is primarily a ode to the human inventiveness, 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 this character as the companions assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their dragon into being with the power of their thoughts.

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