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A group of six oddball but brave children encounter the path of a colossal and fearsome otherworldly malevolence that has invaded our world from the farthest reaches of darkness. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes confronting it, experiencing terror upon terror in the struggle.

A Resonant Plot with a Fresh Approach

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (a standout in his career; no debate). It is also the plot of King’s son Joe Hill’s new massive horror novel, in which a close-knit group summon the ancient, utterly malevolent serpent the Dragon King from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some villains. As one might expect, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Celebrating a Authorial Lineage

The author began his writing journey striving diligently to distance himself from his famous father, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he possesses a strong similarity to his father). Yet with this recent release, he leans into it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that evokes a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: the majority are pupils at the made-up the esteemed institution in this northeastern locale. There’s Arthur, academic and gifted, cracking ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; Colin, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the beautiful Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their band as they experiment, somewhat credulous, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Ritual

Arthur is, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take rare books from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and disturbing work: the logbook of adept Enoch Crane (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what the author references as a “arrogant beast to assist Arthur with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Genre Fluidity and Creative Breadth

Spanning forty years, Hill also moves with effortless ease between genres: as the companions endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to sacrifice, or seeking means to destroy the entity themselves, we go from page-turner to grim fantasy, clandestine torment to love story to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves beneath this UK region, a section sprinkled with JRR Tolkien that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Canvas of Horror and Courage

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, genuinely frightening and perfectly brought to life. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, breath-taking moments of valor and instances of terrible wickedness, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is primarily a paean to the human inventiveness, and to love and friendship. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the companions assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their dragon into existence with the power of their thoughts.

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