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Six oddball but resilient children confront the path of a colossal and dreadful otherworldly darkness that has entered our realm from the deepest abyss of oblivion. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle fighting it, enduring terror upon terror in the ordeal.

A Resonant Premise with a Distinctive Twist

This describes the premise, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (his best; no debate). It parallels of King’s son Joe Hill’s new chilling tome, in which a band of six call forth the primordial, utterly malevolent serpent King Sorrow from the Long Dark to help them defeat some antagonists. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Celebrating a Family Legacy

Joseph Hillström King launched his profession making great efforts to distance himself from his famous father, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his parent). Yet with this recent release, he leans into it. Certain passages that consciously reflect some of King’s most famous (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that brings to mind a King plot point (a game of puzzles). Throughout this massive book, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

Introducing the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: five of them are pupils at the imagined Rackham College in Maine. First is Arthur, academic and brilliant, cracking ancient puzzles in his free moments; another key figure, affluent, astute, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but becomes a key part of their band as they dabble, half believing, partly skeptical, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer rare books from his cherished academic collection by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the institution’s prized and unsettling title: the logbook of adept this enigmatic character (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). The intrepid group read the journal, realize they are able to call forth what the occultist details as a “proud worm to aid our hero with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. This ancient entity will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they must select a different victim each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Versatility and Inventive Scope

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with effortless ease through various literary forms: as the friends endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from suspense to grim fantasy, covert operations to romance to fright. A standout transition was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a segment infused with JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

A Rich Tapestry of Horror and Hope

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and perfectly brought to life. The story includes mystic weapons and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of bravery and instances of dreadful evil, both mortal and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a frightening tale that is above all a ode to the creative spirit, and to affection and camaraderie. “We required a narrative to trust and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the companions sit around the table, preparing to summon their dragon into being with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “This is dragon territory”. Don’t miss them.