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Six oddball but resilient kids encounter the path of a vast and fearsome otherworldly darkness that has invaded our existence from the outer limits of darkness. They are compelled to spend their lifetimes battling it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

A Resonant Plot with a Fresh Approach

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (his best; no debate). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s recent massive horror novel, in which six friends invoke the age-old, infinitely malicious serpent the Dragon King from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some villains. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Acknowledging a Family Lineage

Joe Hill started his career going to great lengths to distance himself from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his parent). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of King’s most famous (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that recalls a signature King element (a battle of wits). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Central Figures

Returning to the group: most are scholars at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. There’s Arthur, academic and brilliant, solving Old English riddles in his leisure hours; Colin, rich, clever, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, partly convinced, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Pivotal Ritual

Arthur is, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s forced to acquire the institution’s prized and chilling publication: the diary of practitioner the historical figure (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, discover they could summon what Crane describes as a cunning serpent to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they are required to pick a fresh offering annually or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Genre Dexterity and Inventive Scope

Spanning forty years, Hill also moves with seamless grace across narrative styles: as the friends endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we go from page-turner to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to love story to horror. A standout transition was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths under the English county, a segment tinged by JRR Tolkien that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Mosaic of Dread and Hope

The novel features trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, breath-taking moments of valor and ones of terrible wickedness, both human and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a horror novel that is primarily a paean to the imagination, 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 Colin as the companions sit around the table, preparing to summon their dragon into existence with the power of their thoughts.

As Hill puts it in his introductory quote: “Here be dragons”. Ensure you experience it.