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A group of six quirky but doughty children fall into the path of a colossal and terrible otherworldly darkness that has infiltrated our existence from the deepest abyss of darkness. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle battling it, facing terror upon terror in the struggle.

A Familiar Premise with a Fresh Spin

This outlines the narrative, roughly, of the master of horror’s iconic book It (his best; no arguments). It is also the plot of King’s son Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group invoke the primordial, infinitely malicious serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Acknowledging a Family Legacy

The author started his career striving diligently to remain separate from his well-known dad, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a strong similarity to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines 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 riddling contest). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: most are scholars at the made-up Rackham College in Maine. First is Arthur, studious and gifted, solving Old English riddles in his free moments; the character Colin, rich, astute, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. Additionally, Gwen appears, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their group as they dabble, somewhat credulous, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, as a result of external pressures, obliged to take valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, notably because he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling publication: the logbook of adept Enoch Crane (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is made from his skin). These young investigators read the journal, realize they are able to call forth what the occultist details as a cunning serpent to assist Arthur with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. King Sorrow will certainly eliminate those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice annually or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Stylistic Fluidity and Creative Range

Spanning forty years, Hill also moves with seamless grace across narrative styles: as the allies endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to immolate, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we transition from page-turner to dark fantasy, covert operations to romance to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a quest story, deep in the caves beneath this UK region, a section infused with JRR Tolkien that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Canvas of Dread and Optimism

There are trolls – those living under bridges and online ones, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, breath-taking moments of valor and ones of terrible wickedness, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a horror novel that is above all a paean to the human inventiveness, 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 Colin as the allies assemble around a surface, getting ready to invoke their serpent into existence with the force of their minds.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Ensure you experience it.