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A group of six unlikely but doughty children encounter the path of a immense and fearsome otherworldly evil that has entered our realm from the deepest abyss of shadow. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes fighting it, facing one nightmare after another in the process.

A Familiar Storyline with a Distinctive Approach

This outlines the narrative, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (his best; no debate). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s latest horror doorstopper, in which a band of six call forth the ancient, infinitely malicious beast the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their otherworldly invocation goes awry.

Celebrating a Authorial Heritage

The author began his writing journey striving diligently to remain separate from his famous father, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his father). But in this latest novel, he embraces it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that recalls a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

Meet the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: five of them are students at the made-up Rackham College in this northeastern locale. There’s Arthur, bookish and brilliant, solving ancient puzzles in his spare time; Colin, affluent, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze those who oppose him; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning the lovely Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but emerges as crucial of their band as they dabble, somewhat credulous, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Ceremony

Arthur is, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer rare books from his beloved college library by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, notably because he’s forced to acquire the library’s most valuable and disturbing work: the journal of occultist Enoch Crane (put to death “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators examine the log, learn they can invoke what the author references as a armored demon” to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. The dragon will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a fresh offering annually or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As our protagonist states: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is additional horrors.”

Stylistic Versatility and Creative Range

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with seamless grace between genres: as the companions endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to sacrifice, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we move between thriller to shadowy tale, covert operations to romance to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a adventure narrative, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a part tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Mosaic of Dread and Optimism

There are trolls – the classic variety and internet antagonists, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both human and extraterrestrial. This is a remarkable achievement: a chilling book that is above all a ode to the human inventiveness, and to affection and camaraderie. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the allies assemble around a surface, making preparations to call forth their dragon to life with the strength of their collective will.

In the author’s own words in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Do not overlook this.