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A group of six unlikely but doughty youngsters confront the way of a immense and dreadful supernatural evil that has entered our realm from the outer limits of oblivion. They must devote their lives fighting it, experiencing horror after horror in the process.

A Resonant Premise with a Distinctive Spin

This describes the premise, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest chilling tome, in which a band of six invoke the primordial, infinitely malicious dragon King Sorrow from the Endless Night to help them defeat some villains. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation goes awry.

Embracing a Literary Heritage

Joseph Hillström King launched his profession striving diligently to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, publishing under the pen name he still uses today and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he exhibits a uncanny likeness to his father). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (that classic opening line); a moment that recalls a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Central Figures

Back to those friends: the majority are pupils at the imagined this academic setting in the New England state. There’s Arthur, academic and gifted, cracking ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but emerges as crucial of their circle as they experiment, somewhat credulous, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take valuable volumes from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This wounds his academic spirit, notably because he’s compelled to seize the institution’s prized and disturbing publication: the journal of occultist Enoch Crane (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the cover is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators examine the log, realize they are able to call forth what the occultist details as a armored demon” to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Narrative Dexterity and Inventive Breadth

Spanning forty years, the author shifts with seamless grace between genres: as the companions strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to sacrifice, or seeking means to kill the dragon themselves, we move between page-turner to dark fantasy, covert operations to love story to fright. My favorite genre switch was to a quest story, deep in the caves under the English county, a part tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Mosaic of Dread and Hope

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, properly scary and expertly realized. There are magical swords and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and scenes of terrible wickedness, both earthly and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is primarily a tribute to the imagination, and to love and friendship. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the friends sit around the table, getting ready to invoke their dragon to life with the force of their minds.

In the author’s own words in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.