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Six oddball but doughty youngsters encounter the path of a immense and terrible paranormal evil that has invaded our realm from the farthest reaches of shadow. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes battling it, facing one nightmare after another in the process.

A Familiar Storyline with a Fresh Spin

This is the plot, in essence, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no debate). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s latest horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group summon the ancient, utterly malevolent dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Celebrating a Authorial Legacy

Joe Hill started his career going to great lengths to remain separate from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he still uses today and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his dad). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. There are lines that consciously reflect some of King’s most famous (that classic opening line); a scene that evokes a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Back to those friends: the majority are students at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. First is Arthur, bookish and brilliant, deciphering ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they experiment, half believing, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Ritual

Our hero becomes, due to circumstances beyond his control, obliged to take prized manuscripts 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 collection’s foremost and disturbing publication: the diary of occultist Enoch Crane (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the cover is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang examine the log, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a armoured devil” 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 troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or become his victim themselves. As our protagonist states: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Dexterity and Inventive Range

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with effortless ease through various literary forms: as the companions attempt to deal with the circumstances they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or searching for methods to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from suspense to dark fantasy, covert operations to love story to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a segment tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

An Expansive Mosaic of Horror and Optimism

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and digital trolls, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, heart-stopping scenes of bravery and scenes of appalling malevolence, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is chiefly a tribute to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “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 allies gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their beast to life with the strength of their collective will.

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