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Six unlikely but resilient children confront the trail of a vast and fearsome supernatural darkness that has infiltrated our world from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They must devote their lives confronting it, facing terror upon terror in the process.

A Familiar Plot with a Fresh Approach

This describes the premise, in essence, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s new horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group summon the age-old, deeply sinister dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Long Dark to help them defeat some antagonists. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Celebrating a Family Legacy

Joseph Hillström King started his career making great efforts to distance himself from his well-known dad, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he exhibits a uncanny likeness to his parent). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a moment that recalls a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and we delight along with him.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Returning to the group: the majority are students at the made-up this academic setting in Maine. We have Arthur, academic and brilliant, solving ancient puzzles in his spare time; another key figure, wealthy, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the attractive the lovely Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but becomes a key part of their group as they dabble, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in arcane arts.

The Critical Ritual

The protagonist finds himself, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his beloved college library by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling work: the journal of practitioner Enoch Crane (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is fashioned from his hide). The intrepid group read the journal, learn they can invoke what Crane describes as a cunning serpent to assist Arthur with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative facing the fallout. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or fall prey to the beast. As our protagonist states: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Versatility and Inventive Range

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with seamless grace across narrative styles: as the allies attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to offer up, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from thriller to shadowy tale, clandestine torment to affectionate subplot to terror. A standout transition was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a segment sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Tapestry of Horror and Hope

There are trolls – the classic variety and online ones, properly scary and expertly realized. There are magical swords and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and instances of dreadful evil, both human and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is primarily a ode to the imagination, and to affection and camaraderie. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the companions assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their serpent into existence with the power of their thoughts.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “This is dragon territory”. Do not overlook this.