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A group of six oddball but brave kids encounter the path of a vast and fearsome paranormal evil that has infiltrated our world from the farthest reaches of shadow. They are compelled to devote their lives battling it, enduring horror after horror in the ordeal.

A Familiar Premise with a Distinctive Twist

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s recent massive horror novel, in which six friends invoke the age-old, utterly malevolent dragon the Dragon King from the Endless Night to assist them in vanquishing some baddies. As one might expect, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Acknowledging a Family Lineage

The author started his career making great efforts to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his parent). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. There are lines that intentionally mirror some of King’s most famous (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that evokes a King plot point (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: five of them are scholars at the imagined Rackham College in this northeastern locale. There’s Arthur, studious and intelligent, solving historical enigmas in his leisure hours; another key figure, affluent, clever, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their band as they dabble, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Summoning

Arthur is, due to circumstances beyond his control, obliged to take valuable volumes from his beloved college library by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling publication: the logbook of adept this enigmatic character (put to death “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the binding is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, discover they could summon what the occultist details as a armoured devil” to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative enduring the repercussions. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a fresh offering annually or become his victim themselves. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Versatility and Imaginative Scope

Covering a generation, the author shifts with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the allies endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to offer up, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from suspense to dark fantasy, covert operations to affectionate subplot to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface beneath this UK region, a segment infused with JRR Tolkien that was wonderfully frightening.

A Rich Tapestry of Fear and Courage

There are trolls – the classic variety and digital trolls, properly scary and expertly realized. There are magical swords and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a horror novel that is above all a tribute to the human inventiveness, 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 companions gather at the table, preparing to summon their serpent into existence with the force of their minds.

In the author’s own words in his opening statement: “This is dragon territory”. Ensure you experience it.