🔗 Share this article

Six quirky but brave children encounter the way of a vast and dreadful paranormal darkness that has invaded our realm from the deepest abyss of oblivion. They are compelled to spend their lifetimes fighting it, facing one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

A Resonant Plot with a Fresh Approach

This describes the premise, in essence, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It similarly frames of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s new chilling tome, in which a band of six invoke the ancient, infinitely malicious serpent King Sorrow from the Endless Night to help them defeat some villains. As one might expect, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Family Heritage

The author launched his profession making great efforts to remain separate from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a uncanny likeness to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a incident that evokes a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, the author rejoices in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: five of them are pupils at the imagined Rackham College in this northeastern locale. We have Arthur, bookish and intelligent, solving ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; another key figure, affluent, clever, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, somewhat credulous, half not, in the occult.

The Pivotal Summoning

Arthur is, due to circumstances beyond his control, compelled to pilfer rare books from his treasured institution’s archives by a set of regional villains. This wounds his academic spirit, notably because he’s forced to acquire the library’s most valuable and disturbing work: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is fashioned from his hide). The intrepid group examine the log, discover they could summon what the author references as a armoured devil” to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a different victim annually or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Fluidity and Creative Scope

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the companions endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to offer up, or seeking means to slay the beast themselves, we transition from thriller to grim fantasy, covert operations to romance to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a heroic journey, within the subterranean depths beneath this UK region, a segment tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Canvas of Horror and Courage

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and superbly depicted. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, breath-taking moments of bravery and scenes of appalling malevolence, both mortal and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a paean to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says this character as the allies assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their beast into existence with the force of their minds.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “This is dragon territory”. Ensure you experience it.