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A group of six oddball but resilient children encounter the path of a vast and terrible otherworldly malevolence that has infiltrated our existence from the farthest reaches of darkness. They must devote their lives battling it, facing one nightmare after another in the struggle.

An Echoing Premise with a Fresh Twist

This is the plot, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (his best; no debate). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s latest chilling tome, in which a close-knit group invoke the age-old, deeply sinister serpent King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to aid them in overcoming some antagonists. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Celebrating a Authorial Lineage

Joe Hill began his writing journey going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his famous father, publishing under the pen name he continues to employ and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a incident that recalls a King plot point (a battle of wits). Throughout this massive book, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and we delight along with him.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Back to those friends: most are pupils at the imagined Rackham College in Maine. There’s Arthur, academic and intelligent, deciphering historical enigmas in his spare time; the character Colin, rich, astute, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the attractive Allie. Then we have Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but assumes a vital role of their group as they experiment, half believing, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Pivotal Summoning

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, forced into stealing valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s compelled to seize the institution’s prized and unsettling publication: the journal of practitioner Enoch Crane (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group examine the log, discover they could summon what Crane describes as a clever snake to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they are required to pick a fresh offering each year or fall prey to the beast. In the character’s own words: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Genre Dexterity and Inventive Scope

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the allies attempt to deal with the predicament they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or seeking means to slay the beast themselves, we transition from thriller to grim fantasy, black-ops torture to love story to fright. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, far beneath the surface under the English county, a section tinged by the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Tapestry of Horror and Optimism

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and digital trolls, properly scary and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of valor and scenes of dreadful evil, both earthly and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a tribute to the human inventiveness, and to affection and camaraderie. “We required a narrative to trust and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says this character as the allies sit around the table, making preparations to call forth their beast into existence with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his introductory quote: “Here be dragons”. Do not overlook this.