🔗 Share this article

A group of six quirky but resilient children fall into the path of a immense and fearsome otherworldly evil that has infiltrated our existence from the outer limits of oblivion. They have no choice but to spend their lifetimes fighting it, enduring terror upon terror in the process.

A Resonant Plot with a Fresh Twist

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (his best; undeniable). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s recent horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group summon the age-old, infinitely malicious serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some baddies. As one might expect, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Celebrating a Literary Lineage

Joe Hill started his career going to great lengths 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 striking resemblance to his father). But in this latest novel, he leans into it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a moment that evokes a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this epic story, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his family connection, and we delight along with him.

Meet the Main Characters

Returning to the group: five of them are students at the imagined this academic setting in Maine. First is Arthur, studious and gifted, solving historical enigmas in his free moments; Colin, affluent, sharp, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the stunning Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but becomes a key part of their band as they dabble, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in supernatural practices.

The Pivotal Summoning

The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, forced into stealing rare books from his cherished academic collection by a bunch of local criminals. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s made to take the library’s most valuable and chilling title: the diary of adept Enoch Crane (condemned “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang examine the log, realize they are able to call forth what the author references as a “arrogant beast to aid our hero with his coercion issue – and devote the remaining story facing the fallout. This ancient entity will certainly eliminate those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they’ll have to choose a different victim every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is more dragons.”

Genre Fluidity and Imaginative Breadth

Covering a generation, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the allies strive to manage the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we go from thriller to dark fantasy, covert operations to romance to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, far beneath the surface beneath this UK region, a section infused with the Lord of the Rings author that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Mosaic of Fear and Courage

There are trolls – the classic variety and online ones, truly terrifying and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and treacheries, heart-stopping scenes of valor and scenes of dreadful evil, both mortal and extraterrestrial. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a ode to the creative spirit, 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 this character as the companions assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their beast to life with the power of their thoughts.

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