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Six quirky but resilient kids confront the path of a colossal and dreadful supernatural evil that has invaded our existence from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They must wage a lifelong battle battling it, enduring horror after horror in the struggle.

An Echoing Premise with a New Twist

This describes the premise, roughly, of Stephen King’s novel It (his best; no debate). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which six friends call forth the primordial, utterly malevolent dragon the Dragon King from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Literary Legacy

Joe Hill launched his profession striving diligently to distance himself from his well-known dad, publishing under the pen name he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his dad). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that evokes a signature King element (a battle of wits). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

Introducing the Central Figures

Returning to the group: most are students at the made-up the esteemed institution in the New England state. First is Arthur, studious and brilliant, cracking Old English riddles in his leisure hours; Colin, wealthy, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; Donna and Donovan; the attractive Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but assumes a vital role of their circle as they toy, somewhat credulous, half not, in the occult.

The Fateful Ritual

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, obliged to take valuable volumes from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This wounds his academic spirit, especially when he’s made to take the institution’s prized and unsettling title: the logbook of adept the historical figure (executed “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). These young investigators read the journal, learn they can invoke what the author references as a “proud worm to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice annually or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Versatility and Creative Scope

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the allies strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or searching for methods to destroy the entity themselves, we go from page-turner to grim fantasy, covert operations to love story to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, deep in the caves beneath this UK region, a part tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was wonderfully frightening.

A Detailed Canvas of Dread and Hope

The novel features trolls – the classic variety and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and superbly depicted. There are magical swords and deceptions, breath-taking moments of bravery and scenes of dreadful evil, both mortal and extraterrestrial. It stands as a masterpiece: a chilling book that is chiefly a paean to the imagination, and to love and friendship. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the allies gather at the table, getting ready to invoke their serpent to life with the force of their minds.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Don’t miss them.