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A group of six oddball but doughty children fall into the way of a vast and terrible otherworldly evil that has invaded our realm from the outer limits of darkness. They must devote their lives confronting it, experiencing horror after horror in the ordeal.

A Resonant Premise with a New Spin

This outlines the narrative, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (his best; no debate). It similarly frames of King’s son Joe Hill’s recent chilling tome, in which six friends invoke the ancient, utterly malevolent beast the Sorrowful Monarch from the Endless Night to help them defeat some villains. As one might expect, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Celebrating a Authorial Legacy

Joe Hill launched his profession going to great lengths to distance himself from his famous father, using the pseudonym he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a strong similarity to his parent). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that brings to mind a signature King element (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and we delight along with him.

Introducing the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: five of them are scholars at the fictional the esteemed institution in the New England state. First is Arthur, bookish and intelligent, deciphering ancient puzzles in his leisure hours; Colin, rich, clever, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie herself. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but assumes a vital role of their band as they experiment, partly convinced, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Ritual

Our hero becomes, due to circumstances beyond his control, compelled to pilfer rare books from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This devastates his scholarly soul, especially when he’s made to take the institution’s prized and disturbing title: the logbook of adept the historical figure (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is made from his skin). These young investigators read the journal, discover they could summon what the occultist details as a clever snake to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they must select a new sacrifice every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Narrative Fluidity and Inventive Range

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the companions strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to immolate, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from thriller to dark fantasy, black-ops torture to romance to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a part infused with JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Mosaic of Horror and Optimism

There are trolls – those living under bridges and online ones, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. There are magical swords and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of bravery and scenes of appalling malevolence, both human and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is above all a tribute 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 the wealthy student as the friends assemble around a surface, making preparations to call forth their serpent into being with the force of their minds.

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