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A group of six quirky but resilient kids fall into the path of a immense and dreadful supernatural darkness that has entered our world from the outer limits of darkness. They must devote their lives confronting it, enduring horror after horror in the struggle.

A Resonant Storyline with a Fresh Approach

This describes the premise, in essence, of the master of horror’s novel It (his best; no arguments). It parallels of the celebrated author’s heir Joseph Hillstrom King’s new massive horror novel, in which six friends call forth the age-old, deeply sinister dragon King Sorrow from the Endless Night to assist them in vanquishing some villains. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation backfires.

Celebrating a Family Heritage

Joseph Hillström King began his writing journey going to great lengths to remain separate from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he continues to employ and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a strong similarity to his father). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. Certain passages that consciously reflect some of King’s most famous (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that brings to mind a King plot point (a riddling contest). In this whopper of a novel, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and we delight along with him.

Meet the Central Figures

Returning to the group: the majority are students at the fictional Rackham College in this northeastern locale. First is Arthur, studious and gifted, deciphering historical enigmas in his leisure hours; the character Colin, rich, astute, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful the lovely Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who remains outside their academic circle, but assumes a vital role of their band as they toy, half believing, partly skeptical, in arcane arts.

The Pivotal Ceremony

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, obliged to take rare books from his beloved college library by a group of neighborhood thugs. This devastates his scholarly soul, notably because he’s made to take the library’s most valuable and disturbing title: the journal of occultist this enigmatic character (executed “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). These young investigators examine the log, discover they could summon what the author references as a cunning serpent to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. King Sorrow will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they are required to pick a different victim every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As our protagonist states: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Dexterity and Creative Breadth

Spanning forty years, the author shifts with effortless ease across narrative styles: as the companions endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or seeking means to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from suspense to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to love story to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a segment sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Mosaic of Horror and Courage

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and betrayals, heart-stopping scenes of valor and ones of terrible wickedness, both human and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is chiefly a paean to the human inventiveness, 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 into being with the force of their minds.

In the author’s own words in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.