🔗 Share this article

A group of six quirky but brave children encounter the way of a vast and fearsome otherworldly evil that has infiltrated our existence from the farthest reaches of oblivion. They have no choice but to devote their lives fighting it, experiencing one nightmare after another in the struggle.

A Resonant Plot with a Fresh Spin

This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s iconic book It (his best; undeniable). It similarly frames of King’s son Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which six friends call forth the ancient, deeply sinister beast King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some villains. Unsurprisingly, their supernatural ritual goes awry.

Celebrating a Authorial Heritage

The author started his career making great efforts to remain separate from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his parent). Yet with this recent release, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Main Characters

Back to those friends: most are students at the made-up Rackham College in this northeastern locale. We have Arthur, academic and gifted, deciphering historical enigmas in his leisure hours; another key figure, rich, clever, and prone to trampling those who oppose him; Donna and Donovan; the attractive the lovely Allie. Then we have Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, half believing, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Ceremony

The protagonist finds himself, as a result of external pressures, obliged to take valuable volumes from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and unsettling publication: the logbook of adept the historical figure (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). These young investigators read the journal, learn they can invoke what the author references as a “arrogant beast to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they must select a different victim each year or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is more dragons.”

Stylistic Dexterity and Imaginative Breadth

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with seamless grace through various literary forms: as the friends attempt to deal with the circumstances they find themselves in by, in different ways, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or searching for methods to slay the beast themselves, we transition from thriller to shadowy tale, covert operations to affectionate subplot to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface under the English county, a segment infused with the Lord of the Rings author that was gloriously terrifying.

A Rich Tapestry of Horror and Hope

The novel features trolls – the classic variety and internet antagonists, truly terrifying and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, heart-stopping scenes of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a frightening tale that is above all a paean to the creative spirit, and to devotion and companionship. “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 serpent into being with the strength of their collective will.

As Hill puts it in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.