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A group of six unlikely but doughty children fall into the path of a colossal and dreadful supernatural evil that has infiltrated our existence from the farthest reaches of darkness. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle battling it, enduring one nightmare after another in the struggle.

A Resonant Plot with a Distinctive Approach

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of Stephen King’s novel It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It parallels of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s new chilling tome, in which six friends summon the primordial, infinitely malicious beast the Dragon King from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Acknowledging a Literary Legacy

Joe Hill started his career going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he still uses today and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he possesses a uncanny likeness to his father). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that recalls a King plot point (a game of puzzles). Throughout this massive book, the author rejoices in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

Meet the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: the majority are students at the imagined Rackham College in Maine. There’s Arthur, academic and intelligent, solving ancient puzzles in his free moments; the character Colin, affluent, astute, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the beautiful Allie herself. Additionally, Gwen appears, who remains outside their academic circle, but assumes a vital role of their group as they toy, half believing, half not, in the occult.

The Fateful Ceremony

Our hero becomes, due to circumstances beyond his control, obliged to take rare books from his beloved college library by a bunch of local criminals. This devastates his scholarly soul, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the collection’s foremost and unsettling work: the logbook of occultist the historical figure (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). These young investigators read the journal, discover they could summon what the author references as a armoured devil” to help Arthur out with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice each year or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Fluidity and Creative Breadth

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency across narrative styles: as the companions strive to manage the circumstances they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to immolate, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from thriller to dark fantasy, clandestine torment to love story to horror. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves under the English county, a part infused with the fantasy maestro that was wonderfully frightening.

A Detailed Tapestry of Fear and Hope

The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, properly scary and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and ones of appalling malevolence, both earthly and otherworldly. It stands as a masterpiece: a frightening tale that is above all a ode to the human inventiveness, and to love and friendship. “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 allies assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their serpent into existence with the strength of their collective will.

As Hill puts it in his introductory quote: “Hic sunt dracones”. Ensure you experience it.