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A group of six unlikely but brave kids encounter the path of a immense and terrible supernatural malevolence that has invaded our existence from the outer limits of darkness. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, facing horror after horror in the process.

A Familiar Plot with a Distinctive Twist

This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; undeniable). It similarly frames of Stephen King’s offspring Joe Hill’s new chilling tome, in which a close-knit group call forth the ancient, deeply sinister serpent the Dragon King from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some villains. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony backfires.

Celebrating a Literary Legacy

The author started his career striving diligently to distance himself from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his father). However, in his newest work, he fully acknowledges it. Certain passages that consciously reflect some of his father’s iconic (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that brings to mind a signature King element (a battle of wits). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and readers share in the joy.

Meet the Central Figures

Returning to the group: five of them are scholars at the made-up Rackham College in this northeastern locale. There’s Arthur, bookish and gifted, cracking historical enigmas in his leisure hours; the character Colin, affluent, sharp, and known for crushing obstacles in his path; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who doesn’t study with them, but becomes a key part of their band as they dabble, partly convinced, half not, in arcane arts.

The Critical Ritual

Arthur is, for reasons we don’t need to go into, forced into stealing rare books from his cherished academic collection by a bunch of local criminals. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the collection’s foremost and chilling title: the journal of practitioner this enigmatic character (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). The intrepid group read the journal, discover they could summon what the author references as a armored demon” to aid our hero with his extortion dilemma – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. The dragon will certainly eliminate those problematic neighborhood criminals, but they are required to pick 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.”

Narrative Versatility and Inventive Scope

Moving through four decades, Hill also moves with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the friends endeavor to address the circumstances they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, picking people who are obviously evil to immolate, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we move between page-turner to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to love story to terror. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves under the English county, a section infused with the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.

An Expansive Mosaic of Horror and Hope

We encounter trolls – the classic variety and internet antagonists, properly scary and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and ones of dreadful evil, both earthly and extraterrestrial. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a paean to the imagination, 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 the wealthy student as the allies gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their dragon to life with the power of their thoughts.

In the author’s own words in his opening statement: “Hic sunt dracones”. Do not overlook this.