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A group of six quirky but resilient youngsters fall into the path of a colossal and dreadful paranormal evil that has invaded our realm from the deepest abyss of darkness. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, enduring terror upon terror in the struggle.

A Resonant Storyline with a New Approach

This is the plot, broadly speaking, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; undeniable). It parallels of King’s son Joe Hill’s latest horror doorstopper, in which a close-knit group summon the primordial, infinitely malicious serpent King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some antagonists. Needless to say, their arcane ceremony has unintended consequences.

Celebrating a Literary Legacy

Joseph Hillström King started his career striving diligently to distance himself from his renowned parent, publishing under the pen name he continues to employ and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he exhibits a strong similarity to his dad). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a moment that brings to mind a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this epic story, the author rejoices in his family connection, and readers share in the joy.

Meet the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: most are pupils at the made-up this academic setting in the New England state. There’s Arthur, studious and gifted, cracking Old English riddles in his free moments; Colin, rich, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie herself. Then we have Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their circle as they experiment, half believing, half not, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Ritual

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, notably because he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling title: the diary of practitioner Enoch Crane (condemned “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is fashioned from his hide). The intrepid group peruse the diary, discover they could summon what the occultist details as a clever snake to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and devote the remaining story facing the fallout. This ancient entity will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they are required to pick a new sacrifice every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is additional horrors.”

Stylistic Fluidity and Inventive Scope

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with seamless grace between genres: as the allies attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, choosing undeniably wicked targets to immolate, or searching for methods to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from page-turner to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to affectionate subplot to fright. My favorite genre switch was to a quest story, deep in the caves under the English county, a section tinged by JRR Tolkien that was magnificently horrifying.

An Expansive Mosaic of Dread and Hope

There are trolls – the classic variety and digital trolls, truly terrifying and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of bravery and ones of dreadful evil, both earthly and otherworldly. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a paean to the creative spirit, 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 the wealthy student as the friends sit around the table, preparing to summon their beast into being with the force of their minds.

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