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Six unlikely but doughty youngsters fall into the way of a colossal and terrible supernatural darkness that has infiltrated our realm from the deepest abyss of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

A Familiar Plot with a Distinctive Spin

This is the plot, in essence, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It parallels of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest massive horror novel, in which a band of six call forth the ancient, utterly malevolent dragon the Sorrowful Monarch from the Endless Night to help them defeat some baddies. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony goes awry.

Acknowledging a Family Lineage

The author started his career going to great lengths to remain separate from his well-known dad, publishing under the pen name he still uses today and avoiding meeting his agent (he exhibits a uncanny likeness to his father). Yet with this recent release, he leans into it. There are lines that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a scene that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, the author rejoices in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Protagonists

Focusing on the companions: five of them are scholars at the made-up the esteemed institution in this northeastern locale. We have Arthur, bookish and brilliant, solving Old English riddles in his spare time; Colin, affluent, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the attractive the lovely Allie. And there’s Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but emerges as crucial of their band as they experiment, half believing, partly skeptical, in the occult.

The Critical Ritual

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his cherished academic collection by a set of regional villains. This tears at his bookish heart, especially when he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and disturbing title: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (executed “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang examine the log, discover they could summon what the occultist details as a “arrogant beast to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they are required to pick a different victim each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Narrative Versatility and Imaginative Breadth

Moving through four decades, the author shifts with natural fluency between genres: as the friends strive to manage the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to offer up, or seeking means to slay the beast themselves, we transition from thriller to shadowy tale, covert operations to love story to fright. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a segment tinged by the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Rich Mosaic of Dread and Optimism

The novel features trolls – the classic variety and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and expertly realized. We see enchanted blades and deceptions, heart-stopping scenes of bravery and ones of dreadful evil, both mortal and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is above all a ode to the creative spirit, and to devotion and companionship. “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 assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their beast into existence with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Don’t miss them.