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A group of six oddball but resilient kids confront the way of a colossal and dreadful paranormal darkness that has infiltrated our existence from the outer limits of darkness. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle battling it, experiencing terror upon terror in the struggle.

An Echoing Storyline with a Fresh Twist

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of Stephen King’s novel It (his best; no debate). It parallels of King’s son Joe Hill’s latest massive horror novel, in which a close-knit group invoke the primordial, utterly malevolent beast the Dragon King from the Long Dark to help them defeat some villains. Unsurprisingly, their arcane ceremony goes awry.

Embracing a Literary Legacy

Joseph Hillström King started his career making great efforts to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and avoiding meeting his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his dad). However, in his newest work, he embraces it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that recalls a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). Throughout this massive book, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

Meet the Protagonists

Back to those friends: the majority are pupils at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. There’s Arthur, bookish and intelligent, deciphering Old English riddles in his leisure hours; Colin, wealthy, sharp, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the stunning the lovely Allie. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but assumes a vital role of their group as they experiment, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Summoning

Our hero becomes, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer prized manuscripts from his beloved college library by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, notably because he’s compelled to seize the collection’s foremost and disturbing title: the journal of adept Enoch Crane (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the cover is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators examine the log, realize they are able to call forth what the author references as a “proud worm to assist Arthur with his coercion issue – and spend the rest of the novel enduring the repercussions. The dragon will certainly eliminate those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Dexterity and Creative Breadth

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the allies strive to manage the predicament they find themselves in by, variously, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to immolate, or hunting down ways to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from page-turner to dark fantasy, black-ops torture to romance to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a adventure narrative, within the subterranean depths beneath this UK region, a section sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Mosaic of Dread and Hope

We encounter trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and digital trolls, genuinely frightening and perfectly brought to life. There are magical swords and deceptions, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and ones of appalling malevolence, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a frightening tale that is above all a ode to the imagination, and to devotion and companionship. “We required a narrative to trust and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the friends gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their dragon into existence with the force of their minds.

According to Joe Hill in his opening statement: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.