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Six unlikely but doughty youngsters fall into the trail of a immense and terrible otherworldly darkness that has entered our existence from the outer limits of shadow. They must spend their lifetimes battling it, enduring horror after horror in the ordeal.

An Echoing Plot with a Distinctive Approach

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no debate). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s latest massive horror novel, in which six friends summon the ancient, infinitely malicious beast the Dragon King from the Long Dark to help them defeat some antagonists. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation has unintended consequences.

Embracing a Literary Heritage

The author began his writing journey making great efforts to avoid any connection from his famous father, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he possesses a striking resemblance to his dad). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. Certain passages that deliberately echo some of King’s most famous (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a moment that evokes a King plot point (a game of puzzles). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his lineage, and we delight along with him.

The Cast of the Main Characters

Back to those friends: most are scholars at the made-up this academic setting in the New England state. We have Arthur, academic and brilliant, deciphering historical enigmas in his free moments; the character Colin, wealthy, clever, and known for crushing anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the stunning Allie herself. Additionally, Gwen appears, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their band as they dabble, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in supernatural practices.

The Critical Summoning

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, compelled to pilfer prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This tears at his bookish heart, particularly as he’s compelled to seize the library’s most valuable and chilling work: the logbook of practitioner Enoch Crane (condemned “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the book’s jacket is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, discover they could summon what Crane describes as a armoured devil” to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and devote the remaining story enduring the repercussions. The dragon will certainly eliminate those troublesome local drug dealers, but they must select a different victim every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As our protagonist states: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is additional horrors.”

Narrative Dexterity and Imaginative Scope

Spanning forty years, the author shifts with seamless grace across narrative styles: as the allies attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to immolate, or seeking means to destroy the entity themselves, we transition from page-turner to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to romance to fright. A standout transition was to a quest story, far beneath the surface beneath this UK region, a part tinged by the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.

A Detailed Canvas of Fear and Optimism

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and internet antagonists, properly scary and superbly depicted. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and instances of dreadful evil, both human and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a horror novel 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 the wealthy student as the allies assemble around a surface, making preparations to call forth their serpent into existence with the force of their minds.

In the author’s own words in his introductory quote: “Here be dragons”. Do not overlook this.