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A group of six oddball but doughty children fall into the way of a immense and dreadful supernatural evil that has entered our world from the farthest reaches of darkness. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, experiencing terror upon terror in the ordeal.

A Resonant Premise with a Distinctive Approach

This is the plot, in essence, of Stephen King’s seminal work It (his best; no debate). It is also the plot of King’s son Joseph Hillstrom King’s new horror doorstopper, in which six friends invoke the primordial, utterly malevolent dragon the Dragon King from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some baddies. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation goes awry.

Acknowledging a Literary Lineage

Joseph Hillström King started his career making great efforts to remain separate from his renowned parent, adopting the nom de plume he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he bears a strong similarity to his dad). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this epic story, the author rejoices in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

Introducing the Central Figures

Back to those friends: most are pupils at the fictional Rackham College in Maine. There’s Arthur, academic and intelligent, cracking historical enigmas in his leisure hours; the character Colin, wealthy, clever, and inclined to bulldoze obstacles in his path; the twin siblings; the stunning Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who isn’t their classmate, but becomes a key part of their band as they experiment, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in arcane arts.

The Fateful Ceremony

The protagonist finds himself, as a result of external pressures, compelled to pilfer rare books from his beloved college library by a group of neighborhood thugs. This devastates his scholarly soul, especially when he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and disturbing publication: the diary of adept this enigmatic character (executed “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the book’s jacket is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang read the journal, discover they could summon what Crane describes as a cunning serpent to assist Arthur with his coercion issue – and occupy the subsequent narrative reaping the consequences. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those annoying regional antagonists, but they must select a different victim each year or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Narrative Dexterity and Creative Breadth

Spanning forty years, the author shifts with natural fluency between genres: as the allies attempt to deal with the circumstances they find themselves in by, in different ways, selecting clearly malevolent individuals to sacrifice, or searching for methods to kill the dragon themselves, we go from thriller to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to romance to fright. My favorite genre switch was to a adventure narrative, deep in the caves below Cornwall, a section sprinkled with JRR Tolkien that was wonderfully frightening.

A Detailed Canvas of Fear and Courage

We encounter trolls – those living under bridges and internet antagonists, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and scenes of dreadful evil, both human and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is chiefly a paean to the creative spirit, and to affection and camaraderie. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says Colin as the friends sit around the table, getting ready to invoke their serpent into existence with the power of their thoughts.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “Here be dragons”. Do not overlook this.