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Six oddball but doughty kids confront the trail of a colossal and dreadful supernatural darkness that has entered our existence from the farthest reaches of shadow. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle fighting it, enduring one nightmare after another in the ordeal.

An Echoing Premise with a Fresh Approach

This describes the premise, in essence, of the master of horror’s novel It (his best; no debate). It parallels of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s recent chilling tome, in which a close-knit group summon the age-old, utterly malevolent serpent the Dragon King from the Abyssal Void to help them defeat some antagonists. As one might expect, their supernatural ritual goes awry.

Embracing a Family Heritage

The author started his career striving diligently to remain separate from his famous father, publishing under the pen name he still uses today and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his parent). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of King’s most famous (that classic opening line); a incident that brings to mind a signature King element (a riddling contest). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his family connection, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Protagonists

Back to those friends: most are scholars at the fictional Rackham College in this northeastern locale. We have Arthur, academic and brilliant, cracking historical enigmas in his spare time; another key figure, rich, astute, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. Then we have Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but becomes a key part of their group as they dabble, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in supernatural practices.

The Fateful Summoning

Our hero becomes, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take rare books from his cherished academic collection by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, especially when he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and chilling publication: the diary of occultist the historical figure (executed “for conspiring with dark forces in 1703”; the cover is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what the author references as a clever snake to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and devote the remaining story reaping the consequences. The dragon will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering every twelve months or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. In the character’s own words: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is more dragons.”

Genre Dexterity and Creative Breadth

Spanning forty years, Hill also moves with seamless grace between genres: as the companions strive to manage the situation they find themselves in by, through diverse methods, choosing undeniably wicked targets to sacrifice, or searching for methods to slay the beast themselves, we transition from page-turner to grim fantasy, clandestine torment to romance to terror. One particularly memorable shift was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a segment sprinkled with the Lord of the Rings author that was gloriously terrifying.

A Rich Tapestry of Horror and Optimism

There are trolls – bridge-dwelling ones and online ones, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. The story includes mystic weapons and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of courage and instances of appalling malevolence, both human and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is chiefly a tribute to the human inventiveness, and to love and friendship. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says this character as the friends sit around the table, preparing to summon their dragon to life with the strength of their collective will.

In the author’s own words in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Ensure you experience it.