King Sorrow by Joseph Hillstrom King Analysis – A Dragon-Fired Horror Epic Delivers Masterpiece-Level Thrills

A group of six oddball but resilient kids encounter the trail of a colossal and fearsome otherworldly malevolence that has invaded our existence from the deepest abyss of shadow. They have no choice but to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, enduring terror upon terror in the process.

A Resonant Premise with a Distinctive Approach

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s iconic book It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It similarly frames of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s recent massive horror novel, in which a band of six invoke the primordial, deeply sinister dragon King Sorrow from the Abyssal Void to assist them in vanquishing some antagonists. Needless to say, their otherworldly invocation goes awry.

Acknowledging a Authorial Lineage

Joe Hill started his career making great efforts to remain separate from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he continues to employ and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he exhibits a striking resemblance to his father). Yet with this recent release, he embraces it. Several quotes that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (“The man in black fled across the desert …”); a scene that brings to mind a King plot point (a battle of wits). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his heritage, and readers share in the joy.

The Cast of the Main Characters

Returning to the group: most are pupils at the fictional Rackham College in the New England state. First is Arthur, bookish and gifted, deciphering historical enigmas in his free moments; the character Colin, wealthy, sharp, and prone to trampling obstacles in his path; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful the lovely Allie. And there’s Gwen, who isn’t their classmate, but becomes a key part of their group as they toy, partly convinced, half not, in the occult.

The Critical Ritual

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, notably because he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and unsettling work: the diary of practitioner Enoch Crane (condemned “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the book’s jacket is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a “proud worm to help Arthur out with his blackmail problem – and spend the rest of the novel facing the fallout. The dragon will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a new sacrifice each year or become his victim themselves. As Arthur later puts it: “You invoke terrible forces, all you get is additional horrors.”

Genre Fluidity and Inventive Scope

Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the allies attempt to deal with the predicament they find themselves in by, in different ways, choosing undeniably wicked targets to immolate, or hunting down ways to kill the dragon themselves, we go from suspense to grim fantasy, clandestine torment to affectionate subplot to horror. One particularly memorable shift was to a quest story, deep in the caves under the English county, a part infused with JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

A Detailed Tapestry of Horror and Optimism

There are trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, properly scary and perfectly brought to life. We see enchanted blades and treacheries, breath-taking moments of courage and ones of appalling malevolence, both human and supernatural. It’s a tour de force: a horror novel that is primarily a paean 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 allies gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their beast into being with the force of their minds.

As Hill puts it in his opening statement: “Hic sunt dracones”. Don’t miss them.