King Sorrow by Joseph Hillstrom King Analysis – A Epic Supernatural Saga Is a Tour de Force
Six quirky but brave children fall into the trail of a colossal and dreadful otherworldly darkness that has entered our realm from the outer limits of darkness. They have no choice but to devote their lives fighting it, enduring horror after horror in the ordeal.
A Resonant Storyline with a New Approach
This outlines the narrative, broadly speaking, of the master of horror’s novel It (a standout in his career; no arguments). It parallels of King’s son Joe Hill’s latest massive horror novel, in which a band of six invoke the primordial, infinitely malicious serpent the Sorrowful Monarch from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some antagonists. Needless to say, their arcane ceremony goes awry.
Celebrating a Authorial Legacy
The author started his career striving diligently to distance himself from his well-known dad, publishing under the pen name he maintains to this day and eschewing in-person meetings with his agent (he bears a striking resemblance to his dad). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. Certain passages that intentionally mirror some of the senior author’s well-known (that classic opening line); a incident that brings to mind a King plot point (a riddling contest). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and the audience revels alongside.
The Cast of the Protagonists
Focusing on the companions: most are students at the made-up this academic setting in this northeastern locale. First is Arthur, studious and brilliant, deciphering historical enigmas in his leisure hours; another key figure, affluent, sharp, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; the twin siblings; the stunning Allie herself. And there’s Gwen, who remains outside their academic circle, but emerges as crucial of their group as they toy, half believing, half not, in the occult.
The Fateful Summoning
Our hero becomes, due to circumstances beyond his control, forced into stealing prized manuscripts from his cherished academic collection by a group of neighborhood thugs. This devastates his scholarly soul, particularly as he’s forced to acquire the collection’s foremost and disturbing publication: the diary of adept Enoch Crane (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the cover is fashioned from his hide). These young investigators peruse the diary, learn they can invoke 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. King Sorrow will indeed rid them of those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or fall prey to the beast. As our protagonist states: “You sow dragon’s teeth, all you get is additional horrors.”
Genre Versatility and Creative Range
Spanning forty years, Joe Hill transitions with effortless ease through various literary forms: as the companions endeavor to address the situation they find themselves in by, in different ways, picking people who are obviously evil to immolate, or seeking means to kill the dragon themselves, we transition from thriller to shadowy tale, black-ops torture to romance to horror. My favorite genre switch was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface under the English county, a segment sprinkled with the fantasy maestro that was magnificently horrifying.
An Expansive Canvas of Fear and Hope
The novel features trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, truly terrifying and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and betrayals, breath-taking moments of bravery and scenes of terrible wickedness, both earthly and supernatural. This is a remarkable achievement: a horror novel that is chiefly a ode to the creative spirit, 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 Colin as the friends gather at the table, making preparations to call forth their beast to life with the strength of their collective will.
As Hill puts it in his introductory quote: “Here be dragons”. Don’t miss them.
