Joe Hill's King Sorrow: A Masterful Horror Epic
In his latest monumental work, Joe Hill delivers a tour de force of horror fiction with King Sorrow. This sprawling tale follows six college students whose dabbling in the occult unleashes a ancient, malevolent force upon their lives with devastating lifelong consequences.
A Fateful Summoning with Dragon-Fired Consequences
The story centres on six distinctive characters, primarily students at the fictional Rackham College in Maine. The group includes Arthur, the brilliant bookworm; the ruthlessly ambitious Colin; twins Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie; and Gwen, who becomes integral to their circle despite not being a student. Their descent into darkness begins when Arthur is forced by local criminals to steal rare books from his beloved college library.
The most significant theft is the journal of occultist Enoch Crane, executed in 1703 for "trafficking with the devyll" and bound in his own skin. Within its pages, the friends discover they can summon what Crane describes as a "proud worm, cunning serpent, armoured devil" - the dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark. Their half-believing ritual works, but with catastrophic results: while the dragon eliminates their blackmailers, it demands an annual human sacrifice, turning the friends into both masters and potential victims of their creation.
Embracing the King Legacy
Joseph Hillström King, who began his career determined to establish himself separately from his famous father Stephen King, now fully embraces his literary heritage in this work. Where he once avoided meetings with agents who might recognise his striking resemblance to his father and published under his pen name Joe Hill, he now deliberately echoes his father's most famous lines and plot devices.
The novel contains deliberate references to Stephen King's It, both sharing the core premise of six friends confronting a vast supernatural evil across decades. Hill includes lines that mirror his father's iconic opening from The Dark Tower series and incorporates a riddling contest that long-time King readers will find familiar. In this huge, sprawling novel, Hill clearly delights in his family connection, and readers will delight alongside him.
A Genre-Defying Journey Through Decades
Spanning four decades, King Sorrow moves with effortless ease between genres as the friends grapple with their impossible situation. Their attempts to manage their annual sacrifice requirement - sometimes choosing obviously evil targets, other times seeking ways to kill the dragon itself - take readers through thriller sequences, dark fantasy, black-ops torture scenes, romance, and pure horror.
One particularly standout section transforms into a glorious quest story deep within the caves below Cornwall, sprinkled with J.R.R. Tolkien influences that create a terrifying and immersive experience. The novel features both bridge-dwelling trolls and their modern online counterparts, magical swords, betrayals, and scenes of tremendous courage alongside dreadful evil from both human and otherworldly sources.
Ultimately, King Sorrow stands as a paean to imagination, love, and friendship amidst the horror. As Colin remarks while the friends prepare their fateful summoning: "We needed a story to believe and now we've got one." Hill's epigraph, "Hic sunt dracones" (here be dragons), serves as both warning and invitation into this absolutely fantastic read.
