Don’t bring a gun to a dragon fight. That is one of the many lessons learned by the remaining protagonists during the final battle of this horrifying yet absurdly readable book. I should back up though. Start at the beginning. I’ll do my best to write a review that lives up to one hell of a novel.
King Sorrow, in case you haven’t already guessed, it is the name of the dragon that a group of college kids summon from the Long Dark – a magical dimension where dragons live – to save Arthur who is being blackmailed into stealing priceless books to pay off a debt he doesn’t really owe. Arthur’s friends, Gwen, Allison, twins Donna and Donavon, and ultra rich Colin, employ the use of a grimoire and other magical objects throughout the novel, but it is the first deal they make with King Sorrow that sends them down winding path of dark academia, death, and destruction.
They deal they make is to have King Sorrow kill the person blackmailing Arthur, but this deal was not a one off. King Sorrow returns each year demanding another victim for him to feast on every Easter. Unable to renege on this deal without losing their own lives, the group decides to have King Sorrow kill the worst of the worst. Warlords. Murderers. Rapists. Drug cartels. Terrorists. As the 1980s move on to the 1990s and 2000s, it is Colin’s money and tech company who researches their victims.
These gruesome, fiery deaths don’t go unnoticed and as the guilt settles in on what they are doing, the twins are taken and held hostage for months. Tortured into giving up the others in their group even as they refuse to do so. They soon realize that the people holding them have had King Sorrow set upon them by their friends, but for one of them it’s too late. The dragon cannot save them both.
Like any large group of friends, there are love triangles and complicated relationships that blind each of them from seeing the truth that should have been so glaringly obvious. That one of their own is manipulating them. Lying to them. Keeping them in a bargain where the consequences far exceeded their original intent. Every time one of them tries to find a way to kill King Sorrow, their plan is fraught with challenges that mean death if they fail. Regret pushes them toward redemption even as one of their own seeks to harm them.
When I first started listening to the audiobook of this, the first thing I noticed was how much Joe Hill’s writing has been affected by his upbringing. I suppose if I were Stephen King’s kid, mine would be too. Hill doesn’t even try to hide it. In fact, he seems to relish this opportunity to go all in and if you grew up reading King novels like I did, it makes for a really fun read. He uses descriptions like full dark, no stars – the title of one of King’s short story compilations – and uses word rhythms that sound very much like The Man in Black fled into the desert, and the gunslinger followed. Familiar names are dropped from King’s The Dead Zone. Even the villain has shades of Randall Flagg and Pennywise because he likes to play with his victims. To visit their waking nightmares to wear them down mentally. I also loved hearing about a character seeing King Sorrow’s eye through a window because it reminded me of King’s The Eyes of the Dragon during which a character spies on another through the glass eyes of a dragon.
Thematically, King Sorrow is as much an epic novel as The Stand, Under the Dome and It. Friendships are tested and relationships are broken by lies, but in the end sacrificing your life for someone you love even if you’re still bitter shows who you really are. It gives the redemption they desperately seek. Characters are forced to deal with their demons. With the consequences of the choices they made. No one is left untarnished. They all have separate paths that intertwine in and out of each other’s lives like unfurled yarn after a cat uses it as a toy. They may be able to distance themselves, but their paths always cross again. King Sorrow demands it. One becomes an EMT and tries to save lives despite the deal with King Sorrow. Some turn to alcohol. Some research ways to get them out of the pact. And then there’s that one who uses every resource they have to keep the group in King Sorrow’s clutches because they enjoy the control. This group is so intertwined that even when they begin to hate each other, they always find a way back to one another.
There is one section of this novel that I must mention. Hill uses descriptions like the color of infected piss several times. If you’ve read my horror blog, you’ll know that yellow in horror is often associated with illness and infection. This can be both physical and mental, an internal disease that festers as it grows. The inner turmoil and degradation of the characters’ mental stability and their relationships hang over the book like an illness. Infected with puss. In horror movies, yellow lighting can often show this as well as makeup effects to show the internal turmoil externally, but in this book, it is Joe Hill’s descriptors using the color help set the tone in his novel. Brilliant.
Applause for this novel, Joe Hill. A standing ovation. I couldn’t stop until I finished. Don’t be intimidated by the size of the novel, fellow reader. It’s a page turner and it’ll go surprisingly fast.
5 out of 5 dragons.
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
Don’t bring a gun to a dragon fight. That is one of the many lessons learned by the remaining protagonists during the final battle of this horrifying yet absurdly readable book. I should back up though. Start at the beginning. I’ll do my best to write a review that lives up to one hell of a novel.
King Sorrow, in case you haven’t already guessed, it is the name of the dragon that a group of college kids summon from the Long Dark – a magical dimension where dragons live – to save Arthur who is being blackmailed into stealing priceless books to pay off a debt he doesn’t really owe. Arthur’s friends, Gwen, Allison, twins Donna and Donavon, and ultra rich Colin, employ the use of a grimoire and other magical objects throughout the novel, but it is the first deal they make with King Sorrow that sends them down winding path of dark academia, death, and destruction.
They deal they make is to have King Sorrow kill the person blackmailing Arthur, but this deal was not a one off. King Sorrow returns each year demanding another victim for him to feast on every Easter. Unable to renege on this deal without losing their own lives, the group decides to have King Sorrow kill the worst of the worst. Warlords. Murderers. Rapists. Drug cartels. Terrorists. As the 1980s move on to the 1990s and 2000s, it is Colin’s money and tech company who researches their victims.
These gruesome, fiery deaths don’t go unnoticed and as the guilt settles in on what they are doing, the twins are taken and held hostage for months. Tortured into giving up the others in their group even as they refuse to do so. They soon realize that the people holding them have had King Sorrow set upon them by their friends, but for one of them it’s too late. The dragon cannot save them both.
Like any large group of friends, there are love triangles and complicated relationships that blind each of them from seeing the truth that should have been so glaringly obvious. That one of their own is manipulating them. Lying to them. Keeping them in a bargain where the consequences far exceeded their original intent. Every time one of them tries to find a way to kill King Sorrow, their plan is fraught with challenges that mean death if they fail. Regret pushes them toward redemption even as one of their own seeks to harm them.
When I first started listening to the audiobook of this, the first thing I noticed was how much Joe Hill’s writing has been affected by his upbringing. I suppose if I were Stephen King’s kid, mine would be too. Hill doesn’t even try to hide it. In fact, he seems to relish this opportunity to go all in and if you grew up reading King novels like I did, it makes for a really fun read. He uses descriptions like full dark, no stars – the title of one of King’s short story compilations – and uses word rhythms that sound very much like The Man in Black fled into the desert, and the gunslinger followed. Familiar names are dropped from King’s The Dead Zone. Even the villain has shades of Randall Flagg and Pennywise because he likes to play with his victims. To visit their waking nightmares to wear them down mentally. I also loved hearing about a character seeing King Sorrow’s eye through a window because it reminded me of King’s The Eyes of the Dragon during which a character spies on another through the glass eyes of a dragon.
Thematically, King Sorrow is as much an epic novel as The Stand, Under the Dome and It. Friendships are tested and relationships are broken by lies, but in the end sacrificing your life for someone you love even if you’re still bitter shows who you really are. It gives the redemption they desperately seek. Characters are forced to deal with their demons. With the consequences of the choices they made. No one is left untarnished. They all have separate paths that intertwine in and out of each other’s lives like unfurled yarn after a cat uses it as a toy. They may be able to distance themselves, but their paths always cross again. King Sorrow demands it. One becomes an EMT and tries to save lives despite the deal with King Sorrow. Some turn to alcohol. Some research ways to get them out of the pact. And then there’s that one who uses every resource they have to keep the group in King Sorrow’s clutches because they enjoy the control. This group is so intertwined that even when they begin to hate each other, they always find a way back to one another.
There is one section of this novel that I must mention. Hill uses descriptions like the color of infected piss several times. If you’ve read my horror blog, you’ll know that yellow in horror is often associated with illness and infection. This can be both physical and mental, an internal disease that festers as it grows. The inner turmoil and degradation of the characters’ mental stability and their relationships hang over the book like an illness. Infected with puss. In horror movies, yellow lighting can often show this as well as makeup effects to show the internal turmoil externally, but in this book, it is Joe Hill’s descriptors using the color help set the tone in his novel. Brilliant.
Applause for this novel, Joe Hill. A standing ovation. I couldn’t stop until I finished. Don’t be intimidated by the size of the novel, fellow reader. It’s a page turner and it’ll go surprisingly fast.
5 out of 5 dragons.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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