King Sorrow is the first Joe Hill novel in a decade, but the man has been far from complacent. Much of his work has been filmed over that last decade, he’s published comic books, short story collections and had his hands in the horror/fantasy genre in some way. However, King Sorrow is a novel many readers have been looking forward to reading for quite some time mainly because it is a Joe Hill novel. It is a story of revenge, entitlement, the power story, the nature of evil, the potentially damaging effects of revenge, addiction, fantasy, horror… it is a kitchen-sink, epic-dark fantasy/horror novel that evolves from a Faustian-like demonic bargain with a dragon into something grand that spans decades.
Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library.
Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.
But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.
Here’s what gets it going: Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, obsessed with story and medieval literature. His mother is in prison for political reasons, a man was killed during one of her protests and she is ultimately held responsible. What stems from an initial moment of kindness on Arthur’s part spirals to a lifelong connection with darkness. Arthur is forced by drug dealers – whose mother is in the same prison as Arthur’s mother – to steal valuable texts from the rare books library where Arthur is a trusted member of the student staff. His friends Van (Donavan) and Donna McBride, Colin Wren, Alison Shiner, and Arthur’s love interest Gwen Underfoot and want to help their friend solve the problem.
These friends have hung out at Colin’s house for much of their lives. Colin’s grandfather (Colin’s parents died when he was young) Llewellyn kept a very extensive library; Llewellyn was connected to the occult when he was younger. When Arthur’s friends learn of his situation, the peruse Colin’s family library until they discover a way to help Arthur in an ancient tome. They are able to bring forth King Sorrow, a dragon from the Long Dark to smite Arthur’s enemies and keep his mother safe.
Striking a deal with a dragon is not a one-and-done thing, as Arthur and his friends soon discover. Wording and language must be precise, a theme in their dealing with King Sorrow that parallels the power with which Joe Hill unleashes this monster of a novel into the world.
One of the skills I most appreciate in a writer is when they are able to finely balance a story between epic and intimate. King Sorrow balances those elements very powerfully. We meet these characters at a critical time in their lives, young college-aged students (Gwen is a couple of years younger). For many people who attended college, decisions made at that inflection point of their lives – falling in love, deciding on a major which can direct a career path, friendships built – often to have lifelong affects. Many of my friends (myself included) met their wives when in college, many of those same friends or friends from that circle of friends, are in a job nearly 30 years later because of the path they started in college. Some of the decisions were great ones, others… well, those decisions especially when people aren’t fully mature and in desperate straits, can have negative impacts. Summoning a demon… or in this case, a dragon to help in a bad situation would qualify as life-changing, for certain. None of our heroes expected these decisions to be so long-ranging when they spoke the words that bound King Sorrow to them from the Long Dark.
Hill tackles a lot in this story and he is more than up to the task he sets for himself.
Arthur is one of a very, very small percentage of black students at Rackham. I appreciated that this was treated as just a detail of Arthur and not his whole identity, although an important detail of course. He is the first character who falls under the microscope of the story, the first whose history and inner character Hill reveals. Over the course of the next 800+ pages of the novel, Hill gives readers an intimate look at Arthur and his friends. For each of the characters, we get a short novel/novella length exploration of who they are, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how their deal with King Sorrow has affected them over the course of the 40 or so years across with the story is told. Van and Donna share a spotlight “novella” since they are twins and it is a powerful examination of how they are a yin to the other’s yang – Van is giving, Donna is always angry. Both come from money their father made in the news business. Alison struggles with her homosexuality, how unaccepting her parents would be and her tragic marriage to Van. Gwen struggles with romantic entanglements with Arthur. Although Colin comes from money, he manages to become a tech billionaire because he never sleeps and always seeks control. Some of these friends shine brightly, others seem unlikeable in many ways. All of them are remarkably drawn as real people.
The power of story has always been a part of Hill’s fiction, which is no surprise. From Locke & Key’s examination of story and imagination, to the power of story and song in Heart-Shaped Box, story is a web that connects Hill’s characters. Arthur is a book and story-obsessed scholar who studies and teaches about story and myth. There are references throughout the novel to many, many fantastical and dark stories, to historical events over the past 40 years and how some of the stories referenced in this tome might have connections to those events.
Then there’s King Sorrow himself… an enormous dragon that comes from another world, the Long Dark. He can make his presence known in our world, especially around Easter every year when the terms of the dragon’s bargain with our protagonists is most potent – every year, King Sorrow takes a life, but at least Arthur and his friends can choose. Talk about compromised morals. He’s one part trickster, one part demon, and 100% menacing. He’s got one-liners, sarcasm, and near omniscience. He is a 21st Century boogeyman that will leave a haunting mark in readers minds for years to come.
This is a generational story, spanning multiple decades, it is epic and glorious. American history, story seen through the lens of these characters is powerful story to experience. King Sorrow is a character study, it is quite simply, a Masterpiece. Thing is, Joe Hill is no stranger to that term, he’s adding to his literary legacy with another one.
A guaranteed top read of 2025 for me.
Highest possible recommendation.
© 2025 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | William Morrow
October 2025 | 896 Pages
Excerpt https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2025/08/29/joe-hill-king-sorrow-exclusive-excerpt/85749680007/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, William Morrow
