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King Sorrow
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fantasy (2025)SOME PROMISES SHOULD NEVER BE MADE...
Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.
But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.
Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.
But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.
Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.
But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.
Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.
But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.
Audible Audio
First published October 21, 2025
7266 people are currently reading
68792 people want to read
About the author
Joe Hill
505 books29.9k followersJoe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.
He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.
He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.
He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.
He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.
He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.
He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,610 reviews
November 4, 2025
Might be the best thing I’ve read this year.
October 20, 2025
My son is 11, and we share a mutual love for writing. The pride I feel when I read the amazing things he writes is indescribable. I can only imagine how Mr. King feels.
That said, Joe Hill has officially established himself as a standalone paragon. He has illuminated any lingering shadow he still existed within, and has demolished any doubts that remained about his worthiness an authorial entity.
This book is a stalwart giant. It exists somewhere in the netherworld, teetering precariously on the precipice of fantasy, while simultaneously maintaining a foothold in real world horror. It’s long to be sure, but it also knows exactly when its length needs to be tamed. It moves on at just the right times, and pulls you into its next segment with earnest determination.
One look through the Surrealist’s Glass and you’ll see why this book is so special. It demands to be read, reread and read again to fully grasp its complex layers. King Sorrow is a momentously frightening and insipid character. I never thought dragons were scary until I read this. Now, I think I’ll be seeing scaled creatures with forked tongues around every dark corner.
This is a full-scale examination of the human condition and everything that entails. It interrogates the vileness of our baseline instincts. It inquires about justice and bad things happening to bad people. It sifts through the complexities loving those we love, and asks us why it makes us do the things we do.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have received an early copy of this book, and if I’m being honest, I don’t know how anything else will top it this year. It’s that good...
That said, Joe Hill has officially established himself as a standalone paragon. He has illuminated any lingering shadow he still existed within, and has demolished any doubts that remained about his worthiness an authorial entity.
This book is a stalwart giant. It exists somewhere in the netherworld, teetering precariously on the precipice of fantasy, while simultaneously maintaining a foothold in real world horror. It’s long to be sure, but it also knows exactly when its length needs to be tamed. It moves on at just the right times, and pulls you into its next segment with earnest determination.
One look through the Surrealist’s Glass and you’ll see why this book is so special. It demands to be read, reread and read again to fully grasp its complex layers. King Sorrow is a momentously frightening and insipid character. I never thought dragons were scary until I read this. Now, I think I’ll be seeing scaled creatures with forked tongues around every dark corner.
This is a full-scale examination of the human condition and everything that entails. It interrogates the vileness of our baseline instincts. It inquires about justice and bad things happening to bad people. It sifts through the complexities loving those we love, and asks us why it makes us do the things we do.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have received an early copy of this book, and if I’m being honest, I don’t know how anything else will top it this year. It’s that good...
January 2, 2026
My 50th read of 2025
Wow, wow, wow, King Sorrow has just become one of my all-time favourite books. I don't even know how I am going to wrap-up my thoughts in a coherent review. Perhaps I'll have to settle for a non-coherent review. This is incomparable to basically everything I have read. You cannot even constrain it to genre. Yes it's fantasy... yes it's mystery... yes it's horror... yes it is another half dozen genres, but none of these accurately depict what King Sorrow is. What is is, is brilliance. True, ambitious, brave, wonderful, clever, rewarding, thought-provoking, epic, moving, brilliance.
The premise is that a group of six friends in a desperate position resort without real belief in calling for help from a supernatural being. They surprise theirselves in summoning King Sorrow. But if dragons love anything, it is riddles and destruction. Before long, these friends will realise they are the ones that have been manipulated, and must suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.
Hill is exceptional at showing the complexity of humanity, Love and hate can coexist, as can adoration and selfishness, and power alongside guilt. Paradoxes exist and juxtapositions do not matter a lot in reality. Hill shows how contradictions exist, and how life defies rational, and throws these complications of our understanding of life in a story full of dragons who love riddles, the paranormal, and the unbelievable.
“Dragons are not hatched from eggs… but from imaginations.”
Whilst there are definitely parallels between Stephen King’s writing and Joe Hill’s, the son stands on his own merit, King Sorrow adopts a more philosophical approach than anything I have read by King. I love the unanswerable questions explored, such as, can a small evil be justified if it stops great evil? The corruption of power and moral decay are central. Even if intentions are well, unnatural influence weighs on the shoulders of those who are burdened.
Yes, King Sorrow is a big book. It is an epic. And it is an exploration of character. Not only do we see them in the times of their utmost turmoil, we also see slice-of-life, which is when in my opinion you really learn who someone is. He always ties it into the grander arc and the plot, but this variation in pace and progression keeps you on your toes and utterly invests you in the lives of this group of friends.
Something else I really enjoyed was Joe Hill’s obvious love and passion for literature and language. From references to his dad’s work, to exploring the history of dragon’s in literature and the allure and power of languages spoken in times long lost. It was infectious.
King Sorrow is an odyssey. For the characters, and for the reader. It is a testament to what literature can achieve, and proof that there are still new lands to tread. The pacing is remarkable considering the size, and the ending somehow delivered in a way that was surprising but also rewarding, whilst staying true to the characters and messages of the story.
Friendship is integral to this story. How in moments of turmoil it provides strength. It makes people. But it can also break them. Through trials and tribulations, secrets are born, differences unveiled and irreversible decisions made. Some friendships will toughen and only grow stronger, and others will freeze and snap into pieces.
“I wish I was half as good as my friends believe I am.”
King Sorrow is one of a kind. It could become in time a quintessential example of ‘epic and intimate’ in literature. It is an epic in its length (800+ pages), its scope of fantastical and supernatural beings, its thematic exploration, the sheer twists and turns and progression of plot, and more. It is intimate in its focus on six friends, their lives, how friendship is a shield that grows stronger through shared tribulation, and how secrets destroy. Genre-bending and genre-defying, this is a book I would recommend to everybody. Despite its size, it is fluid and easy to read. Everything it sets out to do it does brilliantly.
Somehow a book about a group of friends from the 1980s to the 2010s with a destructive, talking dragon, Arthurian Legend references and Oxford professors ends up working! More than that, it is exceptional.
5/5 STARS
Wow, wow, wow, King Sorrow has just become one of my all-time favourite books. I don't even know how I am going to wrap-up my thoughts in a coherent review. Perhaps I'll have to settle for a non-coherent review. This is incomparable to basically everything I have read. You cannot even constrain it to genre. Yes it's fantasy... yes it's mystery... yes it's horror... yes it is another half dozen genres, but none of these accurately depict what King Sorrow is. What is is, is brilliance. True, ambitious, brave, wonderful, clever, rewarding, thought-provoking, epic, moving, brilliance.
The premise is that a group of six friends in a desperate position resort without real belief in calling for help from a supernatural being. They surprise theirselves in summoning King Sorrow. But if dragons love anything, it is riddles and destruction. Before long, these friends will realise they are the ones that have been manipulated, and must suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.
Hill is exceptional at showing the complexity of humanity, Love and hate can coexist, as can adoration and selfishness, and power alongside guilt. Paradoxes exist and juxtapositions do not matter a lot in reality. Hill shows how contradictions exist, and how life defies rational, and throws these complications of our understanding of life in a story full of dragons who love riddles, the paranormal, and the unbelievable.
“Dragons are not hatched from eggs… but from imaginations.”
Whilst there are definitely parallels between Stephen King’s writing and Joe Hill’s, the son stands on his own merit, King Sorrow adopts a more philosophical approach than anything I have read by King. I love the unanswerable questions explored, such as, can a small evil be justified if it stops great evil? The corruption of power and moral decay are central. Even if intentions are well, unnatural influence weighs on the shoulders of those who are burdened.
Yes, King Sorrow is a big book. It is an epic. And it is an exploration of character. Not only do we see them in the times of their utmost turmoil, we also see slice-of-life, which is when in my opinion you really learn who someone is. He always ties it into the grander arc and the plot, but this variation in pace and progression keeps you on your toes and utterly invests you in the lives of this group of friends.
Something else I really enjoyed was Joe Hill’s obvious love and passion for literature and language. From references to his dad’s work, to exploring the history of dragon’s in literature and the allure and power of languages spoken in times long lost. It was infectious.
King Sorrow is an odyssey. For the characters, and for the reader. It is a testament to what literature can achieve, and proof that there are still new lands to tread. The pacing is remarkable considering the size, and the ending somehow delivered in a way that was surprising but also rewarding, whilst staying true to the characters and messages of the story.
Friendship is integral to this story. How in moments of turmoil it provides strength. It makes people. But it can also break them. Through trials and tribulations, secrets are born, differences unveiled and irreversible decisions made. Some friendships will toughen and only grow stronger, and others will freeze and snap into pieces.
“I wish I was half as good as my friends believe I am.”
King Sorrow is one of a kind. It could become in time a quintessential example of ‘epic and intimate’ in literature. It is an epic in its length (800+ pages), its scope of fantastical and supernatural beings, its thematic exploration, the sheer twists and turns and progression of plot, and more. It is intimate in its focus on six friends, their lives, how friendship is a shield that grows stronger through shared tribulation, and how secrets destroy. Genre-bending and genre-defying, this is a book I would recommend to everybody. Despite its size, it is fluid and easy to read. Everything it sets out to do it does brilliantly.
Somehow a book about a group of friends from the 1980s to the 2010s with a destructive, talking dragon, Arthurian Legend references and Oxford professors ends up working! More than that, it is exceptional.
5/5 STARS
April 2, 2025
Gripping, creepy, menacing and fantastic! Joe Hill mentions in his note at the end of the book that it has been 10 years since he wrote his previous book. I believe readers of this book, will be crossing their fingers and perhaps even their toes, hoping that we don't have to wait another 10 years for the next book. Joe Hill perfectly blended fantasy, horror, some romance, and a quest in King Sorrow. Hmm, I wonder where he got the idea to use King in the title? He's got the chops kid; he's got the chops. Joe Hill once again proving that he can write, and he can write with great imagination, creativity, and skill!
The gist of this book is that six friends get in way over their heads (and then some) when they dabble in the occult to help a friend and perform a ritual which brings forth King Sorrow. He is a menacing, diabolical and evil dragon that is happy to give if he gets in return. What he wants is simple - a human sacrifice. But nothing is simple, and everything comes with a steep price.
I enjoyed how this book looks at human nature showing the good, the bad and the in-between. The characters are flawed, they are damaged, they are friends, they feel love, they long for what or who they can't have, they experience greed, they feel loss, they are strong, they are weak, and so many other things that all people feel at various points in their life. Throw in an evil obligation to a being who takes and takes greedily. Who makes them choose who dies and doesn't care what it costs them or others.
This was a BIG and LONG book which follows the characters through many stages of their lives. It is epic in length and scope. As they change, grow, and mature, so did my thoughts and opinions on them. This book had me rooting for most, booing and hissing at some, feeling pain for others, and crossing my fingers and holding my breath on more than one occasion.
There is something about friendship and how it changes and grows. There is also something about books which puts friends through the ringer that appeals to me. Joe Hill puts his characters through more than the ringer in King Sorrow. This book is horrific in a wonderful way. He nails the creepy, sinister, and twisted character of King Sorrow. He inserts tension, dread, and unease between the pages so that those elements jump from the pages when the book is opened. He also nails relationships, friendships, and love.
My one issue with this book is the length. On one level I get it. This book needs to be long to show the effect of how making such a deal has on each individual. On another level, it did feel long at times. Other than that, one issue, I was over the moon to read another book by Joe Hill.
Wonderfully written, gripping, horrific, dark, and a wild ride. Be sure to read the author's note at the end of the book.
p.s. did anyone else catch the title of one of his father's books in this book? I was like, what??? That is one of his dad's books. I thought it was pretty cool.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖
The gist of this book is that six friends get in way over their heads (and then some) when they dabble in the occult to help a friend and perform a ritual which brings forth King Sorrow. He is a menacing, diabolical and evil dragon that is happy to give if he gets in return. What he wants is simple - a human sacrifice. But nothing is simple, and everything comes with a steep price.
I enjoyed how this book looks at human nature showing the good, the bad and the in-between. The characters are flawed, they are damaged, they are friends, they feel love, they long for what or who they can't have, they experience greed, they feel loss, they are strong, they are weak, and so many other things that all people feel at various points in their life. Throw in an evil obligation to a being who takes and takes greedily. Who makes them choose who dies and doesn't care what it costs them or others.
This was a BIG and LONG book which follows the characters through many stages of their lives. It is epic in length and scope. As they change, grow, and mature, so did my thoughts and opinions on them. This book had me rooting for most, booing and hissing at some, feeling pain for others, and crossing my fingers and holding my breath on more than one occasion.
There is something about friendship and how it changes and grows. There is also something about books which puts friends through the ringer that appeals to me. Joe Hill puts his characters through more than the ringer in King Sorrow. This book is horrific in a wonderful way. He nails the creepy, sinister, and twisted character of King Sorrow. He inserts tension, dread, and unease between the pages so that those elements jump from the pages when the book is opened. He also nails relationships, friendships, and love.
My one issue with this book is the length. On one level I get it. This book needs to be long to show the effect of how making such a deal has on each individual. On another level, it did feel long at times. Other than that, one issue, I was over the moon to read another book by Joe Hill.
Wonderfully written, gripping, horrific, dark, and a wild ride. Be sure to read the author's note at the end of the book.
p.s. did anyone else catch the title of one of his father's books in this book? I was like, what??? That is one of his dad's books. I thought it was pretty cool.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖
December 24, 2025
I'm speechless.
I've been marinating on this review for almost two weeks and I still don't know how to even begin.
This was a masterful blend of genres; horror, fantasy, romance, mystery, thriller and they all worked so well together.
The whole premise of the book was so interesting; a group of high teens summon a dragon called King Sorrow who demands a life every Easter. This is just a drop in the ocean of the whole plot of this book.
The themes explored in this book, especially about human nature and how we are in fact the most terrible monsters the world has seen, but also how humans are also redeemable and have such a vast capacity for love and kindness, were so masterfully done.
This is the kind of book that just sits with you, and the longer you think about it, the more you love it and the more you learn from it.
It is a MAMMOTH of a book, but so wonderfully paced that it did not feel like a chore, it was almost like a movie. SPEAKING OF WHICH, mark my words, this book will find its way to tv screens or movie screens some day!! MARK MY WORDSSSSS!!!!
The audiobook was also fantastic and King Sorrow (the dragon) was terrifying. His voice was terrifying, his character was terrifying and everything about him was legitimately TERRIFYING!
The ending left me staring at the wall for a solid 10 minutes. I replayed it like 3 times because something related to a very tragic event in Lebanon was mentioned and I was like HELLO?? Did I hear that right????? Incredible honestly. My first Joe Hill book and definitely not my last!
READ IT!
I've been marinating on this review for almost two weeks and I still don't know how to even begin.
This was a masterful blend of genres; horror, fantasy, romance, mystery, thriller and they all worked so well together.
The whole premise of the book was so interesting; a group of high teens summon a dragon called King Sorrow who demands a life every Easter. This is just a drop in the ocean of the whole plot of this book.
The themes explored in this book, especially about human nature and how we are in fact the most terrible monsters the world has seen, but also how humans are also redeemable and have such a vast capacity for love and kindness, were so masterfully done.
This is the kind of book that just sits with you, and the longer you think about it, the more you love it and the more you learn from it.
It is a MAMMOTH of a book, but so wonderfully paced that it did not feel like a chore, it was almost like a movie. SPEAKING OF WHICH, mark my words, this book will find its way to tv screens or movie screens some day!! MARK MY WORDSSSSS!!!!
The audiobook was also fantastic and King Sorrow (the dragon) was terrifying. His voice was terrifying, his character was terrifying and everything about him was legitimately TERRIFYING!
The ending left me staring at the wall for a solid 10 minutes. I replayed it like 3 times because something related to a very tragic event in Lebanon was mentioned and I was like HELLO?? Did I hear that right????? Incredible honestly. My first Joe Hill book and definitely not my last!
READ IT!
November 16, 2025
Title/Author: KING SORROW by Joe Hill
Format Read: Audiobook (Thank you LibroFM)
Pub date: October 21st, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow
Page Count: 896
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978006220...
Recommended for readers who enjoy:
- Friend Groups (Twins Donna & Van, Gwen, Arthur, Colin, Alison)
- Epic/dynamic storytelling
- Fantasy/Horror fusion
- Easter eggs (Stephen King, pop culture, Tolkien, C. S. Lewis)
- DRAGONS!!
- clandestine government organizations like The Shop (FIRESTARTER-Stephen King)
- character-driven storytelling (you will fall in love with them and they will feel like your best friends)
__
Minor complaints:
- This is the most minor complaint and it has to do with the audiobook production. There is an important side character introduced toward the middle/end of the book that irritated me. The narrator gave the character a voice that felt a little Jar Jar Binks(ish) and it annoyed me. I'm sure the character is fine in the physical book. I struggled with this section of the book but that's all--the rest of the book is flawless.
Final recommendation: I am so glad I chose to experience the audiobook production. The main narrator did an amazing job and I loved how some scenes had background noises. Some characters had their own narrator--it's just a solid listen. It took me a little over a week to go through the 26 hours at 1.7 speed.
I don't often call books 'masterpieces' but this is genuinely one of the best books I've read. It is top tier storytelling and it 100% earned all 800+ pages--so worthy of the time investment.
I see a lot of readers trying to pigeon hole it into Fantasy or Horror, strong advocates for both and I'm sorry but it does ruffle my feathers when I see people say it isn't Horror. It is. It's Fantasy too and it can be both. It lives with other Horror/Fantasy books like,
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Staub
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
To me, King Sorrow leans more into Horror. Just because the monster is a dragon doesn't mean we have to call it a fantasy book. In fact, we've been here before with Joe Hill.
One of my favorite Horror books of all time, N0S4A2, asks readers to believe in a "Shorter Way" bridge that's a portal. The villain kidnaps kids and brings them to a mysterious amusement park called Christmasland in the back seat of his Rolls Royce called WRAITH.
HORROR-FANTASY
*wink*
I think my favorite aspect of King Sorrow are the characters. Arthur, Gwen, Colin, Ali, Donna, and Van. At different times during the story, I fell in and out of love with these people. They are heroes, they make huge mistakes, they are flawed, sacrificial, villains, victims, they embody the full spectrum of what it means to be human. To love and be loved and to fight personal demons as well as dragon-shaped demons. Joe Hill's wheelhouse is drawing his audience in so close we slip right into their skin. And it's so emotional and wonderful and devastating.
All the scenes with a lot of dialog between these primary characters are where Hill's talents shine the brightest. The witty banter and the jokes--so good. Laugh-out-loud good.
And the love they all have for each other make the hard parts even harder. Damn! I both hate and love Hill for this book hangover! My heartache for fictional people who live in my reader's heart now.
Anyway,
I love King Sorrow. It sits right here on the shelf with all my iconic Horror favorites. I can't wait for more Joe Hill books. He said "a book a year" when I saw him in Seattle for the tour.
A book a year! I'm holding him to it.
Comps: Hard to really give comps but here's my attempt: The friend group vibes of the Loser's Club from IT and The Body by Stephen King if they were college-age mashed with The Big Chill movie (1980s) or maybe Reality Bites too
Dragon lore from Tolkien's Smaug, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire, Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon, and the movie, Dragonslayer (1981)
Arthurian lore/Knights of the Round Table/The Sword in the Stone/Guinevere and Lancelot
Firestarter by Stephen King vibes
C. S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Tolkien's The Hobbit and LOTR
Format Read: Audiobook (Thank you LibroFM)
Pub date: October 21st, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow
Page Count: 896
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978006220...
Recommended for readers who enjoy:
- Friend Groups (Twins Donna & Van, Gwen, Arthur, Colin, Alison)
- Epic/dynamic storytelling
- Fantasy/Horror fusion
- Easter eggs (Stephen King, pop culture, Tolkien, C. S. Lewis)
- DRAGONS!!
- clandestine government organizations like The Shop (FIRESTARTER-Stephen King)
- character-driven storytelling (you will fall in love with them and they will feel like your best friends)
__
Minor complaints:
- This is the most minor complaint and it has to do with the audiobook production. There is an important side character introduced toward the middle/end of the book that irritated me. The narrator gave the character a voice that felt a little Jar Jar Binks(ish) and it annoyed me. I'm sure the character is fine in the physical book. I struggled with this section of the book but that's all--the rest of the book is flawless.
Final recommendation: I am so glad I chose to experience the audiobook production. The main narrator did an amazing job and I loved how some scenes had background noises. Some characters had their own narrator--it's just a solid listen. It took me a little over a week to go through the 26 hours at 1.7 speed.
I don't often call books 'masterpieces' but this is genuinely one of the best books I've read. It is top tier storytelling and it 100% earned all 800+ pages--so worthy of the time investment.
I see a lot of readers trying to pigeon hole it into Fantasy or Horror, strong advocates for both and I'm sorry but it does ruffle my feathers when I see people say it isn't Horror. It is. It's Fantasy too and it can be both. It lives with other Horror/Fantasy books like,
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Staub
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
To me, King Sorrow leans more into Horror. Just because the monster is a dragon doesn't mean we have to call it a fantasy book. In fact, we've been here before with Joe Hill.
One of my favorite Horror books of all time, N0S4A2, asks readers to believe in a "Shorter Way" bridge that's a portal. The villain kidnaps kids and brings them to a mysterious amusement park called Christmasland in the back seat of his Rolls Royce called WRAITH.
HORROR-FANTASY
*wink*
I think my favorite aspect of King Sorrow are the characters. Arthur, Gwen, Colin, Ali, Donna, and Van. At different times during the story, I fell in and out of love with these people. They are heroes, they make huge mistakes, they are flawed, sacrificial, villains, victims, they embody the full spectrum of what it means to be human. To love and be loved and to fight personal demons as well as dragon-shaped demons. Joe Hill's wheelhouse is drawing his audience in so close we slip right into their skin. And it's so emotional and wonderful and devastating.
All the scenes with a lot of dialog between these primary characters are where Hill's talents shine the brightest. The witty banter and the jokes--so good. Laugh-out-loud good.
And the love they all have for each other make the hard parts even harder. Damn! I both hate and love Hill for this book hangover! My heartache for fictional people who live in my reader's heart now.
Anyway,
I love King Sorrow. It sits right here on the shelf with all my iconic Horror favorites. I can't wait for more Joe Hill books. He said "a book a year" when I saw him in Seattle for the tour.
A book a year! I'm holding him to it.
Comps: Hard to really give comps but here's my attempt: The friend group vibes of the Loser's Club from IT and The Body by Stephen King if they were college-age mashed with The Big Chill movie (1980s) or maybe Reality Bites too
Dragon lore from Tolkien's Smaug, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire, Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon, and the movie, Dragonslayer (1981)
Arthurian lore/Knights of the Round Table/The Sword in the Stone/Guinevere and Lancelot
Firestarter by Stephen King vibes
C. S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Tolkien's The Hobbit and LOTR
December 31, 2025
“King Sorrow” by Joe Hill is a book I’ve been excited to read ever since it was published in October 2025, just in time for spooky season. I finally got around to it, took my time with it, and my goodness, was this a powerhouse of a read! Not only is this one of my favorite horror novels of the year, but it is also the final book I’m finishing and reviewing in 2025, bringing my yearly Reading Goal to 52/50.
Before I dive into my book review, here are all the trigger warnings I found while reading…
- Drugs
- Gangs
- Racism
- Cancer
- Suicide
- AIDS
- Drinking while pregnant
- Violence against animals (cats and dogs)
- 9/11
- Religion
- Domestic abuse
- Abortion
- Sexual abuse
- Violence against children
- Rape
- Child pornography
- Self-harm
If any of these trigger you, please do not read this novel. Moving along, this kicked off with a bang. It was such an incredible start with a plot twist I never saw coming. It set the tone for what would end up being one hell of a ride. One thing to know about Hill is, just like his legendary father, Stephen King, he’s an intricate storyteller.
Numerous times while reading, this was a genuine page-turner. Several parts dragged a bit, but trust me, the slow-burn aspect of this novel is worth it in the end. Thanks to quick, short chapters, this wasn’t so bad for a novel that is over 800 pages.
The Easter eggs, while reading, were nothing short of fantastic. I love it when authors do this, and Hill threw in some great ones here. Don’t worry, I would never spoil anything. But let’s say that my journey to The Dark Tower by Stephen King and my reading of other books by Hill made me smile when I found these.
When it comes to the horror in “King Sorrow,” it delivers beyond words. It’s that dark fantasy kind of fiery horror that made me make many weird faces while reading. Besides the solid parts of horror, I loved the suspense and tension during an insane mid-book countdown. Hill crushed it with the tension and race to see what would ultimately transpire during this countdown. One of the novel's strongest foundations is that each character is unique and meaningful. I connected with many, especially Arthur, Gwen, and everyone’s favorite evil dragon, King Sorrow, who gave me major Pennywise vibes with his creepy and sometimes hilarious encounters.
Hill also wove real-world events into this fantasy horror novel effectively. It blurs the line between reality and fantasy, making for a thrilling read. As I said before, the story drags a bit from around the 50-75% mark, but it picks up nicely and brings it all together for an epic ending.
Speaking of the ending, I loved all the plot twists, monster fighting, and well, what a shocker it was. I never saw that coming and was left satisfied, since it could open up the world Hill built to further exploration. Who knows if there will ever be a sequel to this magnificent novel, but considering that, in an interview with Mashable, Hill confirmed the TV series adaptation rights have been optioned, it hopefully means we’ll be in for a treat.
I give “King Sorrow” by Joe Hill a perfect 5/5 for being a masterpiece of a dark fantasy horror novel. If you love dragons, great storytelling, unforgettable characters, and lots of dragon-filled psychological horror, read this novel immediately. It’s such an original idea that, if this TV series does get made, we could have another glorious horror book adaptation that takes the world by storm. The ending was exciting and totally unpredictable; I couldn’t believe how it all turned out. I will never be able to listen to the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” the same ever again after finishing this novel.
This was a perfect way to end 2025 with a final 5-Star read, with one of my favorite horror novels of the year. Happy New Year, everyone, and here’s to 2026 being another fantastic year of reading horror.
Before I dive into my book review, here are all the trigger warnings I found while reading…
- Drugs
- Gangs
- Racism
- Cancer
- Suicide
- AIDS
- Drinking while pregnant
- Violence against animals (cats and dogs)
- 9/11
- Religion
- Domestic abuse
- Abortion
- Sexual abuse
- Violence against children
- Rape
- Child pornography
- Self-harm
If any of these trigger you, please do not read this novel. Moving along, this kicked off with a bang. It was such an incredible start with a plot twist I never saw coming. It set the tone for what would end up being one hell of a ride. One thing to know about Hill is, just like his legendary father, Stephen King, he’s an intricate storyteller.
Numerous times while reading, this was a genuine page-turner. Several parts dragged a bit, but trust me, the slow-burn aspect of this novel is worth it in the end. Thanks to quick, short chapters, this wasn’t so bad for a novel that is over 800 pages.
The Easter eggs, while reading, were nothing short of fantastic. I love it when authors do this, and Hill threw in some great ones here. Don’t worry, I would never spoil anything. But let’s say that my journey to The Dark Tower by Stephen King and my reading of other books by Hill made me smile when I found these.
When it comes to the horror in “King Sorrow,” it delivers beyond words. It’s that dark fantasy kind of fiery horror that made me make many weird faces while reading. Besides the solid parts of horror, I loved the suspense and tension during an insane mid-book countdown. Hill crushed it with the tension and race to see what would ultimately transpire during this countdown. One of the novel's strongest foundations is that each character is unique and meaningful. I connected with many, especially Arthur, Gwen, and everyone’s favorite evil dragon, King Sorrow, who gave me major Pennywise vibes with his creepy and sometimes hilarious encounters.
Hill also wove real-world events into this fantasy horror novel effectively. It blurs the line between reality and fantasy, making for a thrilling read. As I said before, the story drags a bit from around the 50-75% mark, but it picks up nicely and brings it all together for an epic ending.
Speaking of the ending, I loved all the plot twists, monster fighting, and well, what a shocker it was. I never saw that coming and was left satisfied, since it could open up the world Hill built to further exploration. Who knows if there will ever be a sequel to this magnificent novel, but considering that, in an interview with Mashable, Hill confirmed the TV series adaptation rights have been optioned, it hopefully means we’ll be in for a treat.
I give “King Sorrow” by Joe Hill a perfect 5/5 for being a masterpiece of a dark fantasy horror novel. If you love dragons, great storytelling, unforgettable characters, and lots of dragon-filled psychological horror, read this novel immediately. It’s such an original idea that, if this TV series does get made, we could have another glorious horror book adaptation that takes the world by storm. The ending was exciting and totally unpredictable; I couldn’t believe how it all turned out. I will never be able to listen to the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” the same ever again after finishing this novel.
This was a perfect way to end 2025 with a final 5-Star read, with one of my favorite horror novels of the year. Happy New Year, everyone, and here’s to 2026 being another fantastic year of reading horror.
November 29, 2025
Being that I took so long to read this book, I feel like there's nothing more to say about it than what's already been said. All I can add is that King Sorrow is an instant classic of the horror & dark fantasy genres and I'm glad to have gotten in on the ground floor!
This was an astounding book. The kind where, when you finish, you remain...stunned. Gobsmacked by what the dragon really represents, (or does he?), feeling that you've just lost all of your close friends, (and really, you have, right? You've just spent a month or two with these people and now they're gone!), and feeling so lost yourself , because no other book you try to start captures your imagination like this one did. (I call this a book hangover.)
Sometimes the shocks arrived in jaw- dropping moments, the literary equivalent of a double-take, where the reader is just dumbfounded, trying to get their minds around what just happened. Sometimes the shocks arrived when characters completely changed, (or perhaps, just revealed their true selves?),and the reader has no choice but to roll with it.
The characters here were fascinating and so different from each other. Each one had their best and worst selves revealed within these pages and as such I will leave it to Mr. Hill to tell you about them. The writing was staggeringly good and wraps the reader up as if they were in these pages themselves. There were plenty of Easter eggs to Constant Readers too-I think my favorite was the library-the Brooks Library. IYKYK.
King Sorrow was like a top notch roller coaster ride; you're up, you're down and before you know it the whole thing is over and you want to go again! I know I'm going to re-read these 900 pages, perhaps via audio, perhaps not. But no re-read is ever as good as the first read and this one is as exceptional as books can get.
My highest recommendation!
*ARC from publisher
**Between the loss of my pre-ordered, signed hardcover, (thanks Barnes & Noble), AND my second order of the book getting lost on its way from Amazon, it felt like the universe was conspiring against me. Yes, I had a digital ARC, but as soon as I started reading it, I knew I had to own this book in paper form. I know that some of you know what I mean. (And yes, I did hug it when it arrived and again when I finished, thank you very much!)
***Goodreads has royally effed up my reading history and all my notes about this book. Thanks, GR.
**** And NOW, I cannot post my review of the hardcover on Amazon. Even though I purchased the book from Amazon. This is just way too much drama for one book. WTF is going on?
This was an astounding book. The kind where, when you finish, you remain...stunned. Gobsmacked by what the dragon really represents, (or does he?), feeling that you've just lost all of your close friends, (and really, you have, right? You've just spent a month or two with these people and now they're gone!), and feeling so lost yourself , because no other book you try to start captures your imagination like this one did. (I call this a book hangover.)
Sometimes the shocks arrived in jaw- dropping moments, the literary equivalent of a double-take, where the reader is just dumbfounded, trying to get their minds around what just happened. Sometimes the shocks arrived when characters completely changed, (or perhaps, just revealed their true selves?),and the reader has no choice but to roll with it.
The characters here were fascinating and so different from each other. Each one had their best and worst selves revealed within these pages and as such I will leave it to Mr. Hill to tell you about them. The writing was staggeringly good and wraps the reader up as if they were in these pages themselves. There were plenty of Easter eggs to Constant Readers too-I think my favorite was the library-the Brooks Library. IYKYK.
King Sorrow was like a top notch roller coaster ride; you're up, you're down and before you know it the whole thing is over and you want to go again! I know I'm going to re-read these 900 pages, perhaps via audio, perhaps not. But no re-read is ever as good as the first read and this one is as exceptional as books can get.
My highest recommendation!
*ARC from publisher
**Between the loss of my pre-ordered, signed hardcover, (thanks Barnes & Noble), AND my second order of the book getting lost on its way from Amazon, it felt like the universe was conspiring against me. Yes, I had a digital ARC, but as soon as I started reading it, I knew I had to own this book in paper form. I know that some of you know what I mean. (And yes, I did hug it when it arrived and again when I finished, thank you very much!)
***Goodreads has royally effed up my reading history and all my notes about this book. Thanks, GR.
**** And NOW, I cannot post my review of the hardcover on Amazon. Even though I purchased the book from Amazon. This is just way too much drama for one book. WTF is going on?
Read
October 26, 2025Full Video review here: https://youtu.be/lJQzdzbrFZA
A spectacular return by Son of Stephen! While I admire the work Joe has been doing in comics I have anxiously awaited his return to horror-fiction and King Sorrow makes that return in abundance. A brick of a book that keeps you guessing the entire way and provides a little horror fantasy twist reminiscent of Tolkien's The Hobbit and the dive into folklore fans of Dresden Files will love. Plenty of hat tips to the Multiverse work his father has done, too, will be a bonus for Constant Readers. Running through the years of our character's lives dealing with a pact with an ancient entity that they never should have as kids that will leave you both fulfilled and drained...in the best of ways.
A spectacular return by Son of Stephen! While I admire the work Joe has been doing in comics I have anxiously awaited his return to horror-fiction and King Sorrow makes that return in abundance. A brick of a book that keeps you guessing the entire way and provides a little horror fantasy twist reminiscent of Tolkien's The Hobbit and the dive into folklore fans of Dresden Files will love. Plenty of hat tips to the Multiverse work his father has done, too, will be a bonus for Constant Readers. Running through the years of our character's lives dealing with a pact with an ancient entity that they never should have as kids that will leave you both fulfilled and drained...in the best of ways.
January 17, 2026
(2026 Re-read): Reading this a third time made it even more special. My first read was an Advanced Reader Copy ebook, then I read the audio book, and this time back to the print. It’s funny, my second time around I thought maybe some of the final book/ending was a little more drawn out and stumbling than it needed to be, but this time around I didn’t feel that way any more. Hill really does a spectacular, fantastical story that is full of heart and inspiration. And it really does move, the writing always feeling like you’re flying but that isn’t ever at the cost of detail, depth, or emotion. I am so glad to have read this again (and this time it was a buddy read, which has made it even more fun!)
***
(2025 Re-read review: This was even better the second time. Hill has layers upon layers of foreshadowing that come across as simple world-building and narrative color, but upon re-read you realize he is weaving a net around you, trapping you, casting your reflection in King Sorrow’s glassy eye. I read the audiobook for this second time around, and it was great, too.)
***
(Original review)
Both epic and yet remarkably intimate, this novel is breathtaking and was a brilliant read. The story is grounded in its characters, and every character on the page feels fully realized and personal, and we see the characters change and grow, often in unexpected ways. Yes there is a wildly fantastic element to this story but that never overwhelms how grounded it feels, which is wonderful. Yes, it is a long book, but it never reads that way. This is largely due to brilliant pacing. The novel is sectioned into five larger sections, between each of which is an “interlude” which are themselves pretty hefty in page count, but all of these are broken up by numerous fast-paced chapters that never feel rushed while they maintain a strong sense of momentum. Importantly, we switch perspectives in each section, and each “book” serves as a standalone story in the much larger epic. I didn’t want to put it down once I started, and never once did the length feel unwarranted. I loved the time I got to spend with each of the characters and the way Hill used that to manipulate and circumvent expectations.
The world-building also feels really inviting and encompassing. The story moves across decades and the readers have to follow it, and we see the world develop and expand as the story builds, as each new book reveals itself. In addition to small college towns in New England and wealthy estates of eccentric ex-CIA agents Hill needs to build an entire fantasy world on top of the mundane, a place where dragons make sense and other bits of the arcane might find ways to leak through, and that is done wonderfully. The way the novel approached magic and the power of belief, and then how the various characters react to and navigate that, is wonderful. It really does come down to the characters, all the fantastical and the world-building and the plotting, they all serve this believable group of characters and their personal journeys. Right from the opening sections Hill points the reader in the direction these characters might journey, but it never feels predetermined or heavy-handed, instead we see how their various circumstances, traumas, and experiences lead to different, sometimes competing, sets of values and understandings of the world. There is a deep friendship at the heart of this story, one that is tested and twisted, and watching that develop is really a joy. That is all aided by some wonderful set pieces, little bits of action and destruction and horror littered across every book, reminding you that this book is dark and willing to earn its genre stripes. Still all the spectacle (and oh, is there spectacle!) is all done for the purpose not of spectacle itself but to advance the characters, it all makes sense and feels like a valuable part of the story, not just something haunting or exciting to get your heart racing.
A reason this works so well is because Hill uses the fantastic to interrogate very real ideas. Of course, seeing these characters develop we get to think about trauma, resilience, friendship, and responsibility. But we also get to explore the idea of power, of various types, and how it can be deceptive and corruptive and liberatory at the same time. There is a serious investigation (made explicit in a very cheeky way in the epilogue) about whether or not there is ever a responsible execution of supreme power, and if something essential about our humanity is burned in the balancing act of power, vengeance, and best intentions. What are the parts of us that will outlive us? How do we nurture those? There are all sorts of metaphysical and moral boundaries explored, a breadth of ideas equal to the word count, and it is delightful to be in the mess of these ideas with our characters.
I imagine it is difficult living in the literary shadow of his father, but Hill really has taken the best parts of King at his best and brought them together in this novel. The writing is personal and has just a little folksiness to it, always painting a complete and inviting picture for the audience without ever feeling like it needs to hold our hands. The characters are diverse and complicated and have robust and meaningful inner lives, the heart blood of this story. The fantastic and horrific, and all their resplendent grandeur and spectacle, actively serve the characters’ journeys and move the narrative forward while expanding it at the same time. The plotting is tight and captivating, without meandering or bloating the story, instead always keeping the reader entertained and leaning in, tense with nails bitten to the quick. There are parts of the ending that you can probably predict, but nothing ever feels easy, and there are certainly some curveballs thrown in, too. It ultimately is not just fulfilling but fitting, bringing certain things to their logical conclusions which are even bigger than this particular novel. It just all works, I was 100% in from the first chapter and everything I read just made me want to go deeper. (The fact that this story takes place in Stephen King’s Castle Rock universe, spoiling The Dead Zone in the process, doesn’t hurt. Nor does the beautiful reference to The Gunslinger and a few other easter eggs for SK’s works).
I have had this ARC for a while and I kept prioritizing other things because it is such a doorstopper and I was anxious about it (not for any good reason, really, considering I have really enjoyed everything I have read by Hill). This waiting? It was a mistake! The book flew by, and now I just want to spend more time with these characters and this world. It is heartfelt and gripping, a proper epic journey in every sense of the word, and I had a blast reading it.
I want to thank the author, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
***
(2025 Re-read review: This was even better the second time. Hill has layers upon layers of foreshadowing that come across as simple world-building and narrative color, but upon re-read you realize he is weaving a net around you, trapping you, casting your reflection in King Sorrow’s glassy eye. I read the audiobook for this second time around, and it was great, too.)
***
(Original review)
Both epic and yet remarkably intimate, this novel is breathtaking and was a brilliant read. The story is grounded in its characters, and every character on the page feels fully realized and personal, and we see the characters change and grow, often in unexpected ways. Yes there is a wildly fantastic element to this story but that never overwhelms how grounded it feels, which is wonderful. Yes, it is a long book, but it never reads that way. This is largely due to brilliant pacing. The novel is sectioned into five larger sections, between each of which is an “interlude” which are themselves pretty hefty in page count, but all of these are broken up by numerous fast-paced chapters that never feel rushed while they maintain a strong sense of momentum. Importantly, we switch perspectives in each section, and each “book” serves as a standalone story in the much larger epic. I didn’t want to put it down once I started, and never once did the length feel unwarranted. I loved the time I got to spend with each of the characters and the way Hill used that to manipulate and circumvent expectations.
The world-building also feels really inviting and encompassing. The story moves across decades and the readers have to follow it, and we see the world develop and expand as the story builds, as each new book reveals itself. In addition to small college towns in New England and wealthy estates of eccentric ex-CIA agents Hill needs to build an entire fantasy world on top of the mundane, a place where dragons make sense and other bits of the arcane might find ways to leak through, and that is done wonderfully. The way the novel approached magic and the power of belief, and then how the various characters react to and navigate that, is wonderful. It really does come down to the characters, all the fantastical and the world-building and the plotting, they all serve this believable group of characters and their personal journeys. Right from the opening sections Hill points the reader in the direction these characters might journey, but it never feels predetermined or heavy-handed, instead we see how their various circumstances, traumas, and experiences lead to different, sometimes competing, sets of values and understandings of the world. There is a deep friendship at the heart of this story, one that is tested and twisted, and watching that develop is really a joy. That is all aided by some wonderful set pieces, little bits of action and destruction and horror littered across every book, reminding you that this book is dark and willing to earn its genre stripes. Still all the spectacle (and oh, is there spectacle!) is all done for the purpose not of spectacle itself but to advance the characters, it all makes sense and feels like a valuable part of the story, not just something haunting or exciting to get your heart racing.
A reason this works so well is because Hill uses the fantastic to interrogate very real ideas. Of course, seeing these characters develop we get to think about trauma, resilience, friendship, and responsibility. But we also get to explore the idea of power, of various types, and how it can be deceptive and corruptive and liberatory at the same time. There is a serious investigation (made explicit in a very cheeky way in the epilogue) about whether or not there is ever a responsible execution of supreme power, and if something essential about our humanity is burned in the balancing act of power, vengeance, and best intentions. What are the parts of us that will outlive us? How do we nurture those? There are all sorts of metaphysical and moral boundaries explored, a breadth of ideas equal to the word count, and it is delightful to be in the mess of these ideas with our characters.
I imagine it is difficult living in the literary shadow of his father, but Hill really has taken the best parts of King at his best and brought them together in this novel. The writing is personal and has just a little folksiness to it, always painting a complete and inviting picture for the audience without ever feeling like it needs to hold our hands. The characters are diverse and complicated and have robust and meaningful inner lives, the heart blood of this story. The fantastic and horrific, and all their resplendent grandeur and spectacle, actively serve the characters’ journeys and move the narrative forward while expanding it at the same time. The plotting is tight and captivating, without meandering or bloating the story, instead always keeping the reader entertained and leaning in, tense with nails bitten to the quick. There are parts of the ending that you can probably predict, but nothing ever feels easy, and there are certainly some curveballs thrown in, too. It ultimately is not just fulfilling but fitting, bringing certain things to their logical conclusions which are even bigger than this particular novel. It just all works, I was 100% in from the first chapter and everything I read just made me want to go deeper. (The fact that this story takes place in Stephen King’s Castle Rock universe, spoiling The Dead Zone in the process, doesn’t hurt. Nor does the beautiful reference to The Gunslinger and a few other easter eggs for SK’s works).
I have had this ARC for a while and I kept prioritizing other things because it is such a doorstopper and I was anxious about it (not for any good reason, really, considering I have really enjoyed everything I have read by Hill). This waiting? It was a mistake! The book flew by, and now I just want to spend more time with these characters and this world. It is heartfelt and gripping, a proper epic journey in every sense of the word, and I had a blast reading it.
I want to thank the author, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 23, 2025
We interviewed Joe Hill on our YouTube Channel!
We reviewed King Sorrow over on our YouTube Channel!
A masterpiece of a book that transcends genre. It's a love-letter to literature, from Arthurian legend to the roots of horror, Tolkien to The Killer Angels. This book is heavier than my dog, but it is sharp, funny and evocative, powerfully written to sweep the reader along at a breakneck pace with a huge blast of an ending that will having you staring at the page with your mouth wide-open...
We reviewed King Sorrow over on our YouTube Channel!
A masterpiece of a book that transcends genre. It's a love-letter to literature, from Arthurian legend to the roots of horror, Tolkien to The Killer Angels. This book is heavier than my dog, but it is sharp, funny and evocative, powerfully written to sweep the reader along at a breakneck pace with a huge blast of an ending that will having you staring at the page with your mouth wide-open...
Read
November 15, 2025Review to come !
I am ready 😭😭😭✨
Pre-release:
With the turn of the season, that book has found its perfect home on my autumn TBR.
I am ready 😭😭😭✨
Pre-release:
With the turn of the season, that book has found its perfect home on my autumn TBR.
January 14, 2026
Arthur Oakes, a college student at Rackham College in Maine, is in love with Gwen Underfoot. She's the girl of his dreams, and maybe their relationship would have flourished if it hadn't been for a local drug dealer and her cronies.
What did they do, you ask? They corner poor, sweet Arthur and press him, in ways I won't get into here, to commit terrible crimes. They make him steal rare books from the college library's special collections that they can then turn around and sell on the black market.
Feeling trapped and not knowing how to get out of the situation he's found himself in, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help. After a productive brain storming session, they come up with a plan.
Arthur's friend, Colin, has a tome known as the Crane journal, bound in the skin of its author, which provides them with a spell to summon a dragon, known as King Sorrow, who will do their bidding.
Sounds fantastical, doesn't it? Well, that's sort of what the friends think as well, but what do they have to lose? Arthur needs help, and perhaps this is the answer.
Dealing with dragons is never easy though, and the friends find themselves in way over their heads. A bargain has been struck and its one that will plague them for years to come.
Every year, from then on, the six friends must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow, or risk becoming his next meal.
King Sorrow is one of those exceptional 5-star reads for me that I find close to impossible to review. How many ways can you write how much you love something? I'm no poet, so for me, the possibilities are limited.
I feel like with this novel, the proverbial torch had been passed from father to son, and I won't lie, it made me a little emotional. I was finding so many nods to the greater Kingverse and it was giving me life. It's brilliant.
I'll never be able to write a review for this phenomenal story that adequately expresses how much I enjoyed it. The epic feel of this and the little subplots, the way they're all interconnected, it's so good. King Sorrow is one of those books that you love so much, you're left speechless.
This entire thing, from the character development, plot progression and basic construction, is Chef's Kiss. This has skyrocketed Joe Hill to a whole new level for me, and honestly, I think for the world.
I've loved following his career trajectory, and I know it's only going to get better from here. There's no limit to what this man can dream and achieve.
William Morrow, you blessed me with an ARC, but I've of course since bought my own copy. Thank you so, so much. I can't recommend this story enough.
My favorite book of 2025!!!
What did they do, you ask? They corner poor, sweet Arthur and press him, in ways I won't get into here, to commit terrible crimes. They make him steal rare books from the college library's special collections that they can then turn around and sell on the black market.
Feeling trapped and not knowing how to get out of the situation he's found himself in, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help. After a productive brain storming session, they come up with a plan.
Arthur's friend, Colin, has a tome known as the Crane journal, bound in the skin of its author, which provides them with a spell to summon a dragon, known as King Sorrow, who will do their bidding.
Sounds fantastical, doesn't it? Well, that's sort of what the friends think as well, but what do they have to lose? Arthur needs help, and perhaps this is the answer.
Dealing with dragons is never easy though, and the friends find themselves in way over their heads. A bargain has been struck and its one that will plague them for years to come.
Every year, from then on, the six friends must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow, or risk becoming his next meal.
King Sorrow is one of those exceptional 5-star reads for me that I find close to impossible to review. How many ways can you write how much you love something? I'm no poet, so for me, the possibilities are limited.
I feel like with this novel, the proverbial torch had been passed from father to son, and I won't lie, it made me a little emotional. I was finding so many nods to the greater Kingverse and it was giving me life. It's brilliant.
I'll never be able to write a review for this phenomenal story that adequately expresses how much I enjoyed it. The epic feel of this and the little subplots, the way they're all interconnected, it's so good. King Sorrow is one of those books that you love so much, you're left speechless.
This entire thing, from the character development, plot progression and basic construction, is Chef's Kiss. This has skyrocketed Joe Hill to a whole new level for me, and honestly, I think for the world.
I've loved following his career trajectory, and I know it's only going to get better from here. There's no limit to what this man can dream and achieve.
William Morrow, you blessed me with an ARC, but I've of course since bought my own copy. Thank you so, so much. I can't recommend this story enough.
My favorite book of 2025!!!
November 10, 2025
This book packs a lot, and its long. But in this case it needs to be. We grow to know these characters and feel everything they feel. The intense knowledge that King Sorrow will appear to claim another victim every Easter keeps you wanting to turn the pages. Yes there is little twists to these claiming which just build that intense factor more. Move over Stephen King, we have a new master in town! {Yes, Hill is King's son}
November 28, 2025
Incredible. Go read this book. One of my new all time favorites
November 1, 2025
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Trigger warning: The way it's described it sounds like coercion which to my mind is still rape, but wanted to put a rape trigger warning here for readers due to a plot point with one of the characters.
I don't even know what to say. This is definitely a slog of a book (it's over 800 pages) and there's not a lot to say about it even though it's 800 pages. Hill takes too long to get to the heart of the story honestly (the very end) and everything that comes before it just feels overstuffed. I only even liked two characters in this whole mess, Robin and Tana. Everyone else in the friend group (Arthur, Gwen, Colin, Donovan (Van), Donna, and Allie) is barely developed, and when you delve into them a bit more, there's not a lot to like there sadly outside of Van, Allie, and Gwen. I just wish that the plot had been a little more focused, the flow improved, and the book cut by about 400 pages. I read this via my e-reader and man, every time I thought I was getting somewhere, I would check the percentage and it would just be the same. It was just disheartening to see that. Honestly, I think that's what ultimately ruined this book for me. It felt like a chore throughout. I honestly loved "Heart-Shaped Box" and "The Fireman" and this one was just a straight miss for me.
"King Sorrow" follows Arthur Oakes. Arthur is a student at Rackham College in Maine. Arthur finds himself in trouble (it takes a while to get going btw) after he intervenes in the prison visiting room while seeing his mother. This intervention causes Jayne Nightswander and her boyfriend to threaten Arthur's mother and his life if he doesn't do what they say, which is steal rate books from the college library. Arthur's friends (who barely have a brain between them honestly) think of ways to get Arthur and his mother safe from Jayne. They came up with summoning a dragon (and yes you read that right). There's a lot of hocus pocus that makes zero sense and then this group of friends calls up a dragon called King Sorrow who is going to kill Jayne and her boyfriend by Easter. I honestly don't recall why Easter was important and I refuse to back to read it. There's a catch though. Arthur and his friend's just can't get rid of King Sorrow and he's hell-bent on getting someone to feast upon every year. The book follows this arrangement through I think at least 40 years with each of the characters getting a chapter to focus on them when they called upon King Sorrow.
I am so tired. I don't even know what to say. I think that the overall plot could have worked, but when Hill started working in real world events it was when my brain took off. I also got turned off by the rants in this book against so many things since it felt like the characters were giving lip service to why they didn't call upon King Sorrow. I think I legit cringed when the Rwanda genocide was brought up, and you are going to shake your head every time Osama Bin Laden is brought up too. I think what is laughable is any of the characters thinking they are doing something "good" here, they all seem to loathe King Sorrow until he kills someone they hate. I honestly thought all of the character moments went on way too damn long and I think in a few places, you can see where Hill kind of gives up even just trying to make any of these people likeable.
I loathed the whole story-line between Arthur and Tana. I hated it. Every time it was mentioned I hated Arthur all over again. And I found it laughable he pretty much disappears the entire book on his "quest". I think at times Hill should have just written his own version of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and heck even Lord of the Rings since you can see some echoes of that in this book whenever Arthur comes up.
Gwen was just okay. I just didn't really find her interesting at all. I think because she seemed to just be there to move plot A to plot B, to plot C, etc. Things kept happening to her and that was about it.
Allie....she was somewhat interesting, but it got bogged down with Hill dealing with her being ashamed of being gay and her family and somehow they know the Rumsfields. I kid you not, my brain at this point started to get mad at me. I just couldn't with Allie because she was a mess and the plot with the plane was so wholly unrealistic I just gave up.
Van. He was sweet. But again, the whole book gets so bogged down and then when it gets meshed with his sister Donna, it just did not work. I think because Donna is written as one-note and oh yeah, racist as hell.
Colin again, nothing there, I think he was supposed to be a tech bro stand-in and shrug to that.
There are other characters such as Tana, Robin, and even Arthur's mother who had semblances of a good story there when you read about things that went on with them through the years. I rather would have read that, instead of following the crew of Sorrow.
The flow was awful. I just got bored reading about how King Sorrow mentally tortured and then killed people. And then the people that the crew thought up to put on their "list" to keep Sorrow from taking one of them.
The setting of the book moves a bit, we have Maine, somewhere down South, England, etc.
The ending was foreshadowed earlier on and that's all I can say about that. It wasn't satisfying at all and the whole "twist" at the end just caused me to grimace.
I read this for Halloween Bingo 2025, Genre: Horror.
Trigger warning: The way it's described it sounds like coercion which to my mind is still rape, but wanted to put a rape trigger warning here for readers due to a plot point with one of the characters.
I don't even know what to say. This is definitely a slog of a book (it's over 800 pages) and there's not a lot to say about it even though it's 800 pages. Hill takes too long to get to the heart of the story honestly (the very end) and everything that comes before it just feels overstuffed. I only even liked two characters in this whole mess, Robin and Tana. Everyone else in the friend group (Arthur, Gwen, Colin, Donovan (Van), Donna, and Allie) is barely developed, and when you delve into them a bit more, there's not a lot to like there sadly outside of Van, Allie, and Gwen. I just wish that the plot had been a little more focused, the flow improved, and the book cut by about 400 pages. I read this via my e-reader and man, every time I thought I was getting somewhere, I would check the percentage and it would just be the same. It was just disheartening to see that. Honestly, I think that's what ultimately ruined this book for me. It felt like a chore throughout. I honestly loved "Heart-Shaped Box" and "The Fireman" and this one was just a straight miss for me.
"King Sorrow" follows Arthur Oakes. Arthur is a student at Rackham College in Maine. Arthur finds himself in trouble (it takes a while to get going btw) after he intervenes in the prison visiting room while seeing his mother. This intervention causes Jayne Nightswander and her boyfriend to threaten Arthur's mother and his life if he doesn't do what they say, which is steal rate books from the college library. Arthur's friends (who barely have a brain between them honestly) think of ways to get Arthur and his mother safe from Jayne. They came up with summoning a dragon (and yes you read that right). There's a lot of hocus pocus that makes zero sense and then this group of friends calls up a dragon called King Sorrow who is going to kill Jayne and her boyfriend by Easter. I honestly don't recall why Easter was important and I refuse to back to read it. There's a catch though. Arthur and his friend's just can't get rid of King Sorrow and he's hell-bent on getting someone to feast upon every year. The book follows this arrangement through I think at least 40 years with each of the characters getting a chapter to focus on them when they called upon King Sorrow.
I am so tired. I don't even know what to say. I think that the overall plot could have worked, but when Hill started working in real world events it was when my brain took off. I also got turned off by the rants in this book against so many things since it felt like the characters were giving lip service to why they didn't call upon King Sorrow. I think I legit cringed when the Rwanda genocide was brought up, and you are going to shake your head every time Osama Bin Laden is brought up too. I think what is laughable is any of the characters thinking they are doing something "good" here, they all seem to loathe King Sorrow until he kills someone they hate. I honestly thought all of the character moments went on way too damn long and I think in a few places, you can see where Hill kind of gives up even just trying to make any of these people likeable.
I loathed the whole story-line between Arthur and Tana. I hated it. Every time it was mentioned I hated Arthur all over again. And I found it laughable he pretty much disappears the entire book on his "quest". I think at times Hill should have just written his own version of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and heck even Lord of the Rings since you can see some echoes of that in this book whenever Arthur comes up.
Gwen was just okay. I just didn't really find her interesting at all. I think because she seemed to just be there to move plot A to plot B, to plot C, etc. Things kept happening to her and that was about it.
Allie....she was somewhat interesting, but it got bogged down with Hill dealing with her being ashamed of being gay and her family and somehow they know the Rumsfields. I kid you not, my brain at this point started to get mad at me. I just couldn't with Allie because she was a mess and the plot with the plane was so wholly unrealistic I just gave up.
Van. He was sweet. But again, the whole book gets so bogged down and then when it gets meshed with his sister Donna, it just did not work. I think because Donna is written as one-note and oh yeah, racist as hell.
Colin again, nothing there, I think he was supposed to be a tech bro stand-in and shrug to that.
There are other characters such as Tana, Robin, and even Arthur's mother who had semblances of a good story there when you read about things that went on with them through the years. I rather would have read that, instead of following the crew of Sorrow.
The flow was awful. I just got bored reading about how King Sorrow mentally tortured and then killed people. And then the people that the crew thought up to put on their "list" to keep Sorrow from taking one of them.
The setting of the book moves a bit, we have Maine, somewhere down South, England, etc.
The ending was foreshadowed earlier on and that's all I can say about that. It wasn't satisfying at all and the whole "twist" at the end just caused me to grimace.
I read this for Halloween Bingo 2025, Genre: Horror.
November 26, 2025
A ROARING success.
I plan my tbr months ahead, but this one snuck up on me, and, in a split second decision, I decided to pick up this 900 page book.
In 1989, five friends summon a dragon to take care of blackmailers. Then we follow them all the way to middle age as they deal with the consequences.
First of all, the writing is amazing, bingable, and immersive. Each character has a distinct voice and personality. With multiple main characters, you tend to find a focus on two and a forgetfulness of the others. Not here. Every character has their own POV and have fleshed out motivations and weaknesses.
I can normally guess any big reveals. In here, I was blindsided. Hill creates such a community and dependency between these characters that you’re invested in each one.
I also loved all the Easter eggs (if you have read this, wink wink) Hill utilises. Names, mythology, literary devices, even history or recent events.
This is dark, but the dialogue is sharp, tone funny, and plot gripping. A story about morality and friendship and responsibility/blame.
It is intentionally provocative, and it is a brave and clever author that can handle such themes, trusting the reader will know his intentions.
I did think the ending was slightly cheesy and implausible, but this is a story about a dragon with two of the characters coincidentally called Arthur and Gwen.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
I plan my tbr months ahead, but this one snuck up on me, and, in a split second decision, I decided to pick up this 900 page book.
In 1989, five friends summon a dragon to take care of blackmailers. Then we follow them all the way to middle age as they deal with the consequences.
First of all, the writing is amazing, bingable, and immersive. Each character has a distinct voice and personality. With multiple main characters, you tend to find a focus on two and a forgetfulness of the others. Not here. Every character has their own POV and have fleshed out motivations and weaknesses.
I can normally guess any big reveals. In here, I was blindsided. Hill creates such a community and dependency between these characters that you’re invested in each one.
I also loved all the Easter eggs (if you have read this, wink wink) Hill utilises. Names, mythology, literary devices, even history or recent events.
This is dark, but the dialogue is sharp, tone funny, and plot gripping. A story about morality and friendship and responsibility/blame.
It is intentionally provocative, and it is a brave and clever author that can handle such themes, trusting the reader will know his intentions.
I did think the ending was slightly cheesy and implausible, but this is a story about a dragon with two of the characters coincidentally called Arthur and Gwen.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
September 11, 2025
Absolutely flipping great. I couldn’t put it down.
November 28, 2025
In case you didn't know, Joe Hill is the son of master author Stephen King. Essentially, King Sorrow is an admiration and nod to his father's legendary works.
Filled with Occult conjurings, magical creatures, dark academia, internet trolls, and so much more makes Kimg Sorrow hard to put down. The vivid settings and dimensional characters, pull the reader in for an immersive read. King Sorrow also includes tragedies that occurred in modern history and social injustices that we are all too aware of.
I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters but Arthur, Gwen, Tana, and Robin were my favorites. I loved that the supernatural elements didn't feel over the top and even the writing was so good that even the most unrealistic elements felt realistic. At 900+ pages or 26 hours of listening time, in my opinion, King Sorrow is well worth it.
I listened to the audiobook which is read by a full cast that includes Ari Fliakos, Ian Shaw, Kate Mulgrew Virginia Kull, Dominic Hoffman, Marin Ireland, Tim Sample, Kristen Ariza, Jaime Lamchick, Mike Ortego, Micky Shiloah, Kristen Sieh, Pete Simonelli, Kevin Stillwell, and Peter Ganim. If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format.
King Sorrow by Joe Hill will be available on October 21. Many thanks to Libro FM for the gifted audiobook!
Filled with Occult conjurings, magical creatures, dark academia, internet trolls, and so much more makes Kimg Sorrow hard to put down. The vivid settings and dimensional characters, pull the reader in for an immersive read. King Sorrow also includes tragedies that occurred in modern history and social injustices that we are all too aware of.
I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters but Arthur, Gwen, Tana, and Robin were my favorites. I loved that the supernatural elements didn't feel over the top and even the writing was so good that even the most unrealistic elements felt realistic. At 900+ pages or 26 hours of listening time, in my opinion, King Sorrow is well worth it.
I listened to the audiobook which is read by a full cast that includes Ari Fliakos, Ian Shaw, Kate Mulgrew Virginia Kull, Dominic Hoffman, Marin Ireland, Tim Sample, Kristen Ariza, Jaime Lamchick, Mike Ortego, Micky Shiloah, Kristen Sieh, Pete Simonelli, Kevin Stillwell, and Peter Ganim. If you decide to pick this one up, I highly recommend this format.
King Sorrow by Joe Hill will be available on October 21. Many thanks to Libro FM for the gifted audiobook!
January 11, 2026
I am not going to lie, King Sorrow was not on my radar at all until it released and all the gush reviews started flooding in. Needless to say, FOMO got to me, so I just dove in completely blind, and I think that was truly the best way to experience this monstrous beast of a book.
The premise is deceptively simple: in 1989, six friends semi-accidentally summon a supernatural being to get rid of some blackmailers, only to realise that the monster they summoned is a dragon with a love of riddles and destruction who has royally fucked them over. Now they are trapped in a life-long curse that forces them to sacrifice someone to the beast every Easter or else risk becoming his next meal themselves.
Now, I love me a good fearless genre-blender of a book that isn't afraid to play with fire, and King Sorrow fits that vibe to a T. Coming-of-age, dark fantasy, psychological thriller, political satire, horrors both human and monstrous, and even moments that feel almost mythic all collide here as we travel through decades with this group of friends and get to see the immense mental and emotional toll this is all taking on them, as well as the potential moral corruption they may or may not suffer along the way...
The character work is absolutely the highlight of this book for me, and even if I personally never emotionally connected to any of the characters, I loved how we got to experience this hellish nightmare from each of their unique perspectives. These characters feel so beautifully and painfully human, and I am just utterly in awe of how multi-layered, nuanced, and morally messy they are. Also, yay for all the casual queer representation!
They are all shaped by the choices they make, and those choices come with serious consequences. Truly nobody is safe in this story, which gives it a dangerously addictive and relentless edge that more than made up for my lack of emotional investment. I also have to mention the incredible audiobook experience, which just made these 800+ pages breeze by and only added more atmosphere, emotion, and tension to this already intense read.
So, I don’t know if I 100% get the immense hype, but I am still glad I jumped on the hype train anyway, because I had a blast and I don’t think I will forget about this book anytime soon. King Sorrow might have been my first Joe Hill, but it most definitely won’t be my last.
The premise is deceptively simple: in 1989, six friends semi-accidentally summon a supernatural being to get rid of some blackmailers, only to realise that the monster they summoned is a dragon with a love of riddles and destruction who has royally fucked them over. Now they are trapped in a life-long curse that forces them to sacrifice someone to the beast every Easter or else risk becoming his next meal themselves.
Now, I love me a good fearless genre-blender of a book that isn't afraid to play with fire, and King Sorrow fits that vibe to a T. Coming-of-age, dark fantasy, psychological thriller, political satire, horrors both human and monstrous, and even moments that feel almost mythic all collide here as we travel through decades with this group of friends and get to see the immense mental and emotional toll this is all taking on them, as well as the potential moral corruption they may or may not suffer along the way...
The character work is absolutely the highlight of this book for me, and even if I personally never emotionally connected to any of the characters, I loved how we got to experience this hellish nightmare from each of their unique perspectives. These characters feel so beautifully and painfully human, and I am just utterly in awe of how multi-layered, nuanced, and morally messy they are. Also, yay for all the casual queer representation!
They are all shaped by the choices they make, and those choices come with serious consequences. Truly nobody is safe in this story, which gives it a dangerously addictive and relentless edge that more than made up for my lack of emotional investment. I also have to mention the incredible audiobook experience, which just made these 800+ pages breeze by and only added more atmosphere, emotion, and tension to this already intense read.
So, I don’t know if I 100% get the immense hype, but I am still glad I jumped on the hype train anyway, because I had a blast and I don’t think I will forget about this book anytime soon. King Sorrow might have been my first Joe Hill, but it most definitely won’t be my last.
November 17, 2025
3.0 Stars
Spoiler Free Video https://youtu.be/Rvf3cdiNg3w
Considering NOS4A2 is my absolute favourite horror novel, I was understandably excited to read Joe Hill's new novel. I got a chance to read it early, immediately diving in after seeing all the gushing five star reviews.
I recognize that my biggest issue with this novel was expectations. I have loved most of Joe Hill's previous books and I was quite certain from the early reviews that this would become a favourite of the year.
Ultimately this book is not objectively bad, which I reflected in my rating but it did have flaws that left me disappointed.
My main issue was that it was a very safe book with a very familiar plot. It was very predictable, following the beats I expected. If this was a shorter book, I might have not minded but it felt overly verbose for a such a shallow premise. Clearly this is meant to be a character driven story but I struggle to care about these people. I didn’t need them to be likeable but I needed to be more interesting.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Spoiler Free Video https://youtu.be/Rvf3cdiNg3w
Considering NOS4A2 is my absolute favourite horror novel, I was understandably excited to read Joe Hill's new novel. I got a chance to read it early, immediately diving in after seeing all the gushing five star reviews.
I recognize that my biggest issue with this novel was expectations. I have loved most of Joe Hill's previous books and I was quite certain from the early reviews that this would become a favourite of the year.
Ultimately this book is not objectively bad, which I reflected in my rating but it did have flaws that left me disappointed.
My main issue was that it was a very safe book with a very familiar plot. It was very predictable, following the beats I expected. If this was a shorter book, I might have not minded but it felt overly verbose for a such a shallow premise. Clearly this is meant to be a character driven story but I struggle to care about these people. I didn’t need them to be likeable but I needed to be more interesting.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
November 10, 2025
Lately, I've been going into books blind. For some reason, I thought this was going to be a horror/vampire novel... no clue where I got that idea, but once I started reading and realized that was very far off-base, I wasn't so sure I'd enjoy the book. Fantasy and dark academia are both hit or miss for me, and King Sorrow straddled that line for quite a while.
It was never exactly a boring read, but near the middle of the book, it did strike me as weirdly paced. It's hard not to compare this to one of Stephen King's larger works, and I guess when I think "epic," I think of something like It or The Stand. I think of lots and lots of short scenes that jump between dozens of characters and locations. While King Sorrow certainly feels epic and familiar, it's presented in an entirely different way. Several characters are thrown at you at the beginning, but those are basically the characters for the entirety of the book. The novel is split into, essentially, six "books," with each book focusing on a single character, maybe two, and a single location or plot point. Each "book" feels like it could actually be its own completed book in a series. There were moments where this dragged King Sorrow down. It felt like it would never end because of things like spending 100+ pages on an airplane. At moments like that, I was tempted to put the book down, but it wouldn't be long before something exciting would happen and it would reel me back in.
I think King Sorrow is one of those books that requires patience, which is difficult when it's 900 pages. But it also felt kind of magical at the end, to see not only how everything came together, but how well executed several things were. The part that most amazed me was how well Hill managed to develop the characters with this outline. When you aren't focusing on all the characters throughout the book, it would seem difficult to be able to showcase growth. He's only pulling a small sample of their lives, and the rest of the time, they're in the background. But most of the characters feel so complex and human and real. Their changes feel earned, and even when they aren't likable, you completely understand why they feel and act the way they do. Some characters were definitely built up better than others. Arthur and Gwen are rather bland, but it's also easy to root for them. Overall, they become the kind of characters you don't want to say goodbye to.
There were some things I didn't love about the book. Cringy moments. I'm not a fan of weaving actual historical, and especially recent, events into fictional stories. I think the villain was kind of inconsistent, but maybe that's a me problem and I misunderstood something. I did really enjoy the book in the end, though, and I teared up several times because I was emotionally invested. The ending was incredible. It might not have been my favorite read, but I think fantasy readers would love it and it's certainly the mark of a gifted writer.
It was never exactly a boring read, but near the middle of the book, it did strike me as weirdly paced. It's hard not to compare this to one of Stephen King's larger works, and I guess when I think "epic," I think of something like It or The Stand. I think of lots and lots of short scenes that jump between dozens of characters and locations. While King Sorrow certainly feels epic and familiar, it's presented in an entirely different way. Several characters are thrown at you at the beginning, but those are basically the characters for the entirety of the book. The novel is split into, essentially, six "books," with each book focusing on a single character, maybe two, and a single location or plot point. Each "book" feels like it could actually be its own completed book in a series. There were moments where this dragged King Sorrow down. It felt like it would never end because of things like spending 100+ pages on an airplane. At moments like that, I was tempted to put the book down, but it wouldn't be long before something exciting would happen and it would reel me back in.
I think King Sorrow is one of those books that requires patience, which is difficult when it's 900 pages. But it also felt kind of magical at the end, to see not only how everything came together, but how well executed several things were. The part that most amazed me was how well Hill managed to develop the characters with this outline. When you aren't focusing on all the characters throughout the book, it would seem difficult to be able to showcase growth. He's only pulling a small sample of their lives, and the rest of the time, they're in the background. But most of the characters feel so complex and human and real. Their changes feel earned, and even when they aren't likable, you completely understand why they feel and act the way they do. Some characters were definitely built up better than others. Arthur and Gwen are rather bland, but it's also easy to root for them. Overall, they become the kind of characters you don't want to say goodbye to.
There were some things I didn't love about the book. Cringy moments. I'm not a fan of weaving actual historical, and especially recent, events into fictional stories. I think the villain was kind of inconsistent, but maybe that's a me problem and I misunderstood something. I did really enjoy the book in the end, though, and I teared up several times because I was emotionally invested. The ending was incredible. It might not have been my favorite read, but I think fantasy readers would love it and it's certainly the mark of a gifted writer.
September 5, 2025
2,5 stars
After a long 10 years since The Fireman, we finally have a new novel from Joe Hill—King Sorrow. Marketed as horror, it promises to unsettle, but does it actually deliver?
The story opens in the late ’80s, where we meet Arthur Oakes, a nerdy young man who finds himself blackmailed by the cruel Jayne Nightswander. While Arthur tries to shoulder his troubles alone, his loyal friends want to help him. Desperate for a way out, they turn—naively and innocently—to occult practice. What was meant to be fun turns out to be a total catastrophe.
The setup is fantastic. Hill captures the bond between friends beautifully, portraying their differences in background and social status with nuance. The prose is cinematic—many scenes feel as though they were written with a screenplay already in mind. Early on, I was completely hooked.
But then the pacing falters. Entire sections drag on unnecessarily, particularly one that sprawls across nearly 30% of the book’s 896 pages. This segment could easily be cut down to 30 pages—or removed altogether—without losing anything essential. The result is a bloated middle that saps momentum and, unfortunately, much of the reader’s enthusiasm.
As the decades roll forward (the novel spans about 30 years), the time jumps are handled in a linear, manageable way. Yet the story still feels overextended. The characters, understandably weighed down by guilt and trauma, become increasingly unpleasant, which only compounds the fatigue of slogging through the slower passages.
In the end, King Sorrow is a novel of contrasts: an excellent beginning with vivid characters and sharp prose, followed by long stretches that could have been trimmed. Despite its supernatural elements, it never quite sustains a chilling, eerie atmosphere. With heavy editing, the book could have been a lean, powerful 350–400 pages. As it stands, it’s an ambitious but overstuffed story—one that begs for adaptation but struggles as a novel.
After a long 10 years since The Fireman, we finally have a new novel from Joe Hill—King Sorrow. Marketed as horror, it promises to unsettle, but does it actually deliver?
The story opens in the late ’80s, where we meet Arthur Oakes, a nerdy young man who finds himself blackmailed by the cruel Jayne Nightswander. While Arthur tries to shoulder his troubles alone, his loyal friends want to help him. Desperate for a way out, they turn—naively and innocently—to occult practice. What was meant to be fun turns out to be a total catastrophe.
The setup is fantastic. Hill captures the bond between friends beautifully, portraying their differences in background and social status with nuance. The prose is cinematic—many scenes feel as though they were written with a screenplay already in mind. Early on, I was completely hooked.
But then the pacing falters. Entire sections drag on unnecessarily, particularly one that sprawls across nearly 30% of the book’s 896 pages. This segment could easily be cut down to 30 pages—or removed altogether—without losing anything essential. The result is a bloated middle that saps momentum and, unfortunately, much of the reader’s enthusiasm.
As the decades roll forward (the novel spans about 30 years), the time jumps are handled in a linear, manageable way. Yet the story still feels overextended. The characters, understandably weighed down by guilt and trauma, become increasingly unpleasant, which only compounds the fatigue of slogging through the slower passages.
In the end, King Sorrow is a novel of contrasts: an excellent beginning with vivid characters and sharp prose, followed by long stretches that could have been trimmed. Despite its supernatural elements, it never quite sustains a chilling, eerie atmosphere. With heavy editing, the book could have been a lean, powerful 350–400 pages. As it stands, it’s an ambitious but overstuffed story—one that begs for adaptation but struggles as a novel.
October 28, 2025
Six students summon a creature – a dragon named King Sorrow – into their reality, and everything spirals from there!
Arthur Oaks is a quiet academic, dedicated to the preservation and study of rare books, enjoying his senior year at a prestigious college in Maine, with a handful of close friends, and a burgeoning new romance on the horizon. The one blight in his near-perfect life is his mother’s incarceration.
But a chance encounter during a prison visit pulls Arthur into the orbit of some very bad people. With his mother’s life on the line, and seemingly no way out of the dangerous predicament he has found himself in, Arthur turns to his friends for help. One reckless night, they attempt a ritual to bring forth a dark force to do their bidding and unleash something far worse – uncontrollable and unstoppable!
King Sorrow was an inventive mix of occult horror, dark academia, and supernatural fantasy. It was epic in scope, underscored by themes of loyalty, legacy, the enduring power of love, and moral decay. It was riveting, atmosphere, haunting, and terrifying. There were twists that genuinely shocked me, moments that left me breathless, and a finale that was both pulse-pounding and deeply satisfying. As with any great horror story, the human monsters were just as frightening as the supernatural ones – corruption, greed, and betrayal ran as deep as the demonic.
I loved the ties to Arthurian legend, folklore, and fairytale, and how Joe Hill wove real-life events and figures into the narrative. The story opened in 1989, and the pop culture references from that era – and the decades that followed – were a nostalgic delight. Each character had a distinct voice and vivid presence, and the imaginative range of settings kept me completely immersed. Interestingly, some of Part 1 reminded me of another novel I read earlier this year with ‘King’ in the title – King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby, before it veered in a completely different direction.
At 896 pages, the pacing did slow in places, particularly around the 15–40% mark, and I do think the book could have been tightened slightly – and that’s coming from someone who considers The Stand a perfect-length novel.
I read most of the book in print but switched to the Spotify full-cast audiobook for parts of it, and it was impressive and mesmerising. The performances and subtle sound design amplified the tension beautifully – one scene on the audiobook, listened to late at night, had me too scared to turn off the lights.
King Sorrow marks Joe Hill’s first full-length novel in a decade, and it was absolutely worth the wait. In his afterword the author promised that we won’t have to wait as long for the next one – for which I am grateful.
Arthur Oaks is a quiet academic, dedicated to the preservation and study of rare books, enjoying his senior year at a prestigious college in Maine, with a handful of close friends, and a burgeoning new romance on the horizon. The one blight in his near-perfect life is his mother’s incarceration.
But a chance encounter during a prison visit pulls Arthur into the orbit of some very bad people. With his mother’s life on the line, and seemingly no way out of the dangerous predicament he has found himself in, Arthur turns to his friends for help. One reckless night, they attempt a ritual to bring forth a dark force to do their bidding and unleash something far worse – uncontrollable and unstoppable!
King Sorrow was an inventive mix of occult horror, dark academia, and supernatural fantasy. It was epic in scope, underscored by themes of loyalty, legacy, the enduring power of love, and moral decay. It was riveting, atmosphere, haunting, and terrifying. There were twists that genuinely shocked me, moments that left me breathless, and a finale that was both pulse-pounding and deeply satisfying. As with any great horror story, the human monsters were just as frightening as the supernatural ones – corruption, greed, and betrayal ran as deep as the demonic.
I loved the ties to Arthurian legend, folklore, and fairytale, and how Joe Hill wove real-life events and figures into the narrative. The story opened in 1989, and the pop culture references from that era – and the decades that followed – were a nostalgic delight. Each character had a distinct voice and vivid presence, and the imaginative range of settings kept me completely immersed. Interestingly, some of Part 1 reminded me of another novel I read earlier this year with ‘King’ in the title – King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby, before it veered in a completely different direction.
At 896 pages, the pacing did slow in places, particularly around the 15–40% mark, and I do think the book could have been tightened slightly – and that’s coming from someone who considers The Stand a perfect-length novel.
I read most of the book in print but switched to the Spotify full-cast audiobook for parts of it, and it was impressive and mesmerising. The performances and subtle sound design amplified the tension beautifully – one scene on the audiobook, listened to late at night, had me too scared to turn off the lights.
King Sorrow marks Joe Hill’s first full-length novel in a decade, and it was absolutely worth the wait. In his afterword the author promised that we won’t have to wait as long for the next one – for which I am grateful.
September 11, 2025
tapped out around the 400-page mark, which tbh was far too generous of me, as if I thought somehow I would suddenly start loving it. one of the worst books I've ever read. on a basic sentence level, it sucks, but also the characters are boring as hell, not to mention the bizarre-if-not-troubling way it handles women and people of color. if someone tells you this book is great, never trust their taste again. i feel almost bad leaving the first one-star review here, since the author will almost undoubtedly see it if he obsesses over goodreads reviews like most authors, but then again, you're literally stephen king's son, which you remind us of multiple times throughout the narrative, in case we somehow forgot, including multiple pages establishing this as being in the same world as THE DEAD ZONE for some reason. so much of this book feels like someone trying their damnedest to perfect a Stephen King imitation and it's just embarrassing to read. all the author has done here is collect every flaw from his dad's own bibliography and somehow magnify them. which I guess is sort of impressive in a "staring at a horrible car wreck on the highway" sort of way. but again. you're joe hill. i think you're going to be just fine, my dude.
also, if anybody irl ever calls me "old chum" i am knocking them out.
also, if anybody irl ever calls me "old chum" i am knocking them out.
December 3, 2025
Woah...Now that's a story about a Dragon. Masterpiece. Also frustrating, but still masterful. The creation of King Sorrow and how he grows bigger over time was an awesome experience. So much tension crafted with the use of a piano playing the song "puff the magic dragon", and other amazing atmosphere moments. The characters were gritty, grimy and unlikeable for the most part, but that is something I expect. They all end up being terrorized pretty horribly. There really isn't any happy endings for the King of Sorrow. It's about rough consequences that never go away.
Interesting play with The Once and Future King, Arthur, Gwen, and the magic Sword. The time jumps were jarring to me. There's a lot of layers of story going on, and it's long. There were two small portions where I felt a lag and just wanted to get on with it. But it does get on with it in a very big way. Even a tie-in with current natural disasters and devastations at the end. So many times I felt I was already watching the movie and saying "but the book was better!". Glad I could join the fan club this year :)
Interesting play with The Once and Future King, Arthur, Gwen, and the magic Sword. The time jumps were jarring to me. There's a lot of layers of story going on, and it's long. There were two small portions where I felt a lag and just wanted to get on with it. But it does get on with it in a very big way. Even a tie-in with current natural disasters and devastations at the end. So many times I felt I was already watching the movie and saying "but the book was better!". Glad I could join the fan club this year :)
December 29, 2025
Epic storytelling at its finest! You know you’ve got a good book on your hands when you don’t want it to end…even after 900 pages. I am not a huge fan of dark academia or fantasy, but maybe I need to be or maybe Joe Hill just does it that well.
Arthur finds out the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. After trying to be helpful, he instead is targeted by a group of drug dealers who want him to steal books from the library he works at it so they can sell them via the black market. It is within one of these books that the idea of conjuring something/someone from a different world is possible. Arthur and his friends decide to try and solve his current issue by conjuring up King Sorrow, a very real dragon.(it just doesn’t seem like a good idea to be conjuring anything much less a dragon, but that’s just me)While the dragon can help them with their current problem, it comes with a whole slew of additional issues. Dragons can be sneaky little fellows like that.
The pacing was perfect for me. The novel itself spans over several decades and the 900 pages did not feel long at all. I think part of that was because the novel gave us a glimpse and perspective into each one of the characters along with different interludes from Gwen.
Now that I finished the book, I am stuck with an awful book hangover. I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s a must read for sure. While the length may be daunting to some, trust me it’s worth it. You will not want to rush through this one!
Arthur finds out the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. After trying to be helpful, he instead is targeted by a group of drug dealers who want him to steal books from the library he works at it so they can sell them via the black market. It is within one of these books that the idea of conjuring something/someone from a different world is possible. Arthur and his friends decide to try and solve his current issue by conjuring up King Sorrow, a very real dragon.(it just doesn’t seem like a good idea to be conjuring anything much less a dragon, but that’s just me)While the dragon can help them with their current problem, it comes with a whole slew of additional issues. Dragons can be sneaky little fellows like that.
The pacing was perfect for me. The novel itself spans over several decades and the 900 pages did not feel long at all. I think part of that was because the novel gave us a glimpse and perspective into each one of the characters along with different interludes from Gwen.
Now that I finished the book, I am stuck with an awful book hangover. I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s a must read for sure. While the length may be daunting to some, trust me it’s worth it. You will not want to rush through this one!
November 2, 2025
When I see a book that’s nearly 900 pages long, I usually turn around and sprint in the opposite direction. I like my wrists intact and my attention span respected. But I’m very glad I made an exception for King Sorrow. Joe Hill’s first novel in nearly a decade is long, yes, but it also feels alive. It’s full of menace, humor, heartbreak and excellent imagination.
The premise is simple: six college friends mess around with the occult to help one of their own, accidentally summon an ancient dragon called King Sorrow, and end up chained to him for the rest of their lives. They struck a deal - once a year, a life must be given. If not, he takes one. The rest of the novel tracks how that bargain poisons everything that follows.
The book spans decades as friends grow up, drift apart, and keep circling the monstrous thing they unleashed. Each of them copes differently. One becomes a reclusive scholar obsessed with dragons, another a ruthless tech billionaire, another a media demagogue. Some try to escape. Some embrace the power. None really win.
As the story progresses, it hops between horror, fantasy, mystery, and even political satire. One section feels like dark academia, another like an airplane thriller, another like a tragic fairy tale. And Hill knows how to thread it all together. He also keeps the focus on friendship and the ties it creates, and it’s done remarkably well.
King Sorrow himself is a great villain - charming, cruel, and sardonic. He plays with words and makes them his weapon. And when they stop working, his talons will do the trick. Yes, King Sorrow impressed me, and I won’t forget him soon.
That said, it is a lot of book. On the one hand, Hill uses the space beautifully as he gives full lives to all characters. You meet them as reckless kids and leave them as broken, older versions of themselves, still haunted by the same choice. The passage of time matters here; you feel it. On the other hand, some sections drag, and a few plotlines wander before finding their way home. In the end, though, I didn’t mind that much. I was invested in the story. The pacing is good, the writing is engaging, and the last act delivers one of those rare, earned gut punches that make the entire journey worth it.
King Sorrow is a novel about bargains and about how one reckless act can haunt you for the rest of your life. Guilt mutates, and love endures, though, so there’s that. King Sorrow is ambitious, sprawling, occasionally indulgent, but absolutely worth your time.
The premise is simple: six college friends mess around with the occult to help one of their own, accidentally summon an ancient dragon called King Sorrow, and end up chained to him for the rest of their lives. They struck a deal - once a year, a life must be given. If not, he takes one. The rest of the novel tracks how that bargain poisons everything that follows.
The book spans decades as friends grow up, drift apart, and keep circling the monstrous thing they unleashed. Each of them copes differently. One becomes a reclusive scholar obsessed with dragons, another a ruthless tech billionaire, another a media demagogue. Some try to escape. Some embrace the power. None really win.
As the story progresses, it hops between horror, fantasy, mystery, and even political satire. One section feels like dark academia, another like an airplane thriller, another like a tragic fairy tale. And Hill knows how to thread it all together. He also keeps the focus on friendship and the ties it creates, and it’s done remarkably well.
King Sorrow himself is a great villain - charming, cruel, and sardonic. He plays with words and makes them his weapon. And when they stop working, his talons will do the trick. Yes, King Sorrow impressed me, and I won’t forget him soon.
That said, it is a lot of book. On the one hand, Hill uses the space beautifully as he gives full lives to all characters. You meet them as reckless kids and leave them as broken, older versions of themselves, still haunted by the same choice. The passage of time matters here; you feel it. On the other hand, some sections drag, and a few plotlines wander before finding their way home. In the end, though, I didn’t mind that much. I was invested in the story. The pacing is good, the writing is engaging, and the last act delivers one of those rare, earned gut punches that make the entire journey worth it.
King Sorrow is a novel about bargains and about how one reckless act can haunt you for the rest of your life. Guilt mutates, and love endures, though, so there’s that. King Sorrow is ambitious, sprawling, occasionally indulgent, but absolutely worth your time.
January 13, 2026
King Sorrow
by Joe Hill
This would make a terrific movie! What a brilliant book. A book that gets under your skin or scales! A great revenge is not so sweet book.
A band of friends decides to get revenge on some truly horrible thugs who are tormenting them. They stole a very ancient book, they were originally ordered to do so by the thugs, and find a curse in the book that summons up a dragon that will do their will. The bargain they made is something that they regret years later as they continue to pay their debt.
by Joe Hill
This would make a terrific movie! What a brilliant book. A book that gets under your skin or scales! A great revenge is not so sweet book.
A band of friends decides to get revenge on some truly horrible thugs who are tormenting them. They stole a very ancient book, they were originally ordered to do so by the thugs, and find a curse in the book that summons up a dragon that will do their will. The bargain they made is something that they regret years later as they continue to pay their debt.
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