I just finished King Sorrow by Joe Hill-- thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free digital ARC.

Joe Hill's most ambitious novel to date, King Sorrow is a little bit dark academia, a little bit psychological/supernatural horror, a little bit coming of age, and a litlle bit fantasy.

Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College in Maine in the 1990s; he's studious, serious, and in charge of digitally cataloging the library's collection of rare books. Plus his minister mom is in prison nearby for accidentally killing someone while she was protesting for pacifism. When Arthur has a run-in with the wrong people during a routine jail visit with his mom, his and his friends lives are changed forever. Blackmailed into stealing rare books from the library, Arthur and his group of paranormal obsessed friends are desperate enough to try to summon a demon to help rid them of their blackmail problem. The only problem is, it works-- and now every year they have to pick someone to die.

Spanning several decades of the friend's lives, King Sorrow follows our main 6 (Arthur, Van, Donna, Alison, Colin and Gwen) through a lifetime of having to carry the burden of ordering assassinations. We switch POVs through the years, so we get to spend some time with each character-- and the ways that they cope. Van and Alison are addicts, Arthur shuts himself away, Gwen tries to save everyone, Donna is filled with belligerent rage, and Colin tries to over research every decision. This novel is an absolute roller coaster, when we close on Part 1-- you have absolutely no clue where it's going to go from there-- and it's such an enjoyable ride. I love novels that have characters that you can live in. All of the main 6 are fleshed out, believable, and feel authentic. Their character development is earned, and even the shocking moments, of which there are many, are fully within the limits of each character. King Sorrow himself is absolutely horrific-- in the best way. He's creepy and imposing, an enigma to the reader as much as to the characters. As the decades go by, and everything begins to escalate, I found this one impossible to put down.

Don't be intimidated by the length, this is as good as anything Joe Hill has written to date.

As a longtime fan of Joe Hill, I was absolutely thrilled to receive an ARC of King Sorrow. It's been too long since his last novel, so I was eagerly anticipating this new release—and I’m pleased to say, it didn’t disappoint. Hill brings his signature storytelling style and mastery of suspense to this novel, offering a fresh, captivating take on dragon lore that I absolutely loved.

One of the most striking things about King Sorrow is Hill’s reinterpretation of dragons. Rather than the classic fantasy dragons we’ve all seen before, Hill’s dragon is a supernatural being, something more mysterious and unsettling. This new take made the story feel unique and allowed for a more eerie, atmospheric vibe that suited the book perfectly. The dragon isn’t just a creature to be slayed or tamed; it’s a force of nature, wrapped in dark, mystical energy that adds layers of intrigue to the narrative.

I also really enjoyed how Hill integrated real-world history into the story. The way he wove in recent historical events gave the book an added depth, making it feel not only grounded but also relevant to the world we live in. Hill has a knack for blending the fantastical with the real, and this novel was no exception. It was a brilliant way of making the supernatural feel close to home, while still keeping that signature Hill atmosphere that fans have come to love.

The characters in King Sorrow were all incredibly engaging. Hill has a talent for creating characters with depth and complexity—some you’ll love, others you’ll hate, but all of them are interesting and well-developed. I found myself deeply invested in their journeys, and Hill does a fantastic job of keeping the reader on their toes, especially when it comes to character motivations. There were several surprise moments that I genuinely didn’t see coming, which is always a welcome thrill when reading a book.

That being said, I did have a small complaint about the book. While the buildup to the final climax was intense and gripping, the resolution itself felt a bit too easy. It seemed like a lot of the tension and drama of the preceding chapters led to a conclusion that didn’t quite match the level of intensity I had expected. It wasn’t enough to detract from my enjoyment of the story, but it did leave me wishing for a little more weight in the final moments.

Overall, King Sorrow is another fantastic addition to Joe Hill’s body of work. The fresh take on dragon lore, the unique blend of real-world history, and the strong, well-rounded characters made this book a thrilling and enjoyable read. I hope it won’t be another ten years before Hill releases his next novel—I’ll be eagerly awaiting whatever he brings to readers next.

Actually more of a 3.5 there's a great story buried in the larger book. very reminiscent, of a three part miniseries that stretches to show length by filming extra filler content.

King Sorrow is Joe Hill’s first novel in nearly a decade (since The Fireman in 2016) and it is a BEAST of a novel. With its large page count and the amount of time it has been since his last book, the hype is real for this one.

I’m happy to report that the hype is deserved for King Sorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve read a long novel like this one (I’ve read most of King’s door stoppers) and I was amazed at how quickly I moved through this novel despite its length.

King Sorrow follows a group of six friends at a small college in New England, who use a book to summon a dragon, the title King Sorrow, to help rid Arthur Oakes of a predicament he’s been forced into (stealing rare library books for a couple of townies using Arthur to make money). The problem is that King Sorrow requires a sacrifice every Easter, or else he will take one of them. The narrative takes place over many years starting in 1989 and gradually moving to present day, as it is broken up into several parts.

I absolutely loved these characters and their complex relationships with one another. There is love, loss, heartbreak, frustration. The secondary cast of characters are fantastic too, including some truly deplorable human (and non-human) antagonists in addition to King Sorrow.

This was a page-turner of the highest order, with a compelling plot, rich, complex characters, blood, humor, and heart in spades. I laughed, I cried, I rolled my eyes, I was scared. You know that feeling you get when you first read those door stopper Stephen King novels? That’s what this one feels like.

King Sorrow is a triumph of a novel. I think I might have a new favorite Joe Hill book.

Thank you so much to William Morrow for the ARC (and NetGalley for the galley).

Joe Hill knocked this one out of the park. As someone who mostly reads horror, I've grown fond of Hill's writing style and character development in his other works. This book gripped me right away and I couldn't wait to finish it. The characters in this book are believable and well-fleshed out. The story moves along quickly and keeps you reading. I noticed a lot of Easter eggs (but not on Easter, thankfully!) pointing to Hill's father's work as well, which were a fun addition for a King fan. King Sorrow himself was an entertaining villain as well. I will whole-heartedly recommend this book to people in my library.

I finished this book last night and what an absolutely epic ride. Hill is a true master of his craft, point blank, period. No notes. I know many people either did not receive ARCs as of yet, or if they have, perhaps have not read it yet, so my review will be vague in the details department. We begin with Arthur, a student at Rackham College in Maine. He also has access to the rare book department, where he works part time. Through a series of very unfortunate events, Arthur ends up blackmailed by some local drug dealers. His task? Steal books worth a lot of money. Arthur turns to his best friends help. Together they dream up a wild scheme to get these thugs off Arthur's back. One friend, Colin, suggests using the Crane journal, bound in the skin of its author, to summon a dragon to do their bidding. Their other friends Alison, Gwen and twins Donna and Donovan, don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world. But, dragons are … tricky. Very tricky. This pact to save Arthur morphs into a disturbing bargain where they group must choose a new sacrifice to King Sorrow every year, or he will take one of them in his place. This story spans literal decades. To maintain the tension, momentum and interest for damn near 1000 pages is an ode to Hill's expert hand. This is the type of book that makes me remember why I love reading. THIS is the feeling I seek and will forever chase. Thank you immensely to William Morrow and Net Galley for the ARC. Pick this up when it publishes October 21, 2025 wherever you buy your books. You do not want to miss this one!

This book is intimidating. You need a whole weekend to tackle this, with no interruptions. Reading it throughout a week, isn’t good enough. This book demands your attention and locks you in once it had you. Also, a book rest or alternating wrists holding the book is an excellent idea. The book is heavy with content as well as weight and girth.
This is not a fantasy book. I went into it blind, thinking it was another dragon fantasy book that might be bloody with Joe Hills touch. Omg I am so happy it isn’t! I mean yeah there is a dragon, trolls and a magical sword, but that doesn’t mean it’s a fantasy book. It starts in the 1980s and creeps to present day. There are real world problems in this book. It’s political and morally questionable, getting your thoughts going. There is so much to unpack in this book, especially with what is right and wrong.
The characters are vivid, and instant friends to the reader. I felt every betrayal and horror they did. Five close friends, who just happen to have summoned a dragon, and now have to feed it yearly. I don’t want to be in their shoes, but I enjoyed watching how they handled everything.
Joe Hill managed to make me actually swear outloud with a big twist. It’s a gut puncher, and sets the book off in a direction I didn’t see coming. The whole book is one big white knuckled adventure, but those last few chapters are intense. If you don’t leave this book an emotional mess, you didn’t really read it.

I enjoyed this murder mystery that felt like a race against the clock by Riley Sager! The snowy setting on a train was refreshing to read during the hot summer! While this story did feel very slow at times, it felt similar to Sager’s other books so I suppose it’s just his writing style.

King Sorrow is, without a doubt one of the best books I will read this year.

So immense, creepy, and immersive that I can’t wait to reread this one and listen to it in audiobook form to better soak in the full breadth of the story.

What a fantastical tale; this is a definite recommendation.



Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the DRC

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC of Joe Hill's 'King Sorrow.'

Joe Hill doesn't write long novels too often - it's a decade since 'The Fireman' but when he does they're worth reading and 'King Sorrow' is no different.

'King Sorrow' is the story of six friends in a rural Maine town who stumble upon or initiate a supernatural happening in support of one of their number and spend the remainder of their lives dealing with the consequences. If that sounds like a familiar setup from Hill's father, Stephen King, that's not unexpected, there are a lot of similarities to narrative and structure but Joe Hill is most assuredly his own voice and this story and these characters and their relationships take some very different and unexpected turns than you'd see or expect in a King novel. They're close friends but with very different morals and attitudes - including a right-wing podcaster, a closeted lesbian, a Mark Zuckerberg/Elon Musk-like tech bro, and a Black medievalist. There are several additional characters, friends, acquaintances, enemies of the sextet who all play key roles in the action. Hill weaves real-world events into the fantasy and horror of the tale and it's used sparingly enough to remain interesting rather than gimmicky.

This a bumper novel - 900 pages - so if you're not prepared to settle in for the long haul you should probably avoid but if you liked his father's long novels then you'll love this, it flows really smoothly and easily.

I read somewhere recently where Joe Hill is swearing off long novels - I hope he reconsiders because he does them so well.

Joe Hill seems to be so prolific, between novels, short story collections, comics, and various Amazon shorts, that I was amazed to read that it has been a full decade since his last novel, The Fireman. He seems to be trying to make up for lost time with his newest, the massive doorstop known as King Sorrow.

The length and scope of King Sorrow puts it firmly in the Stephen King wheelhouse, alongside such works as It, and 'Salem's Lot; A massive creature-feature with a largish cast of characters assembled against an enemy from our darkest nightmares.

I remain skeptical when I see such a long novel.....Will it be worth all of those pages, or will it be mercilessly padded? In this case, it was a little of both.

Hill hits the ground running, establishing the crux of the story immediately: While visiting his mother in prison, Arthur Oakes ends up on the wrong side of the wrong people, and soon finds himself being blackmailed into stealing rare books from the college library where he works. Desperate for a way out of his situation, Arthur and his close friends hatch a bizarre plot to summon a dragon to dispatch his tormentors. As anyone who has ever read a book or seen a movie knows, deals with dark forces rarely work out to your advantage.

A few Hill fans that I have spoken to had a wait-and-see attitude towards this book, believing that the inclusion of a dragon would make this a more fantasy-skewing book. While not really a horror novel, King Sorrow certainly isn't a fantasy, either. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), King Sorrow, the titular dragon, doesn't get much screen time at all, as Hill chooses instead to focus on Arthur and his friends as they, over decades, cope with the fact that their bargain was not a one-time thing....they have to choose a victim for the King every Easter, or become that year's victim themselves.

Hill throws in enough plot twists and time lapses to keep things, for the most part, moving briskly. The novel, at around 900 pages, seemed to take forever to progress through, one of those books that you barely seem to make a dent in, no matter how long you sit and read. When I found myself getting tired of where the story was, Hill wisely turned the plot upside-down, making it all seem fresh again.

That said, the endlessly long section of the book that takes place on a transatlantic flight nearly had me ready to give up, especially when Hill got locked into endlessly repeating a phrase that he probably thought was clever, but was really just annoying: "Dragonedy O'Clock", describing the time when King Sorrow would make an appearance. Hill's father, Stephen King, has the same tic, repeating annoying words or phrases ad naseum, but Hill really took the ball and ran with it, to the point where "Dragonedy O'Clock" made me put the book down for a few days. Magically, he never uses the phrase again after that endless section, so I assume we have pre-readers to thank for that.

And thank them I do.

King Sorrow is a perfectly good novel, just not up to the benchmark of some of Hill's other work. And sometimes perfectly good is just fine. In this case, I was expecting more, and better, but the twists and surprises, as well as the finely-crafted characters, carried the day, and made this big, sometimes sloppy, book mostly enjoyable.

I found this book a passionate, engaging horror novel with characters whose nuances made the book a thousand times more powerful. The central curse which propels the book forward was engaging, and the novel manages to both keep a strong moral center, while also acknowledging how even those people with the worst beliefs are human. It's a compelling, engaging fable about the problems of human certainty--particularly the belief that you can label others villains--which I am happy to recommend to others.

The student has become the master! I would put this new novel by Joe Hill at the same level as The Stand or IT. I couldn't put it down-- a dark mix of fantasy and horror with a focus on current events, friendship and morals- taking us on a journey with this group of a span of 25years.

Thank you, Net Galley. This was crazy, this was great. I could not put it down, Joe Hill really knows how to write. I love dragons.

4.5 stars
Not what you would expect from Joe Hill, but also not one to be slept on. This is a dense yet amazing read. It does not at all feel like an 800+ page book. I loved every second of it. I love when authors step outside of their regular genre and succeed, and Joe did just that.

I was so excited to see a new book from Joe Hill! I loved the premise, how we were able to follow along with the characters and they grew older. There was some twists and turns that I did not see coming. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed the book. It is a dense read, as one would expect at 858 pages. I liked the fact that Hill took the fairytale lore about dragons, and showed how easy it would be to fall into a scary and damaging bargain with one, especially if you're desperate and frightened. I also enjoyed the way that the text wove in real-life events, and ended on a note that said that even though things are often sad and scary out there, it's up to all of us to pay attention and be ready to slay the dragons.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. Other than 20th Century Ghosts, King Sorrow is Joe Hill's best work to date. I don't usually like books that include fantasy but this one was an exception. Joe Hill managed to create characters that the reader could care about and get to know quickly. A group of college friends dabble with the dark arts and reap consequences beyond their wildest imaginations and that last for years. King Sorrow is over 800 pages and is not a quick read, although it was tempting to want to stop everything else and keep reading. Its a story of friendship, love and consequences.

4.5 stars, fo sho

All hail the King (pen name or not)...

After a SIGNIFICANT stretch of time away from long form stories, Joe Hill is back in a large way!

When bullying is too much to bear, a group of... lovingly said... nerdy friends from varied walks of life band together to bring forth an object of destruction that has been celebrated and cursed thru millenia.

Years later, though, would their grotesque savior be a protector, or a plague?

All is left to chance with King Sorrow, as power and alliances shift in this exhaustively well-planned tome.

Joe, welcome back. Great to see you.

This book kept me on my toes and I loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!