4.25 stars

I know books with dragons are exceptionally trendy at the moment, but I honestly did not foresee myself writing a glowing review for one! Enter Joe Hill and this absolute banger of a fire-breathing rollercoaster ride. 

As per the status quo with Joe Hill, this is an extremely creative horror fantasy with a diverse cast of unforgettable characters and a sprawling timeline. (Robin will live in my heart forever, even though this book does eventually end.)

My only criticism, a very personal one and not a direct critique of the book, is that the sense of humor many of the characters share and bond over isn't exactly my cup of tea. That said,   I am so excited for everyone who WILL love it.

This is a must-read for horror fans, Stephen King fans, and, obviously, Joe Hill fans. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to write this review now, just half hour or so after finishing the novel, while it's still entirely fresh in my mind -- I'm already experiencing an intense book hangover for this book. I absolutely was not ready to leave this world. I read large chunks of this book in varying stages with a few breaks between for traveling and events. If it weren't for those obligations I probably would have gone through this 900 pager in less an a week and been all the more sad for its ending.

King Sorrow is the story of a group of friends who summon a dragon to help clear up a problem - only they accidentally make a deal that goes on for years longer than anyone could have ever imagined. A simple enough premise that was expanded into a grand, sweeping story that follows these friendships through the decades as the group copes with the consequences of their choices and the ultimate decision to take a stand and stop there from being more sorrow unleashed on the world.

One thing that will often kill a book for me, no matter how well written, is pacing. And this book was immaculately paced. Joe Hill knows how to build good tension without ever leaving room for anything to be dull. There were ebbs and flows in the action but never a moment that I felt like there were wasted pages. In addition to the compelling through line, this book contained increasingly interesting subplots that all tied together, leaving the whole thing tied up in a satisfying package.

Outside of the plot and the pacing this book was a brilliant character study. Each major and minor character so well thought out and detailed that it was easy to look at them as living breathing people by the end. Possibly the part that made finishing this book so difficult - only because I didn't want to leave anyone behind.

I've read all of Joe Hill's novels and most of his short stories and some of his comics and to date this is the best thing he's written and so far the thing I've loved the most. I unreservedly recommend this to anyone and everyone who likes to read and wants a good story. For fans of King Arthur, for fans of dragons, for fans of books that make you get in your feelings. I'll definitely be reading this one again.

Thanks to William Morrow, Joe Hill and Tavia Kowalchuk for sending this my way through NetGalley.

Ever wondered what it would be like to control life and death? To take revenge on your enemies? To stop world disasters from happening? Would you make an irrevocable deal with a dragon to gain power? Well, King Sorrow is the dragon for you.

Arthur is a librarian with an interest in medieval legends... and a mother jailed for participating in the death of a security guard. His random act of kindness giving another inmate’s child a sweatshirt leads him into a situation where he is extorted and forced into stealing valuable books from his job, including a famous one by a man who once broke the veil and summoned King Sorrow. His group of friends hold a seance to summon King Sorrow, hoping to protect their friend, but quickly find an agreement with a creature of death was more than they bargained for, as dragons are always creatures of greed.

I found myself engaging with certain characters more than others. Allie, Arthur, and Gwen truly were sympathetic characters due to their ongoing life problems, such as being closeted, poor, or simply a black man in the world of academia. Donna purposely was harsh and cold, a contrast to her fun-loving and empathetic brother, Van, their relationships in particular serving as catalysts throughout the novel. Colin, well... he was everything one thought he would be. From the beginning, it was clear his interest was not in helping Arthur, but in gaining a power he considered under his control, a situation that was far from the truth. Their struggles as a group in accepting their fate and in trying to free themselves was a theme throughout.

Overall, King Sorrow had some uneven moments in how interesting the different characters were across the timeline, but aren’t we all uneven as humans? If anything, it made the situation more real because we aren’t always thrilling in our lives, but our lives do continue to happen to us. I would encourage reviewers and readers to give this novel a shot, not just because of its dark premise, but because of the very real human struggle within.

WOW. This book was part horror, part fantasy, and part historical fiction. King Sorrow follows six friends: Arthur, Gwen, Colin, Allie, Van, and Donna. In order to help their friend survive, the friends use Colin’s grandfather’s love of the occult (and some high-quality government weed) to summon King Sorrow, a hideous dragon that lives in an alternate universe called The Long Dark. They thought the king would return from whence he came once they saved Arthur, but they were totally wrong.

This book follows the gang of friends over the expanse of their lives while continuing to deal with not only the fallout from the person they must sacrifice to King Sorrow every Easter, but the events of the world that are unfolding around them. We, the readers, catch up with the friends about every 5 years.

I loved the characters (even the ones I absolutely loathed) and the representation of many different kinds of people. I will always trust Joe Hill to write excellent female characters, especially after seeing him speak about the creation of his female characters leaning heavy on the experiences of the women in his life. One way that Hill is able to blend our world and the one just on the edge of ours are his clear inspirations from Tolkien. As a Tolkien nerd myself, all of the references to Tolkien’s work was very special to me and made this book a little more magical than Mr. Hill probably meant it to be. I think that’s a problem with me, though.

This book is about pain, loss, sacrifice, sadness, chosen family, love, hard decisions, betrayal, friendship, hate, disinformation, difficult consequences, and the imbalance of power in the world. This was a powerful tome (and I do mean tome, at 896 pages) about the road to hell being paved with good intentions. This book was an excellent way to hold a mirror to the current world. Much like staring into one of King Sorrow’s tractor tire-sized eyes, it was both scary and exhilarating and an excellent way for Joe Hill to ruin Easter.

Intense story, grasping from start to finish. I could not put down once I started. Wonderful character building with twist you could never see coming. The story was intriguing, unpredictable and had some me romantic twist. Mr Hill never disappoints!

This will be only my second Joe Hill book to read and I am glad I took the time to do it. I found myself in a limbo of wanting the book to end soon so I could learn how it ends but at the same time did not want this book to end. So much happens that I want to discuss but I can’t without giving too much away. Even when this book is released, do yourself a favor and don’t read too much into what people are saying or reviewing aside from the short summary, go in fresh not knowing what to expect and you will not be disappointed. 10/10 read and releasing it come spooky time is perfect holiday reading.

Tackling a book this long is a commitment and sometimes a love/hate relationship. Hill does an amazing job of character building here. Each character is unique. Some characters are very unlikeable, which can make you question why their friends stick around. However, Hill is able to answer that question by the end.

The book also has fantasy elements but it's much more horror or thriller. It is unique in that way; he is able to blend genres very smoothly.

The ending of the book was not what I expected and took the book from a 3 star to 4 star book for me. The book is very long and at times the action can get more exhausting then exciting. This isn't a book I reccomend picking up and trying to marathon read. It works better splitting the different parts into a few sessions and letting yourself live in the world a bit.

I cannot believe how much I loved this. This was my first Joe Hill novel and the rest of his work has a lot to live up to if I work my way through it. Arthur Oakes and five of his friends strike a deal with a dragon to protect his mother. The catch? They have to choose someone to die every year on Easter. We follow these characters through the next 25ish years of their lives as they deal with the fallout and consequences of this deal. I laughed, I cried, I was so mad and I was so hopeful and I was heartbroken for everyone at some point. Hill did an amazing job with this story and managed to get his point across in a poignant way without it smacking you in the face and telling you to read deeper and closer. I hope King Sorrow gets all the hype and praise and recognition that it deserves and more.

I was fortunate enough to receive a digital ARC for Joe Hill’s King Sorrow, and I’m incredibly glad I did; I sense this will be a new favorite novel. The Secret History meets high fantasy meets fantasy-horror, in this excellent novel following Arthur and his group of friends at Rackham College as they summon an ancient dragon sworn to protect them. The only issue is they must choose someone to sacrifice to Sorrow—every year. This was a delightful horror-fantasy-epic on so many levels, but I was pleasantly surprised by the queer subplot surrounding one of my favorite characters. If you’ve ever wanted to watch grown-up rich kids tangle with an ancient dragon, pick this up this fall.

I hated how much I enjoyed this book. Like his father, Hill is better when he doesn’t strive for literary grandeur. But he writes a mean horror novel.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC!

King Sorrow is Joe Hill’s first full-length novel in nearly a decade and it was well worth the wait. This almost 900-page beast of a novel moved surprisingly fast and always found a way to increase the danger and drama surrounding our POV characters. While the story has its twists and turns and scary moments, it’s the characters that really kept me turning the pages. We follow a group of six friends from the late 1980s until recent years and see how a pact they made with an evil entity has changed their lives. I loved the interactions between the characters. They have a group dynamic filled with loyalty, betrayal, love, regret, and everything in-between. Some of the characters are terrible, broken people, but Hill humanizes them and shows his readers how their past traumas impacted their lives. And I loved King Sorrow himself! He’s a villain through and through, but I looked forward to his appearances (even if some of them are a little nerve-racking).

King Sorrow is an epic novel perfect for fans of horror, fantasy, lifelong groups of friends, Stephen King, and talking dragons.

Joe Hill does it again with an epic tale featuring strong likeable characters that face horrifying obstacles when they dabble in the occult and bring forth a dragon that forces them to select a person to die every Easter. The plot is intricately woven with themes of good vs evil, political morality, advancing technology, LGBTQ, and climate change but Hill does a wonderful job of getting the point across without hit readers over the head.

This was a hefty book but I didn't want it to end. Well done.

Maybe my opinion will change over time, I think it's safe to say my feelings on this is complicated.

First off, this wasn't want I was expecting. I had believed I was getting half horror and half fantasy when really it was a very long character study AND commentary on war, the American war machine and how much we can say our hands are clean.

To be fair, if I had personally know that going in, I might have looked at this differently. That doesn't mean it was bad!

The writing was spectacular, as Joe's writing usually is, and you could feel everything so deeply when the characters went through massive and heartbreaking changes. I will admit I cried a few times.

It was also simply too long. Some of it could have been trimmed because it felt like it was just padding the book, leaving you with dialogue, characters questioning their morality for the hundredth time, or nothing that moved the plot forward.

Overall, I'm glad I had the chance to read it and it did keep me engaged. I'd absolutely love to see a movie or series come out of it!

Arthur Oakes is a student at the local university, with access to the rare books section at the college library. While visiting his mother in prison, an intended act of kindness backfires and he finds himself at the mercy of a dastardly family of drug dealer. When he's blackmailed into stealing valuable books to pay off a "debt" to them, he ends up taking a very rare volume. Upon showing it to his circle of friends who are fascinated by psychic abilities, they discover the ancient tome has instructions for summoning a dragon. Thinking it might be fun, or better yet a way to stop the blackmailers, the group performs a ceremony and summons a monstrous dragon known as King Sorrow. They strike a bargain with him to end their troubles. But making a deal with a dragon isn't as simple as they believe, and now they're stuck dealing with King Sorrow for life.
Another epic tome from Joe Hill It was more straightforward than some of his other works, fewer "really out there" elements like in Horns or Locke & Key, and more relatable plot involving a Faustian bargain tied to dragon, and bits of Arthurian, mythology. thrown in. Hill's skill at producing an absolutely grossing narrative is as present as ever. If I have any complaints about the book, they're: the fact that the reason for the mess in the first place was pretty weak. It seems Hill had a great concept for a novel, but to get the plot rolling he ended up throwing something together. And there was point before the 75% mark where some elements felt out of place and kinda goofy, followed by a real shocker of a twist, after which I didn't like where the story was going. I did come around better closer to the end, which changed my mind from 4 stars back up to 4.5 for the late redemption.

King Sorrow is a fabulous novel with an extremely unique premise. I found myself transported into the cold library setting and was very immersed in King Sorrow's world. Characters have complex relationships which grow and change over the course of the novel. Fantastic!

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.