Damien Kelly

Stephen King loved Shaun Hamill’s splendid debut, “A Cosmology of Monsters,” and rightly so. That book was a challenging, sometimes frustrating ode to horror itself, and I loved it. And I loved this new book as well, which feels like a direct response to King himself, though he’s not the only influence you can see hanging from the sleeves of this story. This is a rich story of whole lives, much in the vein of classic Stephen along stories, but is maybe closer in kinship to his son, Joe Hill. Though the plots have very little in common, this book evoked the same feelings as when I read Hill’s NOS4R2, which I similarly adored. Other clear influences here range from Narnia to The Prophesy film franchise, a touch of dark academia and, unsurprisingly, a touch of Stranger Things. This is a more commercial and, frankly, easier read than Hamill’s previous book, but it loses none of the author’s particular personality for that. His characters are appealing and repulsive in appropriate measure and his otherworldly – if a little more derivative than expected – is richly realised in economical strokes, which is no mean feat. Telling the stories of this broken little coven in two timeframes makes it easy to care for the brittle adults who have to save a world they struggle to love. And here, again, is the core of grief that carried Hamill’s debut to such great places. I still love this author after two books and I would heartily recommend this to anyone who loves King, Hill, Chuck Wendig or the comics of James Tynion IV. Can’t wait for the next one