King of Grief

33 hrs. 55 min.

Language Russian

Author Joe Hill

Narrator Maxim Ushakov

Description

After a decade-long pause, Joe Hill returns with a novel that promises to upend everything you think you know about modern horror!

Arthur Oakes is an avid reader and incurable romantic, a college student at Rackham College in the state of Maine—famous for its magnificent library and a refined, almost fairy-tale campus. But his quiet life—and just beginning feelings—shatter to dust when criminals force Arthur into the unthinkable: stealing the rarest books from the university’s collection.

Cornered, Arthur turns to his closest friends—fellow “losers,” just like him. Together, they commit to a desperate, incredible plan. Colin Renn, wealthy and unstoppable, proposes a magical ritual from Crane’s grim journal (bound in the author’s leather) to summon and command a creature from beyond reality—a dragon named the King of Sorrows. The others—dauntless and dazzling Ellie Shayner, the perpetually feuding twin siblings Donna and Donovan McBride, and steady, unshakable Gwen Pblebs—throw their support behind Colin without hesitation, ready to shake the very fabric of the world for an impossible ally.

But reaching an agreement with the dragon is far harder than it sounds. Their attempt to save Arthur turns into a Faustian bargain: year after year, the six friends will have to choose a new victim for the monster—or it will destroy them all.

Awards nominations: Bram Stoker Prize; the American Library Association’s Recommended Reading list; “Locus.”

“Joe Hill triumphantly returns to life with a large-scale horror blockbuster of the new century.” — Alan Moore
“Monstrous among books—captivating and darkly alluring, just like its titular hero. Not a single extra page across its scaly length: from human cruelty to devilish conspiracies, from reckless hunger for power to a desperate search for redemption. A sweeping, fire-breathing, relentless masterpiece.” — Nick Harkaway
“Epic! This is the author’s best and most ambitious book to date. Compared with the monster that is Joe Hill, the dragons from ‘Game of Thrones’ are just lizards.” — Linwood Barclay
“Moving from a sinister fairy tale to a large-scale horror thriller, this novel becomes powerful, richly textured, and utterly irresistible. It’s both a wild adventure and a subtle exploration of power and corruption. After this, you’ll never look at dragons the same way again—and you’ll genuinely hope none of them notices you.” — Tananarive Due
“A daring reimagining of the Faustian bargain on a grand scale. The ominous voice of the King of Sorrows threads through the pages as much as Joe Hill’s own voice, compelling you to read without stopping—and still want more.” — Thomas Olde Huevelt
“The author walks a tightrope between horror and fantasy with elegance and purpose. This is a story filled with terror and hope.” — Robin Hobb
“An epic that won’t let go even after the final page—timeless and yet surprisingly current at once. Hill connects everything: horror, humor, and heartfelt drama. A powerful and thoughtful tour de force that proves Joe Hill is one of the great storytellers of our generation.” — Michael Korita
“A wise, furious, and ingenious puzzle-box of a novel: a fantasy horror story full of tenderness, humor, and elegance. Joe Hill has created something absolutely unique. ‘Dazzling’ is too weak a word. It’s pure, big-hearted reading pleasure.” — Kit Rosson
“When people talk about ‘natural storytellers,’ they mean Joe Hill.” — John Scalzi
“The novel describes the cultural and historical horrors of the past forty years through the story of a cool dragon and a group of friends who know each other too well. A sweeping epic and a painfully intimate story. Human—and horrifying.” — Paul Tremblay
“Terrifying, romantic, insane, wild, absurd— and, of course, funny. A runaway journey that never slows down for even a second, and for a book of this size it’s a true marvel. I don’t know how Hill does it. I only know that I hope I never meet the King of Sorrows—it gave me a few nightmares and looks like it could climb right out of the book and into your home.” — Willy Vlautin
“A brilliant Faustian fable with a dragon-sized heart and a stinging final twist.” — Ruth Ware
“The author expertly sustains tension throughout this large-scale, gripping horror novel: impeccably written characters and precisely measured doses of black humor only intensify the effect. Yet again, the book reinforces his status as a titan of the genre.” — Publishers Weekly
“Impressively clear in pace, character-driven epic infused with an unrelenting sense of dread that builds over time into pure terror—perfectly capturing the spirit of the age. By colliding the digital era with folklore tradition, the novel seriously meditates on the price of power. But the real horror is that there will be enough dragons for everyone.” — Booklist
“Not a moment of lull here: despite its impressive size, the story is packed with unexpected turns… Sometimes frightening, sometimes funny, with a professional ‘backstage’ feel and a quantity of blood sufficient for an entire swimming pool.” — Kirkus Reviews
“One of the year’s major horror events.” — Parade

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