King Sorrow

the epic new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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King Sorrow

By: Joe Hill

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos, Dominic Hoffman, Ian Shaw, Jaime Lamchick, Kate Mulgrew, Kevin Stillwell, Kristen Ariza, Kristen Sieh, Marin Ireland, Micky Shiloah, Mike Ortego, Pete Simonelli, Tim Sample, Virginia Kull

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About this listen

SOME PROMISES SHOULD NEVER BE MADE...

***A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK***

'A tour de force...King Sorrow is huge, sprawling - and absolutely fantastic' THE GUARDIAN
'Joe Hill gloriously resurrects the doorstop horror blockbuster for a startling new century' ALAN MOORE
'A soaring epic and painfully intimate. You won't be able to stop burning through the pages' PAUL TREMBLAY
'Epic, exhilarating and haunting in equal measures' DAILY EXPRESS
'A commanding, captivating read' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Epic...a multi-layered, rich response to the horrors and hopes of living today' DAILY MAIL

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 crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: 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 work: 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.

'A brilliantly Faustian fable with a heart as huge as a dragon's, and a stinging twist in its tail. I devoured it.' RUTH WARE
'A wild, genre-defying journey, packed with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns' DAILY MIRROR
'A glorious, wild ride' NEW YORK TIMES
'Epic! KING SORROW is Hill's best and most ambitious work to date' LINWOOD BARCLAY
'Magnificent - by far and away Hill's best book to date' SFX
'When they talk about "natural born storytellers," it's Joe Hill they're talking about' JOHN SCALZI
'A monster of a book...a vast, brimstoned, relentless zinger' NICK HARKAWAY

Praise for Sunday Times bestseller Joe Hill:

'Fantastically compelling' THE OBSERVER
'Clever, gripping and packs a hell of a punch' JOANNE HARRIS
'Character-driven stories that enthral and thrill' DAILY MAIL
'Original and gripping' GEORGE R. R. MARTIN©2025 Joe Hill

Fantasy

Royalty

Dragons

Heartfelt

Fiction

Critic Reviews

PRAISE FOR SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER JOE HILL

With King Sorrow, Joe Hill gloriously resurrects the doorstop horror blockbuster for a startling new century (ALAN MOORE)

King Sorrow riddles and refracts the cultural and historical horrors of our last forty years through the eyes of a badass dragon and a group of close friends who know one another too well. It's a soaring epic and painfully intimate. It's humane and hideous. You won't be able to stop burning through the pages. (PAUL TREMBLAY)

A brilliantly Faustian fable with a heart as huge as a dragon's, and a stinging twist in its tail. I devoured it (RUTH WARE)

A monster of a book, as gripping and wickedly insidious as the title character. Not a page is wasted along its scaly length, from human villainy to diabolical plots, government folly to the desperate search for redemption. A vast, brimstoned, relentless zinger. (NICK HARKAWAY)

Epic! KING SORROW is Hill's best and most ambitious work to date. Those Game of Thrones dragons are mere geckos next to Hill's monster. (LINWOOD BARCLAY)

Original and gripping, a page-turner. (GEORGE R. R, MARTIN)

Clever, gripping and packs a hell of a punch (JOANNE HARRIS)

A fantastically compelling read (OBSERVER)

Joe Hill's best novel yet! Morphing from an evil fairy tale to all-out epic horror thriller, King Sorrow is big, meaty and irresistible. This book is both a wild ride and a skilled character study in power, corruption and consequences. You'll never look at dragons the same way again-and you'll hope no dragon ever glances your way. (TANANARIVE DUE)

When they talk about "natural born storytellers," it's Joe Hill they're talking about. (JOHN SCALZI)

KING SORROW is a wise, furious, intricate puzzle-box of a novel - part horror, part fantasy, and shot through with tenderness and humor and grace. Joe Hill has created something wholly, entirely unique here. 'Dazzling' is an understatement. It is an absolute damn joy to read. (KEITH ROSSON)

Joe Hill's best novel yet! Morphing from an evil fairy tale to all-out epic horror thriller, King Sorrow is big, meaty, and irresistible. This book is both a wild ride and a skilled character study in power, corruption, and consequences. (TANANARIVE DUE)

King Sorrow is an epic that will linger with you long after the last page is turned, a timeless tale that's also a haunting time capsule. Joe Hill somehow delivers it all, from the terrifying to the hilarious to the heartbreaking. A relentless and thoughtful tour de force, King Sorrow proves Joe Hill is one of the great storytellers of our generation. (MICHAEL KORYTA)

Most relevant

I've been a bit worried that I might outlive Stephen King, who has been my favourite author since I read Carrie as a young teen... then Joe Hill started producing wonderful fiction with so much promise, I decided it would be worthwhile to make an effort to keep myself healthy enough to be able keep reading his books. King Sorrow has proved that to be true. It's a masterpiece of such distinction, I have every expectation that Mr. Hill has it in him to out-master the Master of the genre, and redefine Horror and Suspense for a new generation and century. If you're a fan of dark epic fantasy, the characters in this story will pull you right along with them, whether you like them or not.