#16 in Horror
King Sorrow
- NYT bestseller · 1 week on the list, peaked at #9
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About the book
Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library. Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world. But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.5 across 155 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 51% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Horror average of 7.5. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 8.5 | 155 | 100% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“Book of the Year (2025) I waited a long time for this one to show up via inter-library loan, and it was worth every second of the wait. King Sorrow is massive, but I flew through it so fast I’m actually annoyed it’s over. It…”
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Horror — with scores between 8.0 and 8.1, closest to this book.
