Has King Sorrow won any awards?

Yes. King Sorrow won the 2026 Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel. It was also a finalist for the 2025 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel (won by Stephen Graham Jones's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter) and a finalist for the 2026 Locus Award for Best Horror Novel.

King Sorrow

Dark Fantasy Horror

Pages: 1009
Published: 2025
Language: English

Synopsis

Arthur Oakes is a quiet student at Rackham College until a local criminal forces him into a desperate library heist. To escape the blackmail, Arthur and his friends use a cursed journal to summon a dragon, hoping for a miracle. Instead, they find themselves bound to a terrifying yearly ritual that demands a heavy price for their survival.

5 reviews

How it reads

Dark Tense Atmospheric

Dark Academia Found Family Sacrifice Heist

Writing
4.0
Impact
1.0
Characters
3.0
Plot
2.0
Atmosphere
3.0

Prose complexity 7/10

Content warnings (8)

ViolenceGraphic ViolenceGoreGun ViolenceSubstance AbuseChild DeathSexual AssaultTorture

Readers say (1)Fast · Dense · Atmospheric · Adventurous

Readers flagged (8)

ViolenceGraphic ViolenceGoreGun ViolenceSubstance AbuseChild DeathSexual AssaultTorture

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King Sorrow

Synopsis

How it reads

Genres

Subjects

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Readers suggest

King Sorrow

Synopsis

How it reads

Genres, subjects and placesDark Fantasy, Horror, Fantasy +7

Genres

Subjects

Places

CharactersArthur Oakes, Gwen Underfoot, Colin Wren +4

AwardsDragon Award for Best Horror Novel

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About the authorJoe Hill

Frequently asked questionsHas King Sorrow won any awards?