Reviews with content warning for War - What Feasts at Night

Alex Easton returns, this time to their family’s neglected hunting lodge, where death comes quietly at night to suck the very breath from your lungs. What Feasts at Night has all the darkly humorous, thrillingly gothic, and deliciously folkloric horror we know and love from its predecessor What Moves the Dead. I just enjoy Alex, Angus, and Miss Potter so much, I’d follow them into any creepy corner of Gallacia! Read for the #TransRightsReadathon!

Content Warnings

saltycoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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hello_kara's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Loved this sequel to “What moves the dead.” Another review compared this book to a “side-quest in the Witcher game,” and while I’ve only watched the show, I think I have to agree! I totally gives off those vibes, however our main character is very practical and thinks the woes that plague them couldn’t possibly be supernatural… could they?

“What happened in that house on the edge of the tarn was unspeakably awful, but there was nothing supernatural about it. Nature creates horrors enough all by itself.”

After their harrowing experience at the Usher house, they return to a small town in Alex’s home country, steeped in superstition. A recent death prompts whispered talk of a creature called a moroi (which is a type of vampiric ghost in Romanian folklore.) The writing was great, and conveyed that eerie sense of wrongness that is easily brushed off by the characters but nevertheless sticks with them. The silence was a character itself in a way;

“The silence didn’t feel peaceful. It felt thick.”

“Practically between one word and the next, the silence rolled over me like a blanket of fog. The bright morning seemed to wash out around me, the sunlight leaching away. All the tiny bones in my ears, the ones that you never think about, suddenly felt individually swathed in wool.“

I also have to say I really appreciated the portrayal of PTSD, or Soldier’s Heart as it’s described in the book. It’s such an important part of Alex’s character and history.

“I sometimes think the fundamental disconnect with civilians is that they think a war is an event, something neatly bounded on either end by dates. What anyone who’s lived through one can tell you is that it’s actually a place. […] And sometimes, for a little while, I slip over into that other place. The war."

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kittyinatophat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Please let the next Easton adventure have The Noon Witch

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not_another_ana's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Had I imagined it? Would it be better or worse if I had?

Everyone's favorite Gallacian sworn soldier is back! And this time in their own country. Alex and Angus head down to Easton's old hunting lodge, as a favor to Miss Potter who is keen to study the local mushroom population. But the lodge is in a state of disarray and there's rumours in town of a deadly figure from local mythology haunting the area and robbing people of their breath. Rumours that might have a grain of truth to them.

This was fun, charming, fast paced, however I will say that the first book was better. While What Moves the Dead had a developing mystery that ends up in a big confrontation this one is more of a slow burn with less high stakes and a more introspective vibe. Read this if you enjoyed the narration of the first one and grew attached to Alex Easton and their peculiarities. It was still quite enjoyable and I ate it up, it just could have delivered a bit more. Loved learning more about Gallacia and its costumes, same as hearing about Easton's past in the military. I could easily read another in this series, it's like eating a big bucket of popcorn.

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atlas_shruggs's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Blessed Virgin, why must you keep sending me innocent monsters?"

This is such a wonderful continuation of Alex's story and I absolutely loved it. It delves so much deeper into Alex's mental state and their experiences in the war, as well as really immersing the reader in Gallacian culture. Alex continues to be an absolutely hilarious narrator, a complete idiot and very aware of it and about as socially awkward as you can get. The folklore woven into the story was also so interesting to me, and I personally liked the slow-burn, except maybe for the fact that everything got resolved in the last 20 pages. I suppose it is hard to make a slow-burn horror novella but I feel that T. Kingfisher did a very good job with this one. Sure this sequel was not nearly as action-packed as the first book, but I feel that it was very atmospheric and focused more on the way folklore can affect cultures as well as exploring the characters themselves.

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leeshajoy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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netthauser's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A flawless novella. Kingfisher's precise use of language creates an entire world, people, and history in 150 pages. The narrative arc builds on itself with a very satisfying conclusion.

P.S. I love the allusion to German fairy tales at the end ("und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch bis heute").

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