A review by xangemtheelibrarian
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

dark funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I can't help but compare this book to the first in the series, What Moves the Dead, and can't help but feel a little bit disappointed in this sequel. The events of What Feasts at Night follows pretty shortly after the events of the first book, with maybe a few weeks between them. Easton is still battling their PTSD from the war, but now they also are dealing with the trauma of what happened in Book 1 (trying to avoid spoilers, sorry).

I feel like this second book was trying to dive deeper into Easton's trauma, who they are, and what their culture is like in their culture. I learned so many interesting things about the local religion, priesthood, pronouns, and history about Easton themself. It's as if so much attention was spent on the lore of the main characters that the ghost story-- the main plot itself-- got neglected. And it's kind of unfortunate that this happened because our ghost is so interesting! 

Learning the lore behind the moroi was terribly sad. But more than anything, I wanted to see more horror in this horror book. There wasn't enough interaction with the spookies, nor enough buildup. There was atmosphere, sure, but the actual scary part was only within the last 1.5-2 hours of the audiobook and honestly felt like it came out of nowhere. 

If there is a third book to come form this series, I will more than likely read it simply because I love Easton so much.