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A review by jefferz
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The second entry in T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series, What Feasts At Night is another atmospheric novella that prioritizes its foreboding tone paired with its vaguely historic 19th century setting. Unlike What Moves the Dead> which was a modern retelling of the classic short poem the Fall of the House of Usher, What Feasts At Night is an original story set in the overgrown woods of the fictional country of Gallacia involving a local superstition in the area affecting Alex Easton’s inherited hunting lodge. While the general tone is carried over from the first novella, the actual plot felt considerably slower paced and lacked the tense buildup that I previously reviewed and appreciated. The “horror” elements were also quite brief and left me a bit underwhelmed despite the appropriately balanced prose and Easton’s signature sarcastic soldier humor.
Carrying over majority of Kingfisher’s original cast characters outside of Edgar Allen Poe’s (with the exception of Dr. Denton who is apparently featured as a main character in the upcoming 3rd novella due to be published next year), What Feasts At Night benefits from all of the exposition and Gallacia world-building that was previously introduced in the first book. I had previously critiqued how the first book’s start felt too slow due to the numerous tangents referencing Easton’s home country that felt irrelevant to that book’s story. However, with all of the exposition previously covered, it allows this book to start with its own story from the get-go, immediately establishing the quiet and eerie ambiance attributed to the lodge’s remote and isolated location. Like What Moves the Dead, this story also has unsettling “horror” elements that are explored using a fairly grounded approach, with science and superstitions that feel appropriate for the time period. This shared the same strengths of the first book with Easton’s character/no-nonsense narration (always appreciated vs the typical over-reactive horror protagonist), humor, and immersive storytelling.
Unlike the first entry, this one didn’t have source material to work off of and while I found the story to be generally well done, I felt that this one was a bit overwritten for its fairly sparse plot. As colorful and well thought out Kingfisher’s details of Gallacia were, I constantly wished that the book would focus on the core story as the pacing felt quite slow and unfocused for two thirds of the book. There’s a good deal of “In Gallacia, we do this, we do that, etc etc” which unfortunately started to get repetitive for me. However, I suspect that there wouldn't have been enough content and story to pad out the full novella length without the added embellishments. That being said, although I personally was less invested in Gallacia and Easton’s sworn soldier plot threads compared to the horror angle, other readers might find the material more interesting. Unlike the first book that quickly foreshadows the spooky entity and situation at play, this one doesn’t mention its focal hallmark until 50 pages in, then their first full appearance at page 88. Normally I’m all for slow burn stories but when the entire book is only 147 pages (for the hardcover first edition), I need a stronger hook or more foreshadowing.
My other biggest gripe that other reviewers have previously commented on is despite being listed as a horror novella crossing over with fantasy, there’s really only about 30 pages of true horror content that occurs in one condensed sequence. Compared to What Moves the Dead’s more consistent horror distribution and pacing, this one felt imbalanced and end-heavy. The rest of the book mostly pushes a sedatephobia angle (silence) and cultural superstition that left me a bit underwhelmed and uninterested from a horror-standpoint. What Moves the Dead also had a good amount of gothic flavor due to Poe’s original decrepit estate setting and base characters that heightened Kingfisher’s original ideas, flavor that I found to be notably lacking in this story. I also felt that while the cover & jacket art design and title was stylistically a perfect compliment to the first book, they felt like poor representations of the book’s content. Without going into too much details and spoilers, “Feasting at night” sort of makes sense in a liberal abstraction interpretation but the eroding horse reference on the cover was such a very brief scene in this book that wasn’t particularly relevant compared to how noteworthy the rabbits and mushrooms were in their book’s plot.
Overall I thought Kingfisher’s followup to the solid first Sworn Soldier entry was well-written, though it definitely left me quite underwhelmed and wanting more at its conclusion. It’s hard to compared the two books since the first one utilized famous, critically-acclaimed material as its base vs this one that was fully original, so I’m definitely willing to give her upcoming third entry a shot; an added bonus is a foreboding abandoned mine is a much more interesting setting to me than a rural hunting lodge. I think this novella is ultimately worth a read for those looking for slightly eerie vibes with late 19th century embellishments. However, for mainstream horror or more intense reads, I would probably recommend looking elsewhere.
Carrying over majority of Kingfisher’s original cast characters outside of Edgar Allen Poe’s (with the exception of Dr. Denton who is apparently featured as a main character in the upcoming 3rd novella due to be published next year), What Feasts At Night benefits from all of the exposition and Gallacia world-building that was previously introduced in the first book. I had previously critiqued how the first book’s start felt too slow due to the numerous tangents referencing Easton’s home country that felt irrelevant to that book’s story. However, with all of the exposition previously covered, it allows this book to start with its own story from the get-go, immediately establishing the quiet and eerie ambiance attributed to the lodge’s remote and isolated location. Like What Moves the Dead, this story also has unsettling “horror” elements that are explored using a fairly grounded approach, with science and superstitions that feel appropriate for the time period. This shared the same strengths of the first book with Easton’s character/no-nonsense narration (always appreciated vs the typical over-reactive horror protagonist), humor, and immersive storytelling.
Unlike the first entry, this one didn’t have source material to work off of and while I found the story to be generally well done, I felt that this one was a bit overwritten for its fairly sparse plot. As colorful and well thought out Kingfisher’s details of Gallacia were, I constantly wished that the book would focus on the core story as the pacing felt quite slow and unfocused for two thirds of the book. There’s a good deal of “In Gallacia, we do this, we do that, etc etc” which unfortunately started to get repetitive for me. However, I suspect that there wouldn't have been enough content and story to pad out the full novella length without the added embellishments. That being said, although I personally was less invested in Gallacia and Easton’s sworn soldier plot threads compared to the horror angle, other readers might find the material more interesting. Unlike the first book that quickly foreshadows the spooky entity and situation at play, this one doesn’t mention its focal hallmark until 50 pages in, then their first full appearance at page 88. Normally I’m all for slow burn stories but when the entire book is only 147 pages (for the hardcover first edition), I need a stronger hook or more foreshadowing.
My other biggest gripe that other reviewers have previously commented on is despite being listed as a horror novella crossing over with fantasy, there’s really only about 30 pages of true horror content that occurs in one condensed sequence. Compared to What Moves the Dead’s more consistent horror distribution and pacing, this one felt imbalanced and end-heavy. The rest of the book mostly pushes a sedatephobia angle (silence) and cultural superstition that left me a bit underwhelmed and uninterested from a horror-standpoint. What Moves the Dead also had a good amount of gothic flavor due to Poe’s original decrepit estate setting and base characters that heightened Kingfisher’s original ideas, flavor that I found to be notably lacking in this story. I also felt that while the cover & jacket art design and title was stylistically a perfect compliment to the first book, they felt like poor representations of the book’s content. Without going into too much details and spoilers, “Feasting at night” sort of makes sense in a liberal abstraction interpretation but the eroding horse reference on the cover was such a very brief scene in this book that wasn’t particularly relevant compared to how noteworthy the rabbits and mushrooms were in their book’s plot.
Overall I thought Kingfisher’s followup to the solid first Sworn Soldier entry was well-written, though it definitely left me quite underwhelmed and wanting more at its conclusion. It’s hard to compared the two books since the first one utilized famous, critically-acclaimed material as its base vs this one that was fully original, so I’m definitely willing to give her upcoming third entry a shot; an added bonus is a foreboding abandoned mine is a much more interesting setting to me than a rural hunting lodge. I think this novella is ultimately worth a read for those looking for slightly eerie vibes with late 19th century embellishments. However, for mainstream horror or more intense reads, I would probably recommend looking elsewhere.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, and Death