Take a seat and regulate your breathing.

This one is gonna fog up the windows.

T. Kingfisher has magic powers. She can take the bones of a folktale and create havoc within your mind. It starts with a low hum and then it escalates octaves and octaves higher. If you feel a solid heaviness on your chest at beddy-bye time, blame Kingfisher for that out of body experience.

What Feasts at Night begins in 1867. Alex Easton, a sworn soldier, and his groom, Angus, are heading to Easton's family hunting lodge for needed rest. It's Autumn and they've reached the woods of Gallacia. But when they arrive, they observe the overgrown foliage and the lodge in disrepair. They come to find out that the caretaker, Codrin, has passed away under suspicious circumstances.

They must prepare for the arrival of Miss Eugenia Potter, a mycologist who wishes to study fungi on the property. Easton hires Widow Botezatu and her grandson, Bors, to clean and cook. Not another soul from the village will take the position. Strange that.

And then the eerie starts to creep in. Peculiar happenings with no explanation. Easton blames it on the passing nightmares of his soldiering days. But what of the others? Something will take hold with long gnarled fingers and bones. Hunkamunka.......

What Feasts at Night can be read as a standalone. I'd say to check out What Moves the Dead which is the first book in this series. It will give you more of a feel for Easton. Kingfisher stocks both books with touches of humor and snarky dialogue. Her characters are always multi-layered with such unusual backstories. So grab a fork........a feast for the mind and for the soul.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to the Tor Publishing Group and to the talented T. Kingfisher for the opportunity.

Always a fan of T. Kingfisher. This latest book is the second in a duology but I would love to see it become a longer series! It’s a classic gothic horror, featuring the notorious cabin in the woods, some small town whispers, ghost stories, and chilling dreams. Not too scary but still a lot of fun!

Just as the first novel does, the second is equally exceptional representation, with trans/nonbinary character Alex Easton as the protagonist and some unique use of neo pronouns and language around gender.

All around, great storytelling. The pacing was great, the characters were as developed as I’d expect in a novella, and the plot kept me in to the very end!

3.5 rounded up to 4.

T. Kingfisher does it again with a book I devoured in a single day. Alex Easton returns with his signature wit and humor that really makes these stories so enjoyable for me. He seems like a cool gentleman that I just want to chat with.

Look, if you enjoyed What Moves the Dead, you’ll enjoy this because I could swear they were written back to back. Is there a lot of stuff that actually happens? Nah, but I love cool characters and there’s just something about Easton. However, the story here is really very simple, there are basically no surprises, and it’s straight up basically written on the tin what to expect from this.

Another large part of what makes this for me beyond the fun characters is that I just love the way she writes, I don’t think I’ve read a book of hers yet that I haven’t enjoyed. Another solid, enjoyable story.

Thanks to NetGalley and TOR Publishing for the free advanced copy in exchange for this stuff you just read about my thoughts on the book. I’ll do better when I start writing these regularly. 😉

After a cover buy of What Moves the Dead, because who doesn’t want that beauty on their shelf, I fell in love with Kingfisher’s writing.

I was all too happy to get an advanced copy of this story thanks to NetGalley.

First off, again Kingfisher knocks it out of the park with her descriptive writing. It is reminiscent of the early American Gothic writing. She does a great job of really bringing the reader into the eeriness of her world.

Alex and Angus’s banter and brainstorming was so akin to Sherlock and Watson that I couldn’t hardly read a conversation about them without smiling.

Overall, another great work by a favorite author of mine. Will definetly recommend to those looking something a bit eerie and a bit fantastical.

"What Feasts at Night" is the follow-up to "What Moves the Dead", Kingfisher's eerie take on "The Fall of the House of Usher". I don't believe you'd need to read the first book to appreciate this one (although with horror this good, why wouldn't you?). Those who enjoyed "What Moves the Dead" will likewise enjoy "What Feasts at Night"; both have the dreamlike, fairytale quality that plays well with Kingfisher's darker impulses. I probably prefer the first book more - it feels like it takes a while for the action to pick up with "What Feasts" - but I think that's likely on purpose. "What Feasts" is a more somber affair altogether with its ruminations of PTSD, war, and fate. It's a perfectly eerie little novella.

A new horrifying adventure awaits for retired soldier, Alex Easton when they return to their home country and are faced with more death, monsters, and mystery. Alex is fresh from the ordeal at the Usher Manor and wants rest but has to do a favor fo Angus and Miss Potter that requires them to head back to their home country, Gallacia,.They were meant to stay at their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold damp forest... but what was suppose to be a relaxing stay soon turns into something else as Easton discovers their caretaker is dead, the grounds are a mess, and the villagers believe there is a monster that has taken up residence in Easton's home. Yet Easton's dreams are slowly being invaded... and something is haunting them and now they'll have to figure out what it is and what new horror they are to face. This was a slower burn read compared to the first one but it definitely had a cozy horror vibe to it, something that really makes it a good read during the autumn/winter time. I do adore T. Kingfisher's writing style and the gothic and horror atmosphere they create is really well done. I can't wait to see where the next book goes and what fresh hell awaits Easton next.

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group, Tor Nightfire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

4.5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: speculative fiction, ghost stories, Eastern European folklore, fantasy horror

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 10/26 and will be posted to my book blog and Instagram on 11/9.

TW imagined animal gore

I really enjoyed What Moves the Dead when I got an ARC of it last year, and I still enjoyed it when I reread it earlier this week. With the first book so fresh in my mind, I have to say I was a little disappointed that I didn't love this book as much as that one. There's nothing wrong with this one per se, it just has very different vibes from WMtD.

In book 1 we visited Ruravia and now we're returning to Easton's home country of Gallacia, which seems to be comprised of trees, hills, and more trees. Since Easton and co. are going to a hunting lodge, this is actually perfect for them. The forest itself is eerie, not because of any particular feature it has, but rather due to that uncanny silence. Easton clocks the silence as odd immediately, but it takes longer for them to realize it isn't their tinnitus acting up and is instead something more insidious. I actually really liked this interplay and think Kingfisher used Easton's hearing problems in an interesting way with the supernatural.

My main complaint is that I feel like a lot of nothing happens re: spooky for most of the book. Sure, there's rumors in town and the woods are preternaturally quiet, but nothing really happens. Plus, once things do start happening it doesn't feel as enmeshed in the world and the group's surroundings as things did in WMtD. In that book, the atmosphere and scenery and plot were one, you couldn't have that story set anywhere else. In this book, I feel like the story could take place anywhere with any characters, and I missed that singularity of the first book.

Easton talks a lot about Paris in this one. Or, at least they think about it a lot. So much of their energy is about loving Paris and wanting to be back in Paris and oh how used to Paris they've gotten compared to the countryside, and honestly it was a bit much. When they weren't thinking about Paris, however, I enjoyed being back in Easton's head and seeing them try to riddle through everything that was going on. We get to see a bit more of the impact war had on Easton in this book and I liked getting to know more about their background and how those things affected them. I also liked getting to see Easton interact with more people, since in WMtD it's mostly the Ushers, Angus, Ms. Potter, and Denton, of which three of whom were familiar to Easton and another one of whom is absent in most scenes. Here we're introduced to Widow Botezatu and her grandson Bors, as well as Father Sebastian, none of whom were previously known to Easton and so we get to see some new interactions.

Angus is back as his dry, no-nonsense self. His use of folklore once again comes in handy, though even he is somewhat skeptical of this new threat. He is, however, quick to remind Easton of their experiences at the Usher Manor whenever Easton is questioning what's going on. Angus and Ms. Potter get to interact more in this one, and their blossoming feelings have a chance to blossom some more.

Ms. Potter is also back and I adore her just as much as the first time around. I do wish we got to her more of her spiels about mushrooms and fungi, but understandably Easton is more than a little freaked out by such talk and thus it is limited. She is around to brighten the place up though and offer some comfort and advice from someone who knows things in this world aren't always what they seem. Plus, she's fairly unflappable and thus a good one to have around.

I did appreciate that the events of WMtD aren't swept under the rug, though they seem to have happened, at the very least, some months ago (perhaps years? I don't think so, but I'm sketchy on the timeline). The characters were impacted by it, and so it does get mentioned, but it isn't overly harped on, so I think there's a good balance.

Of the new characters, Widow Botezatu is in it the most and she's a likable-unlikable character. She does not like Easton in the slightest, though she adores both her grandson and Ms. Potter. The Widow is the kind of grumpy and gruff that's endearing, even if she never does totally warm to Easton. Against all odds, I do like the Widow and enjoyed her gruffness and eccentricities. I also liked her grandson Bors, who is generally a warmer sort of fellow.

Overall I did enjoy this book, but I missed the overall lingering weirdness of book 1. I would've also liked to have seen the atmosphere, setting, and plot be a bit more intertwined like in WMtD. That being said, I liked the characters and enjoyed seeing how everyone dealt with what was going on. I also did like the new 'monster' the group has to deal with and thought it did fit well with the Eastern European location of Gallacia.

Another atmospheric and creepy read by T. Kingfisher. What Feasts at Night is the second novel (novella, really) in the Sworn Solider series, and while I'm not sure that I enjoyed it quite as much as the previous book, What Moves the Dead, I still found it to be fast-paced and entertaining.

First off, I wouldn't recommend reading this one without already having read the first book in the series. While I suppose it could be a stand-alone if absolutely necessary, you'd be missing out on a lot of the backstory and there are some references to prior events that likely wouldn't make much sense. Plus, the first book is outstanding and if you're only going to read one, it should definitely be that one.

Not that this installment is bad by any means – it's quite the opposite. It's incredibly atmospheric and spooky, and yet also rather witty. Easton in particular has some truly hilarious lines. All of the characters are fantastic, however, from Hob the long-suffering horse to the mushroom-obsessed Miss Potter.

The plot is well-written and suspenseful. The locals believe that a moroi (a ghostly woman who sucks your breath away while you sleep) is haunting Easton's inherited hunting lodge. Easton isn't so sure she believes in such things (which, honestly, is a little odd considering the insane events of the previous book) but she can't deny that something strange is happening on the estate. The climax of this book revolves around a rather terrifying dream sequence, and although I'm not generally a huge fan of dream sequences in books, this one was really well done and is probably as realistic as such things get.

The descriptive writing is also really fantastic. You almost feel as if you're there in cold and damp Gallacia with Easton and her comrades, and Kingfisher certainly knows how to bring out the creepiness in a scene.

Final rating: 4.05 stars, rounded down. What Feasts at Night is a wonderfully unsettling and atmospheric read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

I found What Moves the Dead fantastically horrifying, so I had high hopes for this next entry in Easton's adventures. However, I don't think this one lived up to how good the first one was. I missed the creeping sense of horror and dread, and I felt like the emphasis was too much on the lead up than the actual supernatural occurrences. This entry sees Easton return home to Gallacia, Mrs. Potter (the savior of the first book) has requested the use of their hunting lodge to study mushrooms, so Alex is visiting to see things are in order. They are quite surprised to find that the lodge's caretaker has been dead for months and that none of the villagers want to discuss it. Turns out the old man's death was potentially supernatural in nature, and no one is wiling to risk being the next victim. The 'horror' this time was a bit less physical, as the main threat was in the victim's dreams. Which, of course led to a lot of 'wow is this a real dream or something brought about by having discussed the possibility' that takes up the majority of the book. What I was most interested in reading was Easton's past experiences as a solider, it was a fantastic addition that fleshed out their character and gave them more of one than the first book did. I still liked this book despite it not meeting my (perhaps too high) expectations, and would love to read more of Easton's horror-filled gothic adventures.