Another creepy novella featuring sworn soldier Alex Kingston. Ka and kan bodyservant are staying at the Kingston family hunting lodge, to which they have invited Miss Potter, the mycologist from the previous book. Things go creepy, starting with the missing caretaker.

This doesn't ping my horror-meter, although it is quite dark and in some places very disturbing. Good, though. Alex is a great character, and Kingfisher's voice is inimitable.

An amazing, eerie follow-up novel. Kingfisher is my new favorite for both horror and fantasy. Unique, inclusive, and always with great plot twists!

An excellent classic hair-raising sequel to the wonderful What Moves the Dead. One of the things I like about horror novels sometimes is that the titles sometimes turn out to be so very literal. This one is creepy and very satisfying. We get our favorite characters back, and I really love that the 5 sets of pronouns are both present and used throughout the story.

<b><font face="times new roman" size="11pt"> TW: Language, drinking, PTSD, stress, anxiety, depression, smoking, death </a></b>

<b><big>*****SPOILERS*****</b></big>
<b>About the book:</b>
Retired soldier Alex Easton returns in a horrifying new adventure.After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home. . . or in their dreams.
<b>Release Date:</b> February 13th, 2024
<b>Genre:</b> Fantasy
<b>Pages:</b> 150
<b>Rating:</b> ⭐

<b>What I Liked:</b>
1. The cover

<b>What I Didn't Like:</b>
1. I <u>still</u> don't like this narrators voice
2. Even more boring than book one
3. Repetitive

<b>Overall Thoughts:</b>
Oh my God I am so excited that I get to read about tinnitus 800,000 times!!! This tinnitus is Alex's complete personality.

This is book two and I just feel like the author just repeats the same sentences over and over again, but mixing up the order of it.

Honestly I don't care about this review. I don't like the story. I hate the characters. The tone is sluggish and boring.

Alex loves to complain and tinnitus and the war. That's their only story I even know about them after two books.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
Dnf at page 100. I am bored. All the characters just talk and complain. I feel like I'm reading book one all over again; go to house, sick person, and have to get them fixed. So repetitive. Didn't we already do this?

Author made a money grab splitting up this book into two when they clearly wrote one whole novel, but decided to split up a story that didn't need to be split.

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Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the advanced ebook. Thanks for Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a stunning sequel. We finally get to see some of Alex’s home (yes!) and learn more about their unique culture.

This is also a beautiful picture of PTSD and I’m continually obsessed with the achingly beautiful and sad writing.

Fear the shroom.

Conceptually this series is not my favorite of T.Kingfisher’s work, but everything she produces is exceptionally readable and well-paced, and the tone is always pitch perfect.

I liked the plot slightly better in this book than in its predecessor (PLEASE, NO MORE FUNGI-BASED HORROR. Sigh), but it’s not my favorite style of fantasy/horror and Kingfisher has created far more compelling characters and narratives in other work.

Atmospherically it’s fine, though again not the best of Kingfisher’s work. But I love the ever present subtle humor, as prevalent here as in the author’s other novels, and though I was less enthralled with the world building here, Kingfisher’s writing holds your attention even when the bones of the plot don’t succeed completely at doing so.

I loved What Moves the Dead and was shocked when a sequal was released! I loved the continuing atmospheric building and gothic feels. A little repetitive sometimes but for the most part i didnt mind that. My only draw back would be to have more of a storyline and plot compared to world building.

Kingfisher has done it again!!!! While the first book felt complete, I relished the opportunity to return to this world. This felt much quicker and faster paced, and the dramtic tension didn't build as much as a result but I still enjoyed it!!

Kingfisher's first book, [book:What Moves the Dead|58724626], is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's [book:The Fall of the House of Usher|175516], with less of an ethereal slant.

This sequel (now part of the 'Sworn Soldier' series) does not rely on gothic literature retelling to prick ears and draw more eyes. I thought I would have a problem with this (as I enjoyed Kingfisher's retelling efforts) but I did not. In this title, we find Alex Easton, kan's trusty Steed (HOB) and kan footman (Angus) as they make ka's way to an Eastman family lodge, deep in the heart of Gallacian autumn.

When they arrive, they find that the groundskeeper who had maintained the lodge had passed away, along with a town full of people with suspicions of the cause of death. They are able to find someone to temporarily take over the maintenance of the lodge, but creepy things do lurk in the woods (once again)...

I was very happy to see a cross section of Gallacian life, after hearing so much of it in Book One, and if all T. Kingfisher did for the rest of their career was add installments to the Sworn Soldier series, I would be a very happy reader.

Another horrifying delight from one of my favorite authors of quirky heroines & heroes. This one tackles PTSD, haunting, and moths in a creepy, foggy, forested landscape. The plot is simple but it’s the characters and internal dialog of the narrator that make this one so enjoyable.

What Feasts at Night was one of my most anticipated reads this year, and I could end the year happy if I blinked and it was December 31st. Being in Alex Easton's head is one of my favorite places, and the unerring forward movement, sharp wit, and well-crafted conversational tone have cemented them as one of my favorite narrators and characters.

This is a sequel (one of many? hopefully? hint hint?) to What Moves the Dead and follows Alex as they travel to their home country of Gallacia with the beloved Angus and Hob, intending to spend the autumn in their family's hunting lodge with Miss Potter. When they arrive, they find the caretaker dead with rumors that he was killed by a breath-stealing creature that walks in dreams. Alex isn't inclined to believe them, but the uncanny silence following them around the grounds and haunting them at night seems to prove otherwise...

Reading this made me wish that What Moves the Dead had been just slightly less iconic. I haven't yet mastered the art of judging a sequel on its own without comparing, and this book had a very different tone and atmosphere than the slow dread and horror of the first. The two have different bases and themes, though; What Feasts at Night did a wonderful job of building out Easton's past as a soldier and exploring PTSD. I also enjoyed the slightly less isolated setting, and T. Kingfisher has a phenomenal way with characters. I've never met one I wasn't engrossed by, even if I hated them, and I loved everyone between these pages.

While I may need time to round this up to a full five star, I still highly recommend this read and this universe. Thank you again to Tor Nightfire for approving me for this arc! I am eternally grateful. Please let me know what address you want my firstborn shipped to.

❧ 4.5 ★

This book definitely delivered some spooky vibes with some humorous moments in between. I loveeeeee some of the characters in this series and I’m glad they made a comeback from the first novella.

However, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first.... The mystery wasn’t as moving or engaging as the first one. I liked the idea of it, but it wasn’t as well plotted as the first novella.

Overall, I did enjoy this novella, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first story.

What a fun book! A sequel to What Moves the Dead, this new T. Kingfisher book is amazing. I highly recommend.

T. Kingfisher is easily my favorite author, butting up against the all-time favorite, Mr. Bradbury. This second in her novella series about a nonbinary former soldier in the late 1880s doesn’t retell a classic short story like the first one, but it is equally creepy and fun to read.

This time, we follow Alex and Angus (AND MY GIRL EUGENIA) to a hunting cabin deep in the heart of Gallacia. We learn the Gallacian lingo, a bit more about mushrooms, and some really fun lore.

I love these little gory nuggets that Kingfisher gives us. I love the character development. I'm in love with Angus and sweet baby Hops. I will follow this series as long as it continues. I did give this a half star less than book 1, but it was only because the heavy gothic elements in book 1 were more my vibe.

(4.5/5 stars)

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher is a gothic horror novella and the second in the Sworn Soldier series.

T. Kingfisher is an auto-read author for me. I really love their sense of humor, and how good they are at foreboding and foreshadowing prose.

Alex Easton, our gender queer point-of-view character, is a complete cinnamon roll. I will happily continue to read their story, especially if they keep running into weird stuff.

We have the continued exploration of mental health (Alex has PTSD from their military service). There's also new pronouns for the parish priest; in What Moves the Dead we learned that their country Galacia uses tons of different pronouns.

Other ties from the first book include Alex's batman Angus and the mycologist Miss Potter (and their budding potential romance). Hob, Alex's horse, continues to be a scene-stealer, though I was worried about him for a time.

While we do have another decaying estate in this installment, it's from unuse. Alex inherited a hunting lodge but hasn't really checked up on it in at least a decade. It's in a fairly remote area, and Kingfisher delves into folklore for the "big bad" of the novella.

I really liked this one. And gosh, these covers have phenomenal art.

T. Kingfisher’s What Feasts at Night, the second novella in the Sworn Soldier series, captivated me from start to finish. With a returning cast of great characters, a new chilling gothic mystery to confront, and delightfully grotesque prose, What Feasts at Night is a worthy follow-up.

While giving too many details would spoil the nightmare of a journey, I appreciated the subtle shift in tone in What Feasts at Night. This is very much a slow, creeping story of dread, the particular kind of dread that comes with doubting your reality. Alex continues to be a delight with bright spots of chuckle-worthy humor amongst the Horrors (TM). The plot itself wraps up nicely while leaving room for further entries in the series.

You could read this as a standalone, but if you’re interested in the series, you’d get more of it by starting at the beginning. And if you’re a fan of tightly written, evocative horror with a dynamic protagonist and gruesome imagery, this is definitely a series you should pick up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow, I was lucky enough to get this one on audio too and I flew through this! It was so captivating, I finished in a day!

This one was okay. But after the masterpiece that was the first book, I expected it to be stunning wonderful fantastic incredible, and instead I got pretty decent okay fine I didn’t hate it. So I’m a bit disappointed.

Book one was so spooky creepy horrible that I was thinking about it for weeks. It felt chilling and weird and the ending felt like a clean resolution and like all of the scariness came to a point and was dealt with. This one was just kind of there. It was a little spooky but it wasn’t chilling. I wasn’t shivering reading it. I was just like hmm. Okay. I guess that’s the ending then.

Overall: disappointed it wasn’t more like the first one :/

In "What Feasts at Night," T. Kingfisher delivers another atmospheric tale with Alex Easton and company. While not quite reaching the heights of its predecessor, "What Moves the Dead," this sequel still offers a satisfying blend of snarky commentary and foreboding atmosphere. The pacing might feel a tad slow, and the horror elements slightly less pronounced, but fans of the first book will still find much to enjoy here. Plus, it's always a treat to spend more time with Kingfisher's witty characters in their eerie surroundings.