Plot Summary
What Feasts at Night is a sequel to T. Kingfisher’s gothic reimagining of Poe’s classic, The Fall of the House of Usher. Though it is a sequel, there is no relation to the first story other than some brief references to what occurred in the first novel.
Note that there will be very minor spoilers for What Moves the Dead, so if you haven’t read that yet, I suggest you do before reading this review. Also, before proceeding, I wanted to note that I must have missed the fact that the main character, Alex Easton, is non-binary and hence referred to with the “they / their” pronouns. As such, I will do my best to follow through with those pronouns in this review and apologize for missing this fact in the first novel. I will do my best to revise my original review as soon as possible so as to respect these pronouns (yes, even for a fictional character).
In What Feasts at Night, we see Alex Easton returning to their hunting lodge in their home country, Gallacia. Upon return, the caretaker under their employ is found dead and an eerie silence has fallen over the forest. There is speak of an old hag who sits on your chest at night, robbing you of your breath. Will Easton reveal the truth behind the mystery again before it consumes their breath?
Initial Thoughts
Firstly, I need to preface this review by professing my extreme excitement for this book as soon as I completed What Moves the Dead. Its predecessor was a hands-down 5-star read for me. You can read my review of What Moves the Dead here. That being said, I may have overhyped myself for this sequel, because I did not find it anywhere near as intriguing as the first. Unfortunately, I don’t feel I could recommend this book, as it felt like an unnecessary follow-up.
Critique of What Feasts at Night
A large part of the first third of this novella is spent with Easton, Angus, and a few other characters trying to find out what happened to Easton’s lodge caretaker. In fact, most of the first two-thirds of the book (in estimation) were spent on more backstory of Easton’s days in the war, their prior endeavors, and a little revisiting of the Usher story. There’s not as much scene-building as there was in its predecessor, which I found disappointing since I loved Kingfisher’s descriptive style in Sworn Soldier #1. It isn’t until the last third of the novella that we even get into any of the horror bits, and its honestly not horrifying at all. It’s so brief and unimaginative, I felt ripped off.
While I love the characters in this novel, I couldn’t bring myself to justify reading a horror novel for characters alone. So, when the characters are 5-stars and the plot is 1-star, I struggle to find a compromise for my overall review. I’d say that this follow-up was unnecessary based on my level of enjoyment reading it, and I wish more thought was put into a sequel. I didn’t hate it, so I’m giving it 2.5 stars for my enjoyment of the characters and the writing style.
Sorry for the brief review this time, but I just don’t have
much to say about this one other than maybe to save your money for one of
Kingfisher’s other books which I hear are fantastic. Onto the next one!
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