I don’t understand how T. Kingfisher manages to build up so much dread in her Sworn Soldier novellas, but she’s done it again in What Feasts at Night. We rejoin Alex Easton a few months after the terrible ordeal in Ruravia, and Alex pretty clearly has some PTSD from almost being taken over by a sentient fungus. But their friend (and fellow fungus survivor) Miss Potter has asked to use their hunting lodge as a base for mushroom hunting in Gallacia, and so Alex and Angus are back to their home country to host her.
When they arrive at Alex’s family hunting lodge, something is very clearly wrong. The caretaker is missing, the house looks like it has been neglected for months, and the springhouse has partially collapsed, contaminating the water source. The locals claim that the caretaker was killed by some sort of breath-stealing monster that now resides in the lodge. And Alex discovers that they have trouble being away from cities, and that the silence of the countryside feels so oppressive as to be suffocating.
Alex starts having strange dreams and experiences odd symptoms, while something seems to be draining the life out of the new caretaker, but how do you fight off something you cannot see?
Very atmospheric and delightfully creepy, What Feasts at Night is a quick read that’ll leave you feeling slightly unsettled long after you’ve finished it. (But just so you don’t think it’s all creeping horror, T. Kingfisher has injected their wry humor into Alex’s observations about their homeland, and it is honestly delightful.) I hope Kingfisher continues this series; Alex is a great character, and I love Kingfisher’s takes on different mythological creatures.