Alex Easton, our beloved Gallacian sworn soldier, is back for another adventure, accompanied as always by the stalwart manservant Angus. Alex has been summoned to America, of all places, by their friend Dr. Dennison, who was one of the witnesses to the horrors that unfolded at the house of Usher. Dennison’s cousin has gone missing while exploring an abandoned coal mine in the wilds of West Virginia, and Dennison thinks that something supernatural may be afoot. Alex, who is certainly not claustrophobic, agrees to travel with Dennison and attempt to find out what happened to his cousin.
Like the previous two books in the Sworn Soldier series, What Stalks the Deep is a mix of horror, mystery, and very wry humor about topics varying from gender identity to Guam. (Seriously.) T. Kingfisher is very good at building up suspense until the reader (and the characters) are wound so tight they might snap. Kingfisher is also excellent at imagining the supernatural beyond the usual horror movie monsters. A sentient lake, a breath-stealing ghost, and now something so interestingly original I don’t want to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that – despite some really gross imagery – the supernatural at the center of the story is fascinatingly complex.
Much like Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, as long as T. Kingfisher keeps writing Sworn Soldier books, I will keep buying them. They are delightfully funny and frightful short novels that are full of gruesome imagery, humor, and wild imagination.