I really love that this series became a sequel.

Alex Easton is a lovely, if sarcastic, narrator. If I must compare kar to other characters kars very much like a Watson, stuck in an eldritch Eastern Europe. Kingfishers world building is so rich a detailed. I admire how seamlessly queer aspects are included, the idea that a profession is also a gender is fascinating idea I'd love more authors to write about. The characters balance between expected tropes and personalities to give unique perspectives.

The horror of "innocent monsters" is just so lovely and tragic. It really feeds into this theme of 'trying your best is not enough for the world to reward you' vibe that oozes off of the series.

“What Feasts at Night” by T. Kingfisher is the continuing adventures of Alex Easton. After the events of “What Moves the Dead,” Alex returns to Gallacia to find themself in another terrifying situation: their home is empty and their caretaker dead. Word around town is that a Gallacian folktale is real.

Written in the gothic style readers can expect from T. Kingfisher, this novella is a quick read. Don’t try to read it without reading “What Moves the Dead:” you might enjoy it, but some of the context and events of the previous book will be lost on the reader. Still chilling, still unsettling.

Thank you to T. Kingfisher and Tor Nightfire for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

I love T. Kingfisher, and this one did not disappoint! Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this one!

After the events with the Ushers Alex Easton heads to their homeland of Galacia and help friends at their hunting cabin in the forest. Something very strange is happening in this area and Alex needs to take on an adversary straight out of the folklore of the area.

After the events of What Moves the Dead we follow Alex to their hometown. It was a treat to read more about Alex and their home country. The damp dark forest made for an atmospheric setting for this tale as something sinister takes hold. The horror elements were incredibly creepy. However, they did not come into play until late in the novel so it had a slower start. At less than 200 pages it was still a really quick read that did not linger too long.

I would recommend this novel to those who want to know more after reading What Moves the Dead. This one will especially appeal to fans of dark fantasy and folk horror.

Fun and funny and dreamy with Kingfisher’s trademark irreverent charm. It’ll make your chest hurt with sympathy, terror, and laughter.

Alex and Angus are travelling back home to Gallacia to make ready the family hunting lodge for Miss Potter, who will be meeting up with them shortly. Alex hasn’t heard from the caretaker for quite some time, and once they arrive at their destination, they realize the reason. When they inquire in town there are whispers and superstitions among the townspeople. No one wants to take the job as caretaker, but they luck out by hiring a cantankerous widow and her grandson. It doesn’t take long for them to realize that something is very wrong with the hunting lodge– strange silences, a creepy stillness, and terrifying dreams that steal their very breath.

As a huge fan of this author, I was simply delighted for a second entry in the Sworn Soldier series which follows retired soldier Alex Easton. This is a fast read at only 147 pages, but it is big on the creepiness. The lovely Miss Potter has also returned, and she lightens every page, despite the dreariness of the backdrop. I’m here for a romance between her and Angus. Alex is once again tested by supernatural powers and I was on the edge of my seat, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. Especially for the kindhearted Bors.

All ends well, but the journey there is a dark, gothic delight.

Lieutenant Alex Easton is back after the dramatic and creepy events involving their friends Madeline and Roderick at Usher house. In great need of rest from that and the war effort, they bring along their valet Angus and their trusty horse Hob to spend some time at their inherited hunting lodge. Truth is, Alex is mainly going because Angus wants to spend time with quirky British mycologist, Eugenia Potter, who we met in the first book!

It’s not long before the saying “No rest for the weary” comes into play!

What begins with the mysterious absence of Codrin, the lodge’s long-time caretaker, devolves into a story of dangerous mythical creatures that have the superstitious people of Gallacia on edge - particularly Widow Botezatu, who’s taken Codrin’s place along with her grandson Bors. She clearly has no love in her heart for Alex, so is there more to the story of why she took the job?

I’ll only say that things start to get really weird at the lodge, and this novella will make you rethink going to sleep at night!

I liked this, and the one major draw for me to T. Kingfisher’s books is her sense of humor. She’s able to inject it into the darkest of stories and still bring a smile. I felt the tension and menace of the story, but her wit makes her brand of fantasy/gothic horror manageable for a horror wimp like me!

I liked the previous book just a bit more, but this still entertained me. I’ll be curious to see what Kingfisher comes up with next for this series!

A lovely sequel to What Moves the Dead. I enjoyed another weird tale told by Alex Easton. The story was fun and a little unsettling. It was great, I love a good folk lore monster. Will love reading more of these little adventures.

In What Feasts at Night, we are reunited with Alex, Angus, and Miss Potter from What Moves the Dead. Alex is faced with another supernatural force they can't quite believe is real until all rational explanations have been exhausted. Set in Alex's family lodge in Galicia, where superstition still reigns, Alex must confront the entity plaguing their dreams and stealing the air from their lungs. The question is: How do you fight a Dream?

I loved revisiting the eerie world T. Kingfisher has built in the Sworn Soldier Series. T.Kingfishers has set their talents to send chills down your spine with Gothic vibes, creepy settings, and descriptive prose that may have you flinching in disgust. The imaginary Kingfisher employs, paints a vivid world full of uneasy dread. Horror fans will have their toes curled in delighted horror.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing for an advance copy of What Feasts at Night.

I was surprised and excited when I learned that What Moves the Dead was getting a sequel, especially because the previous book in this series was a retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. As far as I know, this isn't a retelling. It's a continuation of Alex Easton's story.

This one had an interesting premise. Easton and Angus end up at a hunting lodge that villagers won't go near. The caretaker is dead and no one will tell them how he died. The villagers seem to be afraid of a breath stealing monster.

I enjoyed catching up with characters from the first book. The pacing felt almost like a slow burn with light horror. Then the story starts moving really fast, to the point that it felt a bit rushed towards the end.

I read that the author started writing a sequel to What Moves the Dead and then realized that another book had to come before it. This might explain why the story feels like it does.

Overall, What Feasts at Night was enjoyable. I would have just wanted it to be a bit longer/more developed and a dash more horror. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I'd recommend this short & quick read to anyone, especially those who like stories about folklore.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for review.

It's not as if we sat together and you said, "Alex, tell me a tale where you had a pleasant trip to your homeland and the worst menace you faced was the amount of paprika the Widow put in the sausages." No, you wanted a proper hair-raiser and here I am, trying to tell you one, whoever you are.

This was more an interesting look into Alex's homeland of Gallacia instead of an actual horror novella. The horror part wasn't super scary, IMO. It was how everything was handled that was horrifying—the casual shrugs and brush-offs. The absolute lack of concern and chalking stuff up to local superstition...all while the lingering doom of the previous book's events park themselves on everyone's shoulders.

It was good. I was entertained.

I would like another, please.

Perhaps set in Paris?

I liked What Feasts at Night even more than What Moves the Dead. Alex, Angus and Miss Potter are back in a potentially haunted house-- and with new characters as well. I loved the day today scenes and the creeping horror of the spirit. Alex is a great character and the semi fantasy element works well. I highly recommend this book.

This was a slower paced follow-up to What Moves the Dead, heavy on character development and atmosphere -- it read more like an interlude than a fully fleshed-out novel or novella, but that seems intentional and I definitely enjoyed being back with these characters and this voice!

I didn’t love the first one and truthfully am u familiar with the original book this was based in, overall this was fine but I’ll probably sit out the rest of the series

Kingfisher is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. This is a sequel to _What Moves the Dead_, which was a new take on the "Fall of the House of Usher." This work is less of a re-telling (or if it is, it is not a work I am familiar with), and is in my opinion, even better than the first in the series. This was mysterious without being confusing (which seems to be a hard line to balance) and kept me engage throughout the whole book. The supernatural elements were woven in smoothly so as not to strain my credulity with any one event. I liked (and disliked) the characters as the author seems to have intended. The likable characters were not *so* good as to be unbearable and the dislikable characters were presented as still having redeemable qualities OTHER than likability. The book was tightly plotted and very enjoyable.

There is a single sequence of horror in this book so beautifully described, so perfectly nightmarish and evocative, that it's stuck with me a week later. (The cover of the book evokes it nicely.) I really like the protagonist here, and the worldbuilding, with all its odd and specific pronouns (including for gods!), and the occasional passage like that, of just incredibly striking emotion and impact. But I wish the dramatic finale here had anything like that impact! After all the buildup, the resolution of this story comes so quickly and easily, so slightly, that I assumed there had to be more to it. One of those books that I wish was a few chapters longer, not just because I enjoy being in this world, but because it felt a bit incomplete by the end, given how much of the action here is just leadup and low-key life incident, and how quickly the central conflict arises and disappears.

Sworn Soldier Alex Easton is back to face the terrors of the night, this time in their homeland of Gallacia. Alex and their friend and companion Angus go back to Alex’s hunting cabin to prepare for a visit from their friend, mycologist, Ms.Potter, to find it abandoned, their caretaker dead from a lung ailment that he seemed to catch in the cabin. Rumors abound regarding a legendary creature that steals the breath of their sleeping victims. Can Alex and their friends stop the creature before it’s too late?

T. Kingfisher’s remarkable prose makes for a wonderful reading experience. Descriptive in a smooth and flowing way that makes time fly by with each page, this book is lush with dark imagery. The reader will feel like they are there in the forest on cold days and nights facing an unknown threat, along with its characters. Yet the humor of Alex’s unique viewpoint keeps things just light enough to give this folk horror novel feel a cozy and warm. For its short length, What Feasts at Night is an all-immersive experience that treats the reader to a journey where supposedly mythical creatures live and have the power to steal lives. The worldbuilding was excellent, and sure to captivate readers who love folklore and reading about the legends of particular countries, real or created in the mind of the writer. Kingfisher has such a way with creating quirky and imminently lovable characters that will stay on the mind and in the heart long after the story ends. There needs to be more stories. This reader is not ready to say goodbye to Alex and friends.

Alex Easton and their friends return to us in the much anticipated sequel to What Moves the Dead. This time Easton, Angus, and Miss Potter are visiting Easton's family hunting lodge in their home country of Gallacia, expecting a calm vacation after their debacle with the Ushers and their sentient mushrooms. Instead, they find the lodge's caretaker dead and the nearby villagers whispering about a moroi -- a breath-stealing spirit -- haunting the grounds. Persistent as ever, the crew find the only two people willing to live and work there while they all enjoy their getaway, only to find themselves questioning the validity of the local superstition when odd things start to occur and people start to get sick.

The success of the first book I'm sure led to the inception of the sequel, but it really didn't feel like a sequel aside from it being the same characters. The setting was different physically compared to that of the first book, but it has a very similar aura. It was more bitter and still than the swampy dankness of the Usher's tarn, and the rundown cabin compared to the medieval manor create a different world. Both have a similar ambience with the unsettling undertones though. Both buildings are broken down and worn, and are thought ill of by the local villagers; There is isolation and macabre that parallel between the books. Though this is of novella length, the conflict really took a bit to rev up, and similarly to the first book, the true horror came much later in the book than expected.

I received this ARC in e-book format in response to reviewing the first installation What Moves the Dead. The story itself wasn't particularly difficult to read. More than anything there was just a lot of messy, seemingly unedited writing throughout that was distracting or irksome. That, however, may also be due to this being an advanced copy; Editing often happens in-between the release of ARCs and the official publication. I think that this book was written with a lot of intentions in mind, for all of these things to be successfully conveyed they either needed to be pared down or the book needed to be longer.

Overall, I took away a lot of interesting epiphanies about what I think is necessary when writing a sequel that I hadn't thought about before, even when studying it. It also spurred a few creative ideas of my own. Online, it seems like those who have already read T. Kingfisher works or What Moves the Dead very much enjoyed this book.

OMG this was an amazing second book to the sworn soldier series. The imagery was horrific and gothic and unsettling and amazing. I loved having Alex and Angus back in my life. The focus on PTSD and tinnitus in Alex was also well done. Also the moroi and folklore involved in this novella was so well done as well. Moroi are creepy AF and now I won't see moths the same way. I'll leave that there. Oh, and horses.

We're back for another story of Alex Easton, who is headed to her family lodge and is in for a surprise. Upon arrival she and Angus find the caretaker Codrin has died in their absence and the town talks of a demon of nightmares that stalks the grounds.

T.Kingfisher was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. Now some people like Austin or Dickens, but I hold Poe to be one of the best classic writers of time. It all comes down to atmosphere. A good Gothic Horror should have a setting as ghostly as its monster and as much a character as its hero, and Kingfisher delivers.

In the opening pages, it's implied that Alex is a she, which surprised me. (I'd been calling her he, up until she announced that her father had no sons.) She is an interesting character, war heroine, naive skeptic, and altogether force to be reckoned with when pressed. Her chaperone/sidekick Angus is always steadfast in his support and Miss Potter, a quirky companion, returns to analyze her mushrooms in a new location.

Kingfisher writes a second fast-paced, gripping mystery as good as the first. You can read it one sitting if you've got the time or savor it slowly if you don't.