You know that feeling when you return home to the old country, to your family’s hunting lodge, ready to host a friend, only to discover that the caretaker you left to watch over the lodge has died and no one wants to talk to you about it or take over the vacancy? Well, Alex Easton knows that feeling.
What Feasts at Night is the sequel to T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead. Like that first book, it is moody and atmospheric with some moments of true horror, but it’s anchored by lovable characters who make you feel like everything is going to turn out in the end. And it’s very short, so you don’t have to spend a long time mired in the horror.
Each of these books is its own self-contained story, but What Feasts at Night directly references the events of What Moves the Dead, and doesn’t spend a whole lot of time reintroducing the character (it’s a novella, there’s no time to waste), so it’s definitely worth reading them in order.
While What Moves the Dead was a very clear and direct retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe, I don’t think What Feasts at Night is a retelling. It is, instead, inspired by certain elements of folklore.
At this point, I am pretty sure I have read everything T. Kingfisher has published under this name (she also writes children’s books under the name Ursula Vernon), and I’ll continue to do so. She basically never disappoints, and this is just one more in a series of hits.
CWs and TWs: Death, disease, PTSD, suffocation, and something bad appears to happen to a horse.
Format and Source: I only buy a handful of ebooks a year, and this was one of them. Purchased from B&N.
Book Bingo Prompts
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): Daydreams & Nightmares. I actually intended to use this for “Something Wicked” but it’s actually much more nightmarish than wicked, and I have another more wicked book coming up on my TBR. And with this, I have my first bingo on a Nook & Cranny card!
Book Bingo Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 9 out of 25 prompts complete. 1 bingo.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 4 out of 25 prompts complete. 0 bingos.
Brick & Mortar: 19 out of 25 prompts complete. 4 bingos.