Rating:

What Dies in Dreams

Author: T. Kingfisher

After the literal horrors of Usher Mansion, Alex is ready to ditch the moody gothic moors and head to the bright lights and jubilant sounds of Paris. But, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. Miss Potter wants to explore the myconid life of Alex’s dour homeland, Gallacia, and Alex’s right-hand man, Angus, is smitten with Miss Potter. So, Alex agrees. After all, how bad can it be to return to your home anyway?

The answer is: very bad. Alex returns home to find the caretaker dead, the place in ruin, and a weird rumor around town that something horrifying is now walking the dreams of those who dare to stay in the estate. Alex stays anyway. She’s a sworn soldier, has walked through the valley of the shadow and all that, and is not afraid of folklore and mystical monsters, despite what went down at the Usher’s. Can you say: bad idea?

I was surprised that What Moves the Dead was the start of a series, featuring the sometimes annoyingly jocular ex-solider, Alex Easton. I was even more surprised when I loved What Moves the Dead, even though it was a retelling (which let’s face it, often sets up a story to fail.) When I saw GoodReads advertising What Feasts at Night, with its creepy cover art and the promise of more horrifying adventures for Alex, I didn’t hesitate.

At first, I wondered. How can Alex, after having literarily seen a realm of fungus take over her near and dear friends, suddenly not believe in the supernatural? While Alex may joke at inappropriate times and take horrors too lightly, this is not a character who is a fool. But, T. Kingfisher, with her magical ways, gets around this easily, and Alex’s own explanations actually land. It works. I forgave the premise and got ready for some gruesome, surreal gothic horror.

Image by Square Frog from Pixabay

What Feasts at Night honestly can’t touch the first tale, as far as the monster is concerned. While the first tale was more horror, with a group including Easton piecing together the true story, What Feasts at Night is more mystery tinged with horror. And this time, despite the return of Miss Potter, Alex is surprisingly on her own, figuring out the horror more by accident than on purpose. Here, things just happen and the characters are along for the ride.

The narrative is less controlled here, our side characters sadly underutilized (especially Miss Potter!) and Alex more reactive than active. Yet, it still works. It could have been better . . . tighter, more horror combined with more detecting, but it still works. It has that fever-dream charm, that gothic isolation, that brooding sense of rot and undergrowth hiding secrets hundreds of years in the making. It doesn’t have the cleverness or newness of the first installation in the series, but it is still very, very good and it made me long for more.

Overall, What Feasts at Night is a solid addition to Kingfisher’s growing lexicon of creative horror. Alex, as a character, is starting to feel more real here, less preachy and forced and more natural and in her element. The monsters are given some depth and mystery (is this monster, for example, innocent?) and the setting is suitably glum. We even get a more serious look into Alex’s past that promises more complexity for her future and gives us a deeper sense of a troubled psyche plagued with a soldier’s war guilt. I look forward to following this series further!

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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