Series: Sworn Soldier

Book #3 in T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series, What Stalks the Deep features a great premise of mysterious occurrences and a disappearance at a long abandoned mine in the rural West Virginia countryside. Those that have been keeping up with the series should know what to expect, namely its frank and sarcastic narration courtesy of sworn soldier Alex Easton, a good sense of ambiance, and a grounded approach to paranormal horror beings. Compared to the previous two entries, this one feels like it has snappier pacing and a style that leans more towards a mystery thriller vs foreboding horror. While generally interesting and an overall quick read, I personally found this one to be less stylistic and atmospheric than the previous two books and the series in general, giving me diminishing returns with each new entry. Picking up a year or so after the events of the second book What Feasts at Night, What Stalks the Deep sees Alex Easton and Angus reunited with the American surgeon Dr. Denton, investigating the disappearance of his cousin Oscar in a poorly charted mine inherited by their family. While the eccentric mycologist enthusiast Miss Potter was the popular scene-stealer of What Moves the…

The second entry in T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series, What Feasts At Night is another atmospheric novella that prioritizes its foreboding tone paired with its vaguely historic 19th century setting. Unlike What Moves the Dead which was a modern retelling of the classic short poem the Fall of the House of Usher, What Feasts At Night is an original story set in the overgrown woods of the fictional country of Gallacia involving a local superstition in the area affecting Alex Easton’s inherited hunting lodge. While the general tone is carried over from the first novella, the actual plot felt considerably slower paced and lacked the tense buildup that I previously reviewed and appreciated. The “horror” elements were also quite brief and left me a bit underwhelmed despite the appropriately balanced prose and Easton’s signature sarcastic soldier humor. Carrying over majority of Kingfisher’s original cast characters outside of Edgar Allen Poe’s (with the exception of Dr. Denton who is apparently featured as a main character in the upcoming 3rd novella due to be published next year), What Feasts At Night benefits from all of the exposition and Gallacia world-building that was previously introduced in the first book. I had previously critiqued how the first book’s start felt too slow due…

Foreboding and just slightly unsettling, T. Kingfisher’s What Moves The Dead is an atmospheric modern retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous short story The Fall of the House of Usher. If one is familiar with the literary classic source material, you can roughly follow and know what to expect in this short novella. However, unlike the original short story, T. Kingfisher expands the classic tale with some clever ideas and twists that help this interpretation successfully stand out on its own. Additionally, added character motives, speculative fiction elements, and a bit of fringe science importantly attempt to address the source materials formulaic shortcomings and common criticisms, resulting in a solidly accomplished read that is accessible and not too spooky/disturbing for most readers. Clocking in at around 160 pages, What Moves the Dead is an easy to read novella that’s self-contained and straightforward. However unlike the original story that leaves a lot open to interpretation, T. Kingfisher attempts to fill-in and answer a lot of the unknown factors that Poe never explicitly addressed. A common point of criticism about most horror mansion/estate tales is questioning why the narrator doesn’t leave once they begin to encounter unsettling experiences. She addresses this by…