This New Queer Horror Novel Is Pure Delight
5/5 Sworn Soldiers
T. Kingfisher’s 2022 novel What Moves the Dead wasn’t just a sumptuous new take on Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” It also marked the debut of Alex Easton, one of horror’s most delightful new heroes. Now Easton is back in a chilling new adventure, and things are getting personal.
In What Moves the Dead, Easton—a nonbinary war vet with PTSD, a dry wit, and a big heart—visits a friend who’s deathly ill. After Easton and the other characters discover a fungus infestation in the Ushers’ home and see some things they’ll never unsee, Easton tries to return to their quiet postwar life.
The new installment in Easton’s story, What Feasts at Night, begins when Easton and their servant Angus visit Easton’s isolated hunting lodge in their native country of Gallacia. It turns out Easton can’t catch a break: Once there, they find themself embroiled in another horrific infestation. This time, the problem is a creature that consumes its victims in their dreams. Killer fungus is bad enough, but what happens when you can’t even be sure the monster you’re dealing with is real?
In What Moves the Dead, Easton is mostly a spectator to the horrific goings-on, watching as the Ushers succumb to the infestation in their home. In What Feasts at Night, Easton is thrust into the center of the haunting, which means we get to dig into aspects of their character that the first book only touches on. By attacking Easton’s dreams, the monster, called a moroi, forces Easton to relive their days as a soldier, and the story becomes a double haunting: the literal ghost feeding on Easton, and Easton’s wartime memories. The novel manages to be funny, scary, and deeply tender all at once.
The spooky ancestral home is a trope that Kingfisher leans on a little too much in her horror novels, but she does it very well, and What Feasts at Night is no exception. Gallacia isn’t a real place, but with its moody forests and bountiful folklore, it feels authentic. Easton and the other characters form an unlikely but lovable team (even when they can’t stand each other). Every page is full of Kingfisher’s iconic humor and world-building.
Is there another Alex Easton horror novel in the works? On the one hand, I want poor Alex to get some time to recover from the multiple traumas they’ve endured. On the other, I need more Alex Easton in my life right now. Kingfisher has created an unforgettable character in her sworn soldier, and I hope we haven’t seen the last of them.
What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier #2) is on sale now.
(featured image: Tor Nightfire / Getty Images / TMS)
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