What Feasts at Night
T. Kingfisher
What Feasts at Night is the second of T. Kingfisher's Sworn Soldier books. It is thus the return of Alex Easton, who is the sworn soldier after whom the series is named. It is also Alex's return to kan homeland Gallacia. (Remember that Gallacian has special pronouns, ka/kan, for soldiers.) Although Alex returns to kan homeland in What Feasts at Night, Gallacia is not kan home. If home is where the heart is, then Alex's home is Paris.
Indeed, the book begins with Alex riding through Gallacia and complaining, which is something of a Gallacian core competence, Gallacia being a nation uniquely suited to the pursuit of complaint as a full-time occupation. Alex and kan batman Angus are on their way to a hunting lodge that Alex owns, having inherited it some years ago. Alex's principle complaint is that ka doesn't want to be here. ka would rather be in Paris, and ka claims that Angus blackmailed kan into this visit. Angus of course stoutly denies this, then proceeds to reapply the blackmail. As we learned in What Moves the Dead, Angus admires Eugenia Potter. Mrs Potter (Beatrix Potter's aunt) is a formidable Englishwoman and avid mycologist. Angus leaned on Alex to invite her to visit kan lodge in Gallacia in order to experience Gallacian misery, molds, and mushrooms firsthand. Potter saved Alex and Angus from a horrible fate at the Usher mansion in Ruravia, so Angus argues that they owe her gratitude.
This plan runs into some hitches, and a plot ensues. You will not be surprised to learn that the plot involves sinister things wot feast at night.
For my money the plot serves mainly as a vehicle to illuminate Alex's character. Alex is a retired soldier. Ka fought in a war with Bulgaria. Although Gallacia is fictional, "Alex’s war is a very real one, the Serbian– Bulgarian War of 1885." as Kingfisher informs us in her Acknowledgments. She adds, "I can’t possibly do it justice in a paragraph, but it’s worth reading about if you ever want an object lesson in how not to invade Bulgaria. (Please do not invade Bulgaria under any circumstances.)" I'll keep that in mind next time I get the urge to invade Bulgaria.
The ambiguity of the preposition in the phrase "fought with Bulgaria" is intentional. As a result of these experiences Alex suffers from Soldier's Heart, an old and more evocative name for what we now call PTSD. The events of What Feasts at Night give Alex cause to display extraordinary courage and generosity, in kan characteristically understated way. To my mind, kan debt to Mrs Potter is paid forward with interest.
If the author were anyone other than Kingfisher, I would describe What Feasts at Night as an unusual combination of sensitivity and humor. But it is not unusual for her -- this is what Kingfisher does!
I thank NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for an advance reader copy of What Feasts at Night. This review expresses my honest opinions.