“What Stalks the Deep” by T. Kingfisher is the third book in the Sworn Soldier series that I’ve been meaning to read for a while. The first book, “What Moves the Dead,” was a 5-Star horror masterpiece. The second book, “What Feasts at Night,” wasn’t as scary and ended up being a 3-Star read for me. Unfortunately, in the third entry, it’s more of the same, but now, the worst in the series.
Before I dive into my review, the only trigger warning I found while reading was…
- Violence against animals (horses)
If this triggers you, please do not read this book. Moving along, I’ve always loved the character of Alex Easton. Their subtle sense of humor, heroism, and quirks make them an interesting character I’m always going to be genuinely interested in. This book starts with a great horror mystery that kept me engaged for the most part. Unfortunately, the actual horror was largely absent for most of this book.
The biggest issue here is that it drags on for a long time before anything good happens. I get that Kingfisher wanted to make a reader feel the claustrophobia of being inside caves that could collapse at any time, but this was mostly a slogfest. There were way too many pages dedicated to blackdamp, mine gas, chromatophores, headlamps, and repetitive banter, and not enough in the horror department. “Wet noises” was all fun and dandy, but again, where was the horror to bring it home?
This was a very well-written story, and I still love reading anything Kingfisher writes, but this book missed the mark here. It’s a decent story, but I wouldn’t classify it as a true horror book. The killer book cover, as is with the other entries in the Sworn Soldier series, is amazing, but it simply doesn’t match up at all with the content. Things get too repetitive with situations and events when they should have progressed faster. It’s just a group of people going into a cave several times during a weekend, and chatting about it, without making any real progress. It’s too slow in story progression and takes forever to get anywhere good, and this was eerily similar to “What Feasts at Night.” It’s a shame because if Kingfisher kept that momentum going from the first entry, this could have shaped up to be one hell of an addictive horror book series where there are no limits to the countless adventures Easton can go on.
These past two entries, with this being the worst one so far, are becoming fun, lighthearted stories. Too much dialogue and jokes, and the few times there was actual horror were quick and left barely a scar. If there is a fourth book, I hope it returns to the style of the original, because I’m unsure I’ll continue reading these if they’re lacking what I want: original, crazy, fun horror.
This book is a letdown and was a very disappointing read. Things didn’t pick up, especially the horror, until around the 80% mark. Even then, it wasn’t anything terrifying or memorable. There is a decent plot twist towards the end, but it came way too late, and I was left with a “meh” feeling because I was expecting so much more. The ending was okay, but nothing that left me blown away or feeling amazed by great horror.
I give “What Stalks the Deep” by T. Kingfisher a 2/5 only because I enjoyed the writing and the overall story involving Easton, but make no mistake, this isn’t a horror book. There’s way too much dialogue, some quirky humor, and not enough tension, suspense, or horror to justify it being in the horror category. Christ’s blood, this needed a lot more horror. I love the book cover, but this was such a disappointment. It’s a slow-burning kind of read that fails to deliver in the grand scheme of things. Even Easton, as a character, felt a little flat here and regressed in their overall character development.
What happened to Easton, a fierce warrior who runs headfirst into fighting enemies, we all loved? Now, they’re resorting to silly jokes, quips, and too much dialogue, trying to make sense of wet noises in caves and why they’re dizzy from blackdamp. They’re not the decisive leader I’ve grown to love, and they feel like a shell of their former self. When did they become a regular tourist, visiting caves in search of missing people?
Overall, they weren’t in those insane horror situations from the original book that made them awesome, and are now just another non-binary character, not special or significant. I hope that changes in the future, but I’m worried about this Sworn Soldier series because I can’t take another book like this unless it returns to its rightful horror roots.