What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier #3)

Do you like mild horror mixed with a little sci-fi? Do you like Lovecraftian-inspired stories or the subgenre of speculative fiction called ‘weird fiction’? Will you adore anything that comes out of the immensely imaginative mind of T. Kingfisher? Are you claustrophobic? (I’ll explain that one in a minute) I’m just going to front-load all those questions now, because your answers to those will probably tell you if you’ll enjoy this third novella in Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series.

Gallacian Lieutenant Alex Easton has been summoned by their American friend Dr. James Denton to an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia where his cousin Oscar was last seen. Along with Easton’s assistant Angus and Denton’s Bostonian friend John Ingold, the group is told tales of a glowing red light emanating from the pitch-dark depths of the mine. Furthermore, when they go to explore, Easton hears wet squelching sounds that seem to be following them.

(Just a small aside here, but my vote at this point would be to turn and run and wish Oscar the best, but alas … I’m not a book character and no one asked me.)

Where are these mysterious red lights and odd noises coming from? All I can say is that when the answer was revealed it was kind of cool, really weird, but overall just a little … meh.  I’ve read and enjoyed a number of books by Kingfisher, and I usually adore her quirky humor and brilliantly bizarre stories, but I’m wondering if I’ve seen the bag of tricks too much at this point so nothing is surprising me anymore?

The story is creepy for sure and the abandoned mine setting will make even the most confident reader likely feel like those dark walls are closing in on them, but overall, for me the story lacked the punch I was expecting. After the reveal, things just got too weird for my personal tastes. I can’t say much without going into spoilers, but I’ll just say that the interactions between the group and any revealed characters and the ending went a little eye-rolly for me.

Where Kingfisher always shines for me and where I’ll give her props all the time every time is in that beautifully fun, bizarre imagination of hers and her quirky sense of humor. I don’t know any other author who can touch her in that respect!  It’s a well written story and her creativity is on full display once again, it just wasn’t the best story for this particular reader.

One other minor gripe: Easton uses the phrase "Christ's blood!” as their expression of surprise or emotion very repetitively to the point of annoyance … twenty times in this novella.  It’s not for any religious reasons that it annoys me, but if I kept shouting “BOOGERS!” every time I got upset, those around me might tell me to knock it off already. (Sorry for the gross analogy 😆)

I’m not sure if I’ll continue on with this particular series, but I’ll definitely keep Kingfisher’s books in my cue to read. She really is so much fun! This was an immersion read, and the audio narrated by Avi Roque bumped this up to a three star read for me. If I have to be stuck in a pitch black mine in Appalachia for a few hours, at least he provided a little “light”!