When I heard the title of the latest Sworn Soldier novella by T. Kingfisher, What Stalks the Deep, I thought, “Oh! Sea monster story!” When I saw the cover, I speculated, “Oh! Werewolf story?” In fact, this novella ended up reminding me a bit more of “The Devil in the Dark” episode from Star Trek: The Original Series, and of a certain John Wiswell tale, for reasons I won’t reveal, for fear of spoilers for all three. I found it to be a very entertaining read, a bit more lighthearted than What Feasts at Night, the second novella in the series, although containing fewer really memorable passages.
Alex Easton’s friend Dr. Denton, one of ka’s allies during What Moves the Dead, the first novella in the series, sends a wire across the ocean from West Virginia. Denton’s cousin has disappeared under mysterious circumstances while investigating an abandoned coal mine there, and Denton thinks he can trust Alex and ka’s former batman Angus to help without maddeningly insisting upon “reasonable” explanations.
Not that Alex won’t keep hoping for reasonable explanations. Ka doesn’t want the weird noises, especially the squelchy ones, to indicate anything more than an unfamiliar underground environment. Ka doesn’t want the creepy feelings to indicate anything more than a previously unsuspected claustrophobia brought about by knowing that tons of rock hang overhead. Ka doesn’t want the disappearances and other disquieting phenomena to mean anything at all.
But Alex also doesn’t want to let Denton down, given their history, and ka apparently still has something to prove to kaself, so down the mine they all go, Denton and Alex and Angus, and Denton’s assistant Kent and friend Ingold, looking for cousin Oscar and his helper Roger.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this novella is that, like What Moves the Dead, the investigation and subsequent reactions felt very much like an ensemble effort from the characters. Despite the characters accompanying Alex in What Feasts at Night, ka felt very alone and essentially resolved that situation kaself. Here, the resolution took the whole team; not everyone contributed equally, but several characters saved each other’s lives, or had useful insights, or talked sense into each other when unfortunate hasty responses to threats loomed. I love stories where people work together effectively, and this definitely has that.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the amount of communication that happened. Beyond the previous epistles from the absent Oscar, quite a few conversations happen, some of them by people who normally dislike talking about themselves; secrets are revealed through inadvertence or necessity, and even Alex has to talk about feelings sometimes. Moreover, in the main plot, when an explanation arises for some of the weird happenings in the mine, the characters demand openness but don’t immediately react with hostility, at least not all of them. That’s especially heartening after the desperate confrontations of the first two novellas in the series. But there’s still plenty of action in the end!
Although I loved this novella, Alex does not enjoy the events in it, and wants to return to Europe when the crisis is over. However, Denton and Angus convince Alex that it would be a shame not to see more of America while there. And so, I can hope for more American adventures for Alex and Angus in the future. In What Feasts at Night, Alex gave some great descriptions of ka’s homeland Gallacia, and plenty of wry insights about its people, but here, I was quite amused by Alex’s tourist impressions of America. I look forward to the next installment of spooky adventures!
Content warnings: Body horror, injuries, near-claustrophic close quarters in caves, deaths, offscreen harm to animals, identity issues.
Disclaimer: None; this was a library book. I love libraries!
