Prodigal wastrel Easton is returning to Gallacia with Hob, kan horse, and Mr Angus, kan long time friend, whose grunt vocabulary is impressive.
All things being equal, Easton would prefer to be in Paris but Miss Potter is coming to visit the fungus and practice her Gallacian.
What trash has the wind blown in, then?
It’s all very grim and grey, but that’s as Gallacian as carved turnip shutters. It’s not usually this quiet, though.
It seems that trouble follows whenever this trio are together. The current trouble involves the very real complications that result from a superstition coming for you. What feasts at night, besides me? It’s best if you find out yourself but it’ll take your breath away.
I loved the descriptions that reminded me early on that I wasn’t invited along for a simple catch up amongst the friends who survived the first book: “a tangle of vines draped over a bare tree like spilled entrails.”
Speaking of the first book, you really should read it before this one. This could be read as a standalone in a pinch but you’ll want to read What Moves the Dead once you’ve finished this one anyway. Plus, there’s spoilers for the first book here and you really don’t want anyone ruining the fun for you.
I’m aware that this is a cop out but I can’t choose a favourite in this series. I felt more dread in the first book but I enjoyed the interaction between the characters more in this one.
The depiction of PTSD (called soldier’s heart here) is authentic. PTSD invades every aspect of your life, regardless of the shape of the ‘war’ you survived. The impacts Easton experiences in this series are realistic.
I love catch-all phrases and I found one here that I’m going to have fun irritating people with, particularly when someone asks how I am when it’s a throwaway line, not a genuine inquiry.
“I’m keeping”
Make sure you save some mushrooms for Miss Potter and see if you can get the Widow to smile.
“Hmmph!”
It might be a good idea to check under your pillow before you go to bed tonight.
I now have a more pressing need for a book that gives Miss Potter centre stage. I see this taking place in England. Easton and Angus visit her, perhaps for a wedding. There’s a mycological emergency of sorts, possibly involving fairies…
“Until next we meet, young sinner!”
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this novella.
Once Upon a Blurb
When Alex Easton travels to Gallacia as a favour to their friend, Britain’s foremost mycologist Miss Potter, they find their home empty, the caretaker dead, and the grounds blanketed by an uncanny silence. The locals won’t talk about what happened to the caretaker. None of them will set foot on the grounds.
Whispers of an unearthly breath-stealing creature from Gallacian folklore don’t trouble practical Easton. But as their sleep is increasingly disturbed by vivid nightmares and odd happenings perplex the household, they are forced to confront the possibility that there is more to the old folk stories than they’d like to believe.
A dark shadow hangs over Easton’s house. And nobody will rest until justice is done.
Schizanthus Nerd 