What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher is a 179 page novella, the third in the Sworn Soldier series, published by Tor Nightfire in 2025.
Genre
Horror
The Blurb
The next installment in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America.
Alex Easton does not want to visit America.
They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.
But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do…
Opening Line
So this is America.
My Thoughts
“That is horrifying and I want to go home,” I said, although I pronounced it, “Ah, I see.”
Another absolutely delightful entry in the Sworn Soldier series!
As usual, Alex Easton finds themself enmeshed in the investigation of truly creepy happenings. This time, they’ve traveled to America at the request for help from their old friend, Denton. The doctor’s cousin has gone missing while exploring an old abandoned mine, where he wrote about hearing strange sounds and seeing the ominous glow of a red light deep underground, a light that winked out when he tried to approach it to investigate. Can Alex, Angus, Denton, and a couple of fresh faces find out what happened to the missing man before yet another nightmarish being finds them?
This third novella in the series is still creepy, hilarious, heartwarming in equal measure. You don’t necessarily have to read them in order to enjoy them, but this installment does reference things that happened in the first book, including spoilers. The Big Bad in this one relates to something relatively obscure I had been thinking about recently, which only further cements for me the conviction that Kingfisher writes these books specifically for me. I love them so much!
“Most of your muscles have to have your bones to anchor them and push against. Imagine…oh…trying to punch someone with your tongue…”
There was a pause while we gave this particularly vivid mental image the credit it deserved. I opened my mouth to mention a young lady of my acquaintance in Paris, but caught a glimpse of Denton’s expression and closed it again.
Jessica Crawford 