They Mostly Come Out at Night

Audio review: I think It's been a while since I've read a book with such spellbinding storytelling, dripping in atmosphere and elaborate lore. The plot was unnerving, yet rewarding. It reads like a folktale - with actual interludes featuring stories between each chapter, and in this case I can forgive my the lack of well-developed characters and character relationships (my usual preference). The story, the twists, the reveals, and the resolution were absolutely enough for me.

Logan lives in a small community, where they have to lock themselves in their homes at sundown for fear of the monsters that go bump in the night. To some degree, think of M. Night Shyamalan's “The Village” for the vibes. Their only protection is the Magpie King, an inhuman savior of lore that the villagers have never seen...until....

I recommend this for folks looking for a short, fantasy-horror, who like folktales, who want something completely it's own, or want a creepy forest (though it's not the forest's fault there are terrifying creatures that will eat you).

This book has been on my radar for quite a while. I am so glad I finally picked it up!

This story follows Lonan, a young man who lives in a village that hates him. He was wrongly blamed for the death of some villagers years ago, his father being one of those that died. Lonan could leave, but it is not safe to be out at night and there are no villages close enough to risk it.
He stays in the village hoping that one day they will realize what really happened that night. He watches his lost love, he forages for plants for the healer, and then at night he barricades himself in the cellar because he wants to live to see another day. He dreams.

I really enjoyed this book. I saw a lot of mixed reviews, but I thought it was really good. I loved the story, and I also loved the folk tales in between chapters. I will definitely continue the series.

The story starts out feeling similar to the movie The Village. Smithsdown is a small village in a great forest, and every evening the people shut themselves inside sturdy underground cellars. Monsters come out at night (mostly), hunting for anyone foolish enough to stay out after dark. Roughly half of the story takes place in and around the village of Smithsdown, though the author uses folk tales and dream to show more of the forest everyone lives in.

There's a lot of talk about hard vs. soft magic these days. This falls somewhere in between. You are rarely confused about what magic can and can't do, and it feels a little mysterious. One type of magic is Knacks. Each villager can develop a Knack, making them incredibly skilled at one specific thing. Outside of Knacks, there's the question of the other inhabitants of the forest. What are the monsters that come out at night? Who is the Magpie King who protects the villagers with his fearsome power? Is he even real? These questions are neatly woven into the story and give the feeling of a twisted sort of fairy tale.

Lonan is a young man who used to be the son of the village's blacksmith. For eight years, he has been shunned because everyone believes he allowed the monsters to kill his fellow villagers when he was a boy. Now, he forages for herbs to help the local medicine woman. Lonan can be alternately wise and immature for his age, which isn't that surprising given that very few people in his life don't hate him.

Several villagers play a prominent role in the story. Branwen used to be Lonan's best friend, but she hates him now. Even so, she's written to be relatable. Jarleth is the new blacksmith after Lonan's father died, and his main quality is that he's a dick.

Lonan basically has no friends, with everyone hating him for letting the monsters in years ago. He starts having vivid dreams about the legendary Magpie King, the formidable figure who watches over the villages of the forest. These stories are mixed in with a folktale every chapter, detailing the exploits of the trickster Artemis as well as the Magpie King.

The folktales add a lot to the story, and some of them are even directly relevant to the main plot. It reminded me a little of Kingkiller, but these stories were more immediately related to the rest of the story.

This is a debut novel, and it shows a little in the prose. Some of the dialogue is cheesy, but never so much that I thought it took away from my enjoyment. The prose isn't fancy, but it suited the story. Probably the best prose was during the folktales, which were spot on with capturing the feeling of traditional myths and legends.

The book was less than 200 pages long, so there's not a lot of fluff. I never thought the book dragged, and the alternating between Lonan's story, his dreams, and the folktales mixed things up.

This is a solid debut novel, and it feels pretty different from most other fantasy books. There's very little sword fighting, no knights or dragons or castles, and lots of stories within stories. The overall vibe is similar to a fairy tale, but more like Grimm and less like Disney. If you like things that are different from “normal” you might like this a lot.

If dialogue is the most important part of a story to you, this might not be your thing. Also, for a self-published novel there are very few editing errors, which was pretty impressive. That said, it's not 100% polished.

This book is free on Kindle Unlimited and something like $4 to buy. It's also pretty short, so it's not a huge investment in time or money. In my opinion, it's absolutely worth checking out. It's original, mysterious, and a damn good read.

I'm going to be really nice with my rating. This is an indie book and a pretty sweet one at that, so even though I will list some issues with it, I think it has value and Mr. Patrick deserves to be encouraged.

Monsters come at night to small villages in the forest, when people hide in the cellars. Because of a misunderstood incident, Lonan is treated like a horrible person, making everyone hate him, up until he starts having dreams about the mysterious Magpie King, who is the person supposedly defending the people from even more harm being done by the monsters. In the end Lonan needs to work with what he got to know through his dreams to save everyone, from the people of the Magpie King and his own loved ones, including the girl who refused even to be decent towards him until now because of that old incident in their childhood.

The thing I liked about this the most was the atmosphere. It actually felt like something you could see in a twisted fairy tale cartoon, with some interesting visuals. Maybe puppets or some sort, with dark colours. It just had that weird style, like some story that could be the written version of creepy stories told to scare kids. I don't know, it just really worked well. Sometimes it had odd choices of words (don't mention adrenaline in creepy fairy tales, it sticks out in an awkward way). All in all, this part of the story worked well.
I especially liked the little chapters of in-universe folk stories sprinkled in. I generally like it when the novels are broken up with things like that, so I guess not everyone will care so much, but I did. They felt like authentic stuff that could potentially exist.

The story itself had enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. Sure, it is a short one, but I felt like it had enough meat to make it worth your time. Not gonna lie, I am all for the action. This one performed well enough in that, so no complaints from me. Some new ideas thrown in were a tiny bit... abrupt for my taste, which I guess is not surprising in a book so short. Not much time to spend on world building and nothing else to set things up. Again, I approve.

Now we need to talk about two things that I am not wild about at all. I'm apologising already.

Mr. Patrick, please, get someone who checks your writing for teeny tiny inconsistencies. Once a character supposedly lost her mother, then she says father one time, then back to mother. Someone loses two fingers, then a chapter or two later he feels his finger, singular, he lost is hurting him. One character gets his face mauled and loses and eye, but later he has certain looks in his eyeS and all.
All these minors flaws can be solved with someone just reading the whole thing and paying attention. Honestly, the book could be much, much better with some careful eyes going through it. I'm nitpicky with those things and always notice them (god knows I have spent nights way back in time picking apart movies like LOTR for mistakes with my sister's ex-bf, annoying her to death). So yeah. There is that.

The other was the romance. Sure, I know usually folk storied and fairy tales don't really have the most nuanced and subtle love stories, but here I could have appreciated something. The main romance is Lonan and Branwen and I can't stand her. She is moody and colourless. Sure, there are explanations, but I saw absolutely nothing in her that would have made me buy Lonan's obsessive love for her. I saw no lovable thing at all. They were “meant to be”, but I wasn't sold on it. So yeah, that could have handled a bit more work, fleshing her out to seem something other than the most miserable person ever.

The final verdict is that this is a nice book that promises some pretty great stuff from the author in the future. I am planning on keeping an eye open for his new thing as they come out. Promising start. Not perfect at all, Mr. Patrick needs to polish his technique a bit here and there, but I think the talent is there and he seems like someone who has a possibly pretty great future ahead of him if he does that.

Good night and lock your doors carefully!