Publisher: One More Page
Date of publication: June 16th, 2016
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Dark Fantasy
Series: Yarnsworld
They Mostly Come Out at Night—Book 1
Where the Water Turns Black—Book 2
Those Brave, Foolish Souls from the City of Swords—Book 3
From the Shadows of the Owl Queen’s Court—Book 4
To Dream and Die as a Taniwha Girl—Book 5
Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks | Alibris | Audible | Kobo | Better World Books
Format Read: eBook
Purchase From: Amazon as Free eBook (not free now)
Trigger Warning: Violence
Goodreads synopsis:
He locked himself away from the dark, but in the Magpie King’s forest nowhere is safe…
Lonan is an outcast, accused of letting the monsters that stalk the night into the homes of his fellow villagers. Now, he will not rest until he wins back the heart of his childhood love and reclaims the life that was stolen from him. However, locked safely in his cellar at night, in his dreams Lonan finds himself looking through the eyes of a young prince…
Adahy has a destiny, and it terrifies him. How can he hope to live up to the legend of the Magpie King, to become the supernatural protector of the forest and defender of his people? But when the forest is invaded by an inhuman force, Adahy must rise to this challenge or let the Wolves destroy his people.
Watching these events unfold in his sleep, Lonan must do what he can to protect his village from this new threat. He is the only person who can keep his loved ones from being stolen away after dark, and to do so he will have to earn back their trust or watch the monsters kill everyone that he holds dear.
They Mostly Come Out At Night is a Dark Fantasy novel from Benedict Patrick’s Yarnsworld series. If you like Neil Gaiman and Patrick Rothfuss then you will love this captivating, dangerous world in which ordinary people struggle to find their place in a land ruled by stories.
Start reading today to discover this epic tale of dreams, fables and monsters!
First Line:
Splintered wood, teeth and claws, blood in the night.
They Mostly Come Out at Night by Benedict Patrick
Beginning of Book Impressions:
I was pretty excited to read They Mostly Come Out at Night. Honestly, this has been the most exciting that I have been reading a book in a long time. I couldn’t wait to see what this book would be about. You know what? I wasn’t disappointed!! They Mostly Come Out at Night ended up being what I thought it would be and then some.
The book started fast and kept up the pace until the middle of the book. It took me a couple of hours to get through the first half of the book. That is a good thing seeing that I read before bed. I had to make myself stop reading because I needed to sleep.
Several things are revealed in the first half of the book. I am going to bullet point them with brief explanations. If I wrote paragraphs, this review could get lengthy, and we wouldn’t want that, would we!!
- The main characters. Lonan, the village outcast, and Adahy, the heir to The Magpie King’s throne. Out of the two, I liked Lonan the most. Even though the village shunned him, he was a good person. Plus, he was the only person who knew who and what Jareth Quarry was. Adahy, I liked him, but I thought he was weak and not fit to take over The Magpie King’s role.
- The Knacks. Everyone in Lonan’s village had a Knack. Everyone, except Lonan. It was another blow and another thing for people to taunt him over.
- Adahy’s relationship with Maedoc. Maedoc was Adahy’s whipping boy. If you don’t know what a whipping boy was, click here. To me, it was a warped relationship, but Adahy honestly thought that Maedoc was his friend.
- The folklore (fairy tales) that were included instead of regular paragraphs. It gave so much background into The Magpie King and the different Animals that certain groups of people took their names from (Mouse, Owl, Wolf). I liked that the author gave the reader a chance to make up their mind on how much was right with the folk tales.
By the end of the beginning of the book, some details were starting to come out. Lonan wasn’t responsible for anything, and Adahy wasn’t ready to become King. I was still trying to figure out how Lonan and Adahy were connected but was coming up blank.
Mid-Book Impressions:
The pace of the book did not slow down during the middle of the book. It picked up. I was left on the edge of my seat during several scenes.
Again, there is so much going on in this book; I will bullet point it to keep it straight.
- Jareth’s campaign against Lonan starts to unravel, and Jareth’s Knack is revealed. Jareth’s hatred for Lonan is also disclosed. I wasn’t surprised at what was revealed. I was saddened, though.
- Adahy’s quest to become the next King Magpie. I thought it was nuts. I also thought that bringing Maedoc with him was, well, not well thought out.
- The introduction of The Pale Woman. Talk about someone who freaked me out!! A faceless woman who kept the flower that Adahy needed to become the Magpie King. My spidey sense started tingling because Mother Ogma had mentioned her in a previous chapter.
- Branwen gradually starting to talk to Lonan again and Jareth’s insane reaction to it. I got why he acted the way he did but still.
- The reveal of Lonan’s Knack. I wasn’t surprised at what it was, but I was still confused about how Lonan and Adahy were connected.
- Maedoc’s betrayal of Adahy. I should have seen it coming. But I didn’t, and it was a shocking way to end the middle of the book.
- There were more folk tales about The Magpie King. But there were also a couple of stories about The Mouse King. Those tales foreshadow what was going to happen between Maedoc and Adahy.
End of Book Impressions:
The end of the book was fantastic!!! I loved that They Mostly Come Out at Night kept up the blisteringly fast pace. There was a twist that I didn’t see coming and one that I did.
I liked how the author brought Adahy and Lonan’s stories together. Any confusion that I previously had gone away when their connection was explained. It made total sense.
The Jareth angle of the book was ended at the beginning of the end of the book. I loved seeing that he got what was coming to him (sorry, not sorry). I also liked that the villagers went out of their way to make things right with Lonan. The only thing that wasn’t resolved was Lonan’s relationship with his mother. I figured that she came around with the rest of the village.
I am not going to go into the rest of the book. All I will say is that Lonan became what he was meant to be. But that came at a high cost. That final scene with Mother Ogma broke my heart.
My Overall Thoughts on They Only Come Out at Night:
I enjoyed reading They Only Come Out at Night. The dual storylines with small chapters of folk tales kept my attention. The lore was fantastic and made me want to know more. The characters were well written, and the plotline was fast-moving. There was no lag.
I would recommend They Only Come Out at Night for anyone over 16. This is a clean book (no sex).
This sounds like a pretty great book. I love that cover.
It was a really good book!! The cover was the main reason why I got the book…lol.