Bingo Square: 26 (2026 release)
I was actually kind of dreading this one when we chose it as our horror fantasy novel for fantasy book club. But why? T. Kingfisher is so fun and great and we all love her.
I had actually started this back in March or April when it came out and just lost interest halfway through because it was kind of slow, dare I even say boring. Fortunately, this second time around, I was able to stick with it and finish this novel in a day (it’s less than 300 pages).
If you have read Kingfisher before, much of the set up will be familiar: a single woman who is competent, has a craft or skill set she uses to support herself, rather down to Earth, and maybe a bit more curious than reasonable when it comes to science. In this case, she is an artist/illustrator, trained to draw plants for natural sciences collections and studies, but working for a bug guy now. There is something strange and creepy about the woods surrounding the scientist’s home with local stories about weird occurrences and rumors of blood thieves in the past.
As usual, Kingfisher created an interesting cast of supporting characters (I especially liked the healer) and set the stage well. The actual story felt very much like a monster that could have been featured in a Supernatural episode (there wasn’t one exactly like this but if you mashed up a few, you’d get close). It also explores the normal horror questions of who is the real monster, what makes us human etc. The biggest question as to whether or not to read it is just how you feel about bugs as a reader (also, how you felt about this nature documentaries where bugs would hatch their eggs in animals).
It’s not her creepiest novel for me – that is still far and away The Twisted Ones, which didn’t stick the landing for me. I did feel like this novel was a bit of a retread in ways. There is a scene with possum that likely would have been creepier if there hadn’t been a hare scene in What Moves the Dead. And while it’s bugs here, I have just maybe seen too much horror recently with similar themes even if different causes: where people lose control of their choices due to other organisms (What Moves the Dead, Mexican Gothic, even the scifi trilogy The Devoured Worlds) so that this didn’t feel super fresh.
It’s weird, because I love Seanan McGuire and happily read at least 3 books by her every year (she has 3 series with yearly releases) plus whatever extra comes out as Mira Grant and her short fiction on Patreon, and would happily read more, and yet, I have read much less Kingfisher but also feel like she just has so much. It may also just be that she just shows up everywhere which is causing the burnout (yes, I have been in 6 book clubs this year but Kingfisher was the choice for 3 book club discussions this year and two of them were rereads). However, sir I still have a very glaring gap when it comes to Kingfisher, and that is Swordheart, and maybe part of my issues is that I need to get back to her novels that fall more heavily into fantasy.
