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Feast
A feast will come, of carrion all…
Kenrig Ebermann has devoted her life to the pursuit of the unquiet dead, but when a chance encounter draws her into a bargain with the otherworldly Unseelie she faces a threat unlike any other. The dread spectres torment the living and the dead alike, and their presence heralds misfortune across the disparate Marches.
Aided by her apprentice Dandall she must find a way to free innocent souls from the Unseelie’s strange feast, but Dandall is reeling from grief and his presence might just doom them both. Unknown to him, Dandall is the subject of prophecy and Kenrig is forced to question the tenuous trust between them.
The veil between life and death draws thin. The shadow of the Otherworld falls across a divided land.
Kenrig Ebermann has devoted her life to the pursuit of the unquiet dead, but when a chance encounter draws her into a bargain with the otherworldly Unseelie she faces a threat unlike any other. The dread spectres torment the living and the dead alike, and their presence heralds misfortune across the disparate Marches.
Aided by her apprentice Dandall she must find a way to free innocent souls from the Unseelie’s strange feast, but Dandall is reeling from grief and his presence might just doom them both. Unknown to him, Dandall is the subject of prophecy and Kenrig is forced to question the tenuous trust between them.
The veil between life and death draws thin. The shadow of the Otherworld falls across a divided land.
- GenresFantasy
299 pages, Paperback
Published March 4, 2023
27 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Simms
2 books6 followersStuart Simms is an aspiring Scottish author currently based in Denmark. In October 2021 he released his first book Elementals, a collection of fantasy short stories inspired by his experiences of mental health. He hasn’t won any awards, but there’s still time. Even if awards aren’t forthcoming, he’d claim to be unaffected by it.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 1, 2023
Okay, so this opens and it’s pretty apparent to me that this will appeal to those who enjoy classic fantasy/folklore/fairy tale subgenres. This is a story revolving around the Unseelie and the horrors they inflict on people, which are varied and horrific. The main character, Kenrig, is a middle aged woman who goes across the land hunting down bad guys/monsters essentially. She basically just tries to help people with their protection needs but isn’t trying to be a dick about it (not extortion like the mob). She’s got this side kick character, Dandall, who isn’t exactly overjoyed to be paired up with her. Their relationship is a bit complicated since a few years prior to the events of the book she tried to help him and his father, but unfortunately his father ended up dying. It’s been the source of sourness between them ever since, despite him knowing it really isn’t her fault. It’s a tenuous relationship and he’s a fairly sullen character through much of the story. Early on, they run into this girl named Lissi who can See in her dreams, and she Sees that Kenrig goes to the Unseelie to aid some villagers that have become trapped and tormented and the subject of a Feast. So, that’s basically the plot of the book, it’s fairly straightforward — rescue villagers from the Fae/Unseelie.
It took me a while to come around to the characters and that’s because so much page time/words were spent building up the plot or the world building and I feel like the characters and what made them tick came into play later. Once I got a little more background and got into the heads of the various characters as they do jump around a bit, I got much more into the characters and therefore the story. So, even though the plot was straightforward and started right away, the pace was slow for me until I began to care about the characters.
Now, it was a touch predictable in that the story can’t end in too many different ways, either she succeeds or she doesn’t. It’s not like an intricate story with tons of moving parts, politics, wars, battles, etc., and you have no idea how it’s all going to land. This is a much more streamlined story with a much smaller cast. There really isn’t a whole lot of other characters in this story outside of the three of them up against the Fae. I did like the creepy AF atmosphere and the truly old school feel of this. This is definitely a story for people who like the ancient and creepy folklore where fairies aren’t nice and the Underworld is a fucked up terrible place to end up.
This is not a long book and once I began to understand and care about the characters the pacing picked up for me and it does end in a whirlwind of action with the Wild Hunt coming into play. There was also a level of tension building up since you didn’t know if Kenrig was going to be betrayed by her sidekick or not since he was in a prophecy showing betrayal so there were big world and small scale tensions throughout. I felt like the prose style was nicely done and kept an even tone which can be difficult to do with these sorts of stories.
Anyway, I enjoyed myself with this one and think it will appeal to people who like classic dark fairly tales/folklore. I’m not doing scores for all the books this year. You will but “cut” or “safe” and I’ll give some scores when I pick semifinalists!
It took me a while to come around to the characters and that’s because so much page time/words were spent building up the plot or the world building and I feel like the characters and what made them tick came into play later. Once I got a little more background and got into the heads of the various characters as they do jump around a bit, I got much more into the characters and therefore the story. So, even though the plot was straightforward and started right away, the pace was slow for me until I began to care about the characters.
Now, it was a touch predictable in that the story can’t end in too many different ways, either she succeeds or she doesn’t. It’s not like an intricate story with tons of moving parts, politics, wars, battles, etc., and you have no idea how it’s all going to land. This is a much more streamlined story with a much smaller cast. There really isn’t a whole lot of other characters in this story outside of the three of them up against the Fae. I did like the creepy AF atmosphere and the truly old school feel of this. This is definitely a story for people who like the ancient and creepy folklore where fairies aren’t nice and the Underworld is a fucked up terrible place to end up.
This is not a long book and once I began to understand and care about the characters the pacing picked up for me and it does end in a whirlwind of action with the Wild Hunt coming into play. There was also a level of tension building up since you didn’t know if Kenrig was going to be betrayed by her sidekick or not since he was in a prophecy showing betrayal so there were big world and small scale tensions throughout. I felt like the prose style was nicely done and kept an even tone which can be difficult to do with these sorts of stories.
Anyway, I enjoyed myself with this one and think it will appeal to people who like classic dark fairly tales/folklore. I’m not doing scores for all the books this year. You will but “cut” or “safe” and I’ll give some scores when I pick semifinalists!
October 22, 2023
This novel took a little while to get going but once I got into it I really enjoyed it. I love dark stories set in fantasy worlds so this was right up my street. The atmosphere in this story was quite creepy and I think that really added something to the world it was set in. The character development is really interesting and I like Kenrig. I was quite tense trying to work out what was going to happen to her. I think if you enjoy dark fantasy then this is a good novel for you.
I received a gifted copy of this novel. This review is my honest opinion and written voluntarily.
I received a gifted copy of this novel. This review is my honest opinion and written voluntarily.
Want to read
February 20, 2024This is not a full review. I read through the beginning of all 300 SPFBO9 contest entries. This was a book I wanted to read more of.
A pair of adventurers meet a girl at a crossroads who has dreams that come true, and she tells them she dreamed they would come to talk to the eerie-folk that took everyone from her village.
This has a Witcher quality to it. Theres an oddness and eeriness about the setting and the inciting incident, which is to its credit. It leans on dialogue to move the story along. That dialogue and the prose are both competent.
Our MC’s apprentice(?) is a sullen, teenage doofus, in stark contrast to our armed and world weary MC. The character distinction was colorful and interesting. As was the introduction of our singing child who has dreams.
There’s a lot I don’t really know yet. I don’t know what it means that our MC makes her living on the road. I don’t know if she’s an adventurer or mercenary or bandit or what. Our narration has oddly resisted being explicit about this.
The narration also makes an odd choice to introduce our singing child, and then zoom back in time to tell us about some of our MCs travels to explain why she’s mud-stained. While the details were all interesting, it was a distraction better placed elsewhere.
I’m confused motivationally-speaking here, as well. The way our child seems but to notice our characters until they dismount and walk up to her and interact with her had a video game npc quality to it.
That’s a small detail in and of itself, but the subsequent actions and conversation between the girl and our MC were also hard to follow.
It was as if our MC saw a quest marker over this child’s head and interacted with her accordingly.
Our child tells her she dreams things that come true. And that she dreamed she would meet them here, and that detail retroactively makes me question the whole process of this interaction.
It’s as if only at that moment did the author decide the girl had actually dreamed of our MC. I’m not suggesting that IS the case, but that’s how the conversation feels.
I don’t know what profit our MC expects to get from a town where the people are dead and taken by eerie-folk. I’m not let in on those kinds of details. It’s a hurdle to my enjoyment.
I happened to glance at the description of this book, and it says immediately that our MC is dedicated to pursuing the unquiet dead. I wish this had been introduced in the narrative.
But despite this and some clunky action, this has an evocative inciting incident. It has a subtle sense of humor and distinct characters. I like where it ends up, and I want to read a bit more, so I’m in.
A pair of adventurers meet a girl at a crossroads who has dreams that come true, and she tells them she dreamed they would come to talk to the eerie-folk that took everyone from her village.
This has a Witcher quality to it. Theres an oddness and eeriness about the setting and the inciting incident, which is to its credit. It leans on dialogue to move the story along. That dialogue and the prose are both competent.
Our MC’s apprentice(?) is a sullen, teenage doofus, in stark contrast to our armed and world weary MC. The character distinction was colorful and interesting. As was the introduction of our singing child who has dreams.
There’s a lot I don’t really know yet. I don’t know what it means that our MC makes her living on the road. I don’t know if she’s an adventurer or mercenary or bandit or what. Our narration has oddly resisted being explicit about this.
The narration also makes an odd choice to introduce our singing child, and then zoom back in time to tell us about some of our MCs travels to explain why she’s mud-stained. While the details were all interesting, it was a distraction better placed elsewhere.
I’m confused motivationally-speaking here, as well. The way our child seems but to notice our characters until they dismount and walk up to her and interact with her had a video game npc quality to it.
That’s a small detail in and of itself, but the subsequent actions and conversation between the girl and our MC were also hard to follow.
It was as if our MC saw a quest marker over this child’s head and interacted with her accordingly.
Our child tells her she dreams things that come true. And that she dreamed she would meet them here, and that detail retroactively makes me question the whole process of this interaction.
It’s as if only at that moment did the author decide the girl had actually dreamed of our MC. I’m not suggesting that IS the case, but that’s how the conversation feels.
I don’t know what profit our MC expects to get from a town where the people are dead and taken by eerie-folk. I’m not let in on those kinds of details. It’s a hurdle to my enjoyment.
I happened to glance at the description of this book, and it says immediately that our MC is dedicated to pursuing the unquiet dead. I wish this had been introduced in the narrative.
But despite this and some clunky action, this has an evocative inciting incident. It has a subtle sense of humor and distinct characters. I like where it ends up, and I want to read a bit more, so I’m in.
November 15, 2023
Feast is the story of Kenrig and her sidekick/apprentice Dondall. While on their journeys, they encounter a village of people who are trapped by the Unseelie fae in a sort of never-ending feast. hence the name. Kenrig makes a bargain with them in order to save the villagers' lives and the shenanigans start from there.
I quite like the story of Feast, it was vaguely rooted in Celtic folklore which usually tickles my fancy. I liked the writing and I thought that it was paced really well. It only took me two days to read it and I never thought it was too long or too short. It was just as long as it needed to be.
Honestly more than anything else I can compare it to the Witcher, if it was rooted more in Celtic folklore than it was Eastern European folklore. Kenrig is more or less a mercenary who travels around killing monsters for random villages that she encounters. She has an apprentice who is much younger than her and inexperienced but with interesting powers. It gave me that same vibe.
All told I quite enjoyed this book and I would give it 7.5 out of 10 stars. If you like the Witcher you might like this one too.
I quite like the story of Feast, it was vaguely rooted in Celtic folklore which usually tickles my fancy. I liked the writing and I thought that it was paced really well. It only took me two days to read it and I never thought it was too long or too short. It was just as long as it needed to be.
Honestly more than anything else I can compare it to the Witcher, if it was rooted more in Celtic folklore than it was Eastern European folklore. Kenrig is more or less a mercenary who travels around killing monsters for random villages that she encounters. She has an apprentice who is much younger than her and inexperienced but with interesting powers. It gave me that same vibe.
All told I quite enjoyed this book and I would give it 7.5 out of 10 stars. If you like the Witcher you might like this one too.
October 28, 2023
The thing that really drew me to this book was the absolutely amazing front cover.
A great looking book for the spooky season and this was giving off such creepy vibes - I loved it.
I therefore kind of went into this one blind as I hate reading too much in a blurb and getting spoilers for the book.
Having no clue what to expect, it took me a little while to get fully invested in this one - trying to get to grips with what was going on and who was who etc took quite a few chapters.
But the action kicked in pretty much straight away and once I got into the story, it was much easier to become immersed in this strange world.
The writing was brilliantly atmospheric and I found myself racing through this, just to find out what was going on and how it would end.
I loved the interesting mix of the unquiet dead, folklore and fantasy which is something I've never read before.
I'm excited to see what book 2 brings us.
A great looking book for the spooky season and this was giving off such creepy vibes - I loved it.
I therefore kind of went into this one blind as I hate reading too much in a blurb and getting spoilers for the book.
Having no clue what to expect, it took me a little while to get fully invested in this one - trying to get to grips with what was going on and who was who etc took quite a few chapters.
But the action kicked in pretty much straight away and once I got into the story, it was much easier to become immersed in this strange world.
The writing was brilliantly atmospheric and I found myself racing through this, just to find out what was going on and how it would end.
I loved the interesting mix of the unquiet dead, folklore and fantasy which is something I've never read before.
I'm excited to see what book 2 brings us.
October 14, 2023
The blurb of this book got me very intrigued on what this book was about. I am so glad that I read this book. The writing style in which this was written was very cleverly done. It helped the story to progress. the characters were interesting from the start. They had challenges in which they had to work through from the start. I loved the character developement in which this book had. I really enjoyed the way in which it ended as it was a very interesting read, and something I didn’t expect.
October 25, 2023
Feast was a really exciting read, which propelled me into a dark fantasy world full of fast paced action and creepy undead characters! I particularly enjoyed getting to know more about Kenrig and Dandall (the two main characters) as the book progressed. Great writing and a good story which kept me captivated throughout! Looking forward to book two!
March 20, 2025
Feast is a captivating tale that blends elements of folklore, magic, and prophecy. The tension between the two main characters adds an extra layer to the story. I really enjoyed the unexpected creatures, riddles, and creative problem solving, this book is great from cover to cover. I read the book over two days as I couldn't put it down!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews