Solid Poe retelling with a fungus twist. Predictable if you know the original story, but satisfying. A dark and whimsical humour about it, too. Eerie and atmospheric and creepy rather than terrifying, though it did get my heart pounding and my arm hairs standing a couple of times. A bit too slow to get going in my opinion. If you like The Magnus Archives, you'll probably like this book. I enjoy Alex as a character and I'm excited to read the next one, though I do think the pronoun thing is a little out of place here. Sworn soldiers seems like a concept best left for a longer story that isn't a retelling of something else.