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They Mostly Come Out At Night (Yarnsworld) Kindle Edition

by Benedict Patrick (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 984 ratings

Part of: Yarnsworld (5 books)

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The #1 Amazon bestseller!

A haunted forest. A mysterious, masked king. An invasion of monsters that will destroy them all.

In a world where everyone has magic at their fingertips, Lonan is the only one without a magical gift. Outcast from his village, hated by his own family, Lonan alone receives the prophetic dreams that warn of an impending invasion of wolf-like monsters that will wipe out his forest home.

In order to save his disbelieving family, Lonan will have to use his wits and daring to venture into the heart of the forest, seeking out its mysterious protector, the mythical Magpie King. Compared to everyone else, Lonan has so little of value to give – does he have the ability to survive the horrors of the woods, and to help protect his family and the forest’s future?

They Mostly Come Out At Night is the first book set in the atmospheric and enchanting Yarnsworld, a folklore-inspired fantasy land perfect for fans of The Witcher, Naomi Novik, Katherine Arden and Neil Gaiman.

Editorial Reviews

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"A dark but enthralling world, rich with magic and history, that you'll love getting lost in." Travis M. Riddle, author of The Narrows

"It's just so delightfully weird, so completely unique, with such powerful, fantastic writing that I wanted more." - Bookwormblues.net

"A treasure trove of imaginary folk tales and myths so compelling you'd think Benedict had heard them while traveling through a shadowed reflection of our own world." Phil Tucker, author of Bastion

"Fantastic world building. In-depth characters. Dark Fantasy with a twist of horror. Exquisite storytelling. Highly recommended!" - InkedBrownies.com

"Full of luscious settings and uncommon characters, each standalone takes the reader on an adventure." T L Greylock, author of The Song of the Ash Tree

"Creating a new fairy tale is like reenacting an ancient lost ritual by yourself that normally requires dozens of people, and to which you only know half the steps. So often, it just ends up lacking the spark we can all feel in folk tales, that we can't ever quite explain. With They Mostly Come Out At Night, Benedict Patrick doesn't just recreate the ritual, nor just capture that indescribable spark, but makes it all damn fun to read too. Definitely worth your time. Certainly a better use of your time than leaving your house after dark." John Bierce, author of Mage Errant

About the Author

Benedict Patrick is from a small town in Northern Ireland called Banbridge, but has been living and working in Scotland since he moved there at the age of eighteen. Tragically, that was quite a while ago.

He has been writing for most of his life, and has been reading for pretty much all of it (with help from mum and dad at the beginning). Benedict's life changed when a substitute primary school teacher read his class part of The Hobbit and later loaned him the book - he fell in love with the fantasy genre and never looked back.

They Mostly Come Out At Night is his debut novel, and is the first novel in The Yarnsworld series.

Receive free stories set in the world of They Mostly Come Out At Night by signing up for Benedict Patrick's Reader's Group: yarnsworldreaders.benedictpatrick.com/2

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01DL8S8F6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Benedict Patrick (June 16, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 16, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 762 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 202 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #516,696 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,258 in Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #4,765 in Coming of Age Fantasy (Books)
- #7,113 in Dark Fantasy

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4.1 984 ratings

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superstardrifter

The forest is dark and full of terrors!

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2017

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First of all, the stories between chapters were all amazing, and that was a really cool way to give sort of a backstory on the folklore this world is mired in. I loved them. I think that my favorite one was The Magpie King and The Black Squirrel.

This story starts off scary. Enter a world where everyone has to hide in their cellars at night because monsters, literal monsters who will eat you, come out at night and… well they try and eat you. So you have villages and villages of people hiding in their cellars at night. Then… it gets darker, weirder, and more complex.

This story more or less reads like a folktale would. The in between chapters are certainly folktales, but Adahy’s story reads like one too. It’s as if Lonen is being told the story night after night. I was absolutely immediately immersed in this novel. Which means two things:

1. Awesome job award to Benedict Patrick for keeping my attention for more than a half an hou-I SHOULD CHECK MY TWITTER!

2. ‘Shame on me for starting this book at 11:30pm,’ I said at 3am. ‘MMMmuuursmgggrrph,’ I said at 6am, as the alarms chimed.

Lonan was a character that I instantly rooted for, because I love a character who is pretty snarky (which he is) and I really like the sort of wrongfully condemned hero that we can hope for because we are in the know of what really happened that day. I hoped for Lonan to regain the respect that he lost for something that he didn’t do. I hoped that the dude that did this to him got his comeuppance. I even hoped that Lonan got his girl back, despite not ever really feeling that she deserved him… though she had her own situation there, I guess. Lonan becomes legit badass throughout he story.

I didn’t start off liking Adahy as much, but he sort of grew on me as the story progressed. I found myself cheering for him before long, hoping that he would find the courage and the power of the Magpie King that he needed in order to fight the monsters who come in the night. I hoped that he and Maedoc, his whipping boy/bestie would go on a grand adventure to find the power!

The magic/not magic/but actually totally magic system of Knacks that the villagers had, depending on what their trade was or what they’ve learned over the course of their lives was a really interesting idea that was applied in an interesting way. Lonan’s mother has a Knack for cooking, the old woman he stays with has a Knack for healing, which come from years of practice. However, the guy responsible for Lonan’s outcast situation has a Knack for making people believe him. That’s something more like magic. It’s not infallible though. If people are on the edge of incredulity, they won’t take the bait… at least, not all the time. But it works enough that he can ruin someone’s life with it for 8+ years. That was well thought out.

So, this story took a lot of turns. You think you know what’s going to happen. You’re pretty convinced that you know what’s going down and who is who and then this story up and surprises the crap out of you. I’ll not ruin it for you, but suffice to say that I gave a hearty ‘oh, snap!’ more than once when a plot point I was expecting instead turned into the exact opposite of what I was expecting. Stuff I hoped happened… uh… didn’t… didn’t at all happen. I certainly love a novel that will keep me on my toes. The truth of the situation gets revealed slowly but surely, and it was fantastic. The story was amazingly well thought out and was just chock full of surprises. It was one of the darkest fairytales I’ve ever read. Loved it!

Everything wrapped up in one book. This was one complete story in a world of stories. Yarnsworld is a great name for it, because it is yarns and yarns and yarns of tales. I’m definitely excited to read the next book in the series.

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Travis

Equal parts fairy tale and horror, a compelling and original debut

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2017

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The book uses stories within stories, pulling from many real-world folk tales. I'd say it's equal parts coming of age, fairy tale, and horror, making for a unique experience and impressive debut.

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 folktales 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.

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 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. This book is 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.

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E.Y.E.-D

A unique world with a refreshing style of story telling.

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2018

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This was a short fairly quick read. There were some things I really enjoyed about it but a few that I had a hard time with as well, so while parts of this made me want to give this book 5 stars other things made me want to give it a 2.

First off I absolutely loved the format of the story. The chapters being split between Lonan's day and then his dreams was great. I also loved the folk tales that separated the chapters. The folk tales were some of my favorite parts for this story. I love back story and history and this was such a nice way to present it and tell the stories of this world.

Where I had a problem with this story was the characters. I did not like Lonan very much or any of the villagers for that matter. Mother Ogma was the only exception. I felt like the way they interacted and the dialogue was somewhat awkward.

Adahy's story was much more appealing to me. I liked Adahy as a person was looking forward to what I thought he would become as a ruler.

Towards the end as the two stories came together I found myself enjoying it more than the beginning. Even Lonan became more likable, if still kind of off in my opinion. I liked the story telling decisions that were made in the last few chapters. While the ending was not happy, I myself was happy with how it ended.

While this was not my favorite book I definitely see potential in Mr. Patrick and I am looking forward to seeing where he will go next with the tales of Yarnsworld.

27 people found this helpful

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Laura Ribaudo

Wow!

Reviewed in Italy on April 12, 2023

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I bought this one in ebook around five years ago, and I'm regretting getting to it only now. It's a dark fantasy with horror fairytale vibes, and I was gripped from start to finish despite that specific subgenre not really being my thing.
The writing style flows really well for my tastes (which tend to prefer a faster-paced prose), but the real catch was the various tales that intersperse the dual POV plotline. Sometimes scary, sometimes raunchy, they had enough familiar elements to give me that mystical, evening-in-front-of-the-fire atmosphere, while still having some new twists that kept me engaged. In one short book, they provided such an interesting background for the main events, spoiling and teasing revelations.
The characters followed a classic hero journey, but with some unusual attributes to liven the tropes up. The underdog protagonist is prickly and annoying at times, the love interest is a new mom with serious facial disfiguration, the sidekick an older lady with too good a heart. Definitely recommend!

Dave Higgins

Fast-paced Gritty Fantasy in a Nuanced World

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2021

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Showing the world part through direct character experience and part through dreams and tales within tales, Patrick powerfully evokes the fearful uncertainty that presses against the edges of pre-industrial civilisation.

For generations, villagers have hidden from the monsters that come in the night. Each believes the Magpie King roams the night protecting them, but noone has seen him—until Lonan begins to dream of the Magpie King’s son, Adahy. The dreams reveal the threat is greater than the villagers realise, but—blamed for a crime he didn’t commit—how can Lonan convince the villagers to listen?

The novel moves between four threads: events in the village from the perspective of Lonan; the attack on the Magpie King by wolf-creatures from the perspective of Adahy; traditional folktales of the villagers; and high myths of the noble courts. These separate narratives provide the reader with greater insight into events than the characters possess, providing a wider understanding without sacrificing useful character ignorance. As the novel continues, these threads start to subtly conflict, undercutting the default assumption that Lonan’s dreams are accurate and creating a wider sense of an unknown and confusing world that evokes the experience of pre-industrial villagers in a scary forest.

Patrick explicitly states that he crafted his world from a fusion of European folktales for peasant culture and Native American legend for noble culture. While this division is clear in the chapters relating traditional stories of each group, and does produce a different nobility from the usual Western European knights common to fantasy, the setting slants heavily toward the dark forests and looming castles of Northern Europe and the quests have a similar feel; thus, readers may well feel a few Native American resonances are transplanted into Western Fantasy rather than this being an equal fusion of the two.

Patrick also adds tweaks of his own creation, most notably the villagers’ belief that almost all people possess a superlative talent for a particular job that will manifest in late childhood to early adulthood; indeed, Lonan’s lack of such a talent is one of the reasons his community don’t respect him. However, as with the multiple narrative threads, Patrick hints to the reader that these talents might not be real or might not be what they seem: certainly there are those with a supernatural skill at something, but with children often following their parents there is no definitive evidence that it is a more-than-natural vocation for that specific job rather than a more mundane product of many years of watching and doing.

While the influences of fireside tales and ballads are obvious even in Lonan and Adahy’s threads, Patrick keeps the focus on specific character rather than eternal human truths, creating an engaging blend of fast-paced action, looming threat, and meaningful personal struggle.

Lonan is a well-crafted protagonist. As befits someone wrongly accused, he is strongly focused on what he lost and how he could get it back. However, he has not succumbed to bitterness or hopelessness. Therefore, he is proactive rather than passive and driven to help the village even though they don’t trust him, but his actions are plausibly tainted by a need to prove himself right rather than being sickeningly altruistic.

In contrast to Lonan’s unfair shunning, Adahy is marked by a sense of self-unworth that feels entirely plausible for the very mortal child of a superhuman warrior-king. While perhaps verging a little close to angst for some reader’s taste to begin with, he acts rather than surrendering when faced with his first true challenge, making his narrative one of an ordinary person struggling to be the hero that is needed rather than a privileged child cursing an unfair world.

The supporting cast display, fittingly for a story focused on folktales, strong defining traits. However, those who have a larger part also have a pleasing complexity, making them seem real people portrayed in a particular narrative style rather than merely narrative tools to shape the protagonist’s journey.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking fantasy that captures the looming dread of the unknown that would pervade all but the most civilised areas of the medieval world.

Thiago d'Evecque

Começa bem lento, mas melhora

Reviewed in Brazil on March 11, 2019

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Tem um começo bem arrastado com muito mais tell do que show e pequenos interlúdios com fábulas sobre o mundo. Quando o autor resolve expandir as cenas e mostrar a ação e o conflito, em vez de sumarizar tudo, a história acelera e fica bem melhor. Pensei em desistir por causa da lerdeza, mas os plots twists e as revelações do enredo foram me prendendo e me carregaram até o final.

Ótimo livro, mas bem triste. Sabe aquelas linhas do tempo alternativas que mostram as tragédias que poderiam acontecer se os personagens tomassem decisões diferentes? É como se a história se passasse toda numa linha do tempo dessa.

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Cliente Amazon

Really good

Reviewed in Germany on September 19, 2019

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Well written, difficult to put down

Freighnos

A brilliant debut set in a fascinating world

Reviewed in Japan on August 22, 2018

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I bought this book because of all the great reviews I was seeing for the Yarnsworld series, and I can say that it exceeded my expectations.

Without giving too much away, this book can best be described as long form dark fairy tale, in the vein of Brothers Grimm. It's about a village in the middle of a dense forest, where the villagers are forced to retreat to their cellars every night to avoid being eaten by dark creatures. The forest is also watched over by a semi mythical being known as the Magpie King, who, according to folk tradition, keeps the villagers safe.

My favorite part of the book is the mini fairy tales at the end of each chapter. Benedict Patrick creates his own mythology that organically infuses the world and plays a part in the characters' lives, and he shares many of those stories with us. Again, many of these play out similarly to Brothers Grimm stories, with some of them also taking inspiration from Native American folk tales. These were a great way of breaking up the chapters while also adding cool world building, and I'm happy that this seems to be a mainstay of the series.

Other things I liked included the Knacks, which are sort of magical gifts bestowed upon people that make them extremely good at a specific talent, such as cooking or blacksmithing. Each person can only have one Knack, and they seem to develop naturally over time as someone improves at a given task rather than just showing up randomly. I thought it was a nice way of adding a bit of magic to the world without getting bogged down in a more complicated magic system, which would have been inappropriate for a 200ish page book, imo. I'm glad that this also seems to be a common part of the Yarnsworld universe, giving the books a sense of cohesion despite being standalone.

Finally, the writing was fantastic and perfectly suited to the fairy tale style. I'm no great judge of prose but I was impressed by the clarity of the imagery and how easy it was to follow along.

I do have my nitpicks. I felt that some of the characters fell a little flat, in the sense that they were more like plot devices than people, but that's only natural for a fairy tale world. In a similar vein, many of the story's beats resolve themselves very quickly without much time for reflection. But again, I think this is a feature, not a flaw, especially given the style and length of the book, which is why they are only nitpicks. I do have to mention that the story gets a bit graphic at times and features some implied sexual violence, but on the whole it's about on par with the unabridged Grimms Fairy Tales of old, which could get pretty disturbing.

Overall I give this book a 5/5 and I have already picked up the other 2 books. Where The Waters Turn Black appears to be set in a part of the world resembling the Pacific Islands, so given how much I love Moana I may enjoy that one even more than TMCOAN.

Benedict Patrick has won himself another convert and I'll probably read anything he writes at this point if the books continue being this good. I hope he eventually explores other types of mythologies such as Middle East, Indian, African, Mesoamerican, etc. He has a gift for telling these kinds of stories and I think Yarnsworld is a brilliant universe. There's almost unlimited potential to its "standalones in a connected world" format.

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They Mostly Come Out At Night (Yarnsworld) Kindle Edition

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