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Benedict Patrick
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They Mostly Come Out At Night (Yarnsworld) Kindle Edition

by Benedict Patrick (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 out of 5 stars 1,015 ratings
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.
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  1. Part of series
    Yarnsworld
  2. Print length
    202 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    June 16, 2016
  6. File size
    762 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 16, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 762 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 202 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Part of series ‏ : ‎ Yarnsworld
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 1,015 ratings

About the author

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Benedict Patrick

Benedict Patrick

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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.

Try out some free Yarnsworld stories by signing up to Benedict's Readers Group: http://yarnsworldreaders.benedictpatrick.com/2

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
1,015 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the book's enchanting story that's heavily based in folklore, with engaging storytelling and well-paced narrative. The writing quality receives positive feedback for its excellent prose, and customers appreciate the interesting characters, with one noting how they feel intimate and real. The book's cover art is praised for its magnificent design and creative elements. While customers find the dark tone appealing, they note there are no happy endings.

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101 customers mention "Fantasy content"87 positive14 negative

Customers enjoy the fantasy content of the book, praising its enchanting and multi-layered storytelling style with lovely plot twists, and how it is heavily based in folklore.

"...Yarnsworld setting is fantastic and intriguing, and through it's unique twists it leaves the reader with multi-layered questions about what is real,..." Read more

"...Think Brother’s Grimm fairy tales. There is also a nice twist in this book that I didn’t really see coming and I had no idea how the..." Read more

"...First off I absolutely loved the format of the story. The chapters being split between Lonan's day and then his dreams was great...." Read more

"...This book is a prime example of dark fantasy, not in the newer sense of “grim dark” that dwells on explicit violence and gore, but in the classic..." Read more

73 customers mention "Readability"73 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and thoroughly enjoyable, describing it as a great short read.

"...The Yarnsworld setting is fantastic and intriguing, and through it's unique twists it leaves the reader with multi-layered questions about what is..." Read more

"...more of these fairy tales as they were dark and creepy and extremely entertaining. Think Brother’s Grimm fairy tales...." Read more

"...It's all deftly written and captivating with vivid characters...." Read more

"...That said, it's not 100% polished. This is a solid debut novel, and it feels pretty different from most other fantasy books...." Read more

34 customers mention "Writing quality"28 positive6 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, noting its excellent prose and beautiful descriptions, with one customer highlighting how the author handles the narrative masterfully.

"...the familiar set against the strange and unique, and the author handles it masterfully well...." Read more

"...This was a really enjoyable, quick fantasy read that was well written...." Read more

"...It's all deftly written and captivating with vivid characters...." Read more

"...Everything wrapped up in one book. This was one complete story in a world of stories...." Read more

29 customers mention "Character development"22 positive7 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, with interesting and menacing characters that feel intimate and real, and one customer notes the effective switching between main characters.

"...I would love to read more of these fairy tales as they were dark and creepy and extremely entertaining. Think Brother’s Grimm fairy tales...." Read more

"...It's all deftly written and captivating with vivid characters...." Read more

"...realm of horror, there’s no shortage of shadowed monsters and menacing characters to keep you on the edge of your seat...." Read more

"...Heroes and villains are readily identifiable with Good and Evil being turned on its head as it does with many of those stories of a 'grimm' nature...." Read more

16 customers mention "Cover art"16 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's cover art, describing it as magnificent and creative, with one customer noting how it helps visualize the scenes.

"...It is brilliant in context, but some of that context isn't there as a stand-alone...." Read more

"...thing that had me interested in this book was the cover because it is STUNNING, and then after reading the synopsis it sounded like it was going to..." Read more

"...I love back story and history and this was such a nice way to present it and tell the stories of this world...." Read more

"...It starts with the promise of the beautiful cover and the ominous title, and doesn’t fail to deliver from there, right up through the bittersweet..." Read more

16 customers mention "Pacing"13 positive3 negative

Customers enjoy the pacing of the book, finding it well-paced and fast reading, with one customer describing it as a fast-paced adventure.

"This was a short fairly quick read...." Read more

"...progresses, their worlds begin to intersect and the result is a fast-paced adventure with some strong twists and colorful characters...." Read more

"TMCOAN was one of those books that sucked me in instantly and completely, I think it took less than two pages for my kindle to disappear and my..." Read more

"I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a fast read. First novel length book I’ve read by the author...." Read more

18 customers mention "Feel"8 positive10 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the book's feel, with some appreciating its whimsical and fairy tale elements, while others note the lack of happy endings and find it an oppressive, grim experience.

"...While the ending was not happy, I myself was happy with how it ended...." Read more

"...Patrick creates a storybook feel where everything is dreamlike and familiar, but with a sort of unsettled undercurrent of more mature themes...." Read more

"...There’s an oppressive tension throughout the book, a fear of what could be out there in the dark, horrors brought on by both monsters and men...." Read more

"...This is a solid debut novel, and it feels pretty different from most other fantasy books...." Read more

13 customers mention "Dark tone"9 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the dark tone of the book.

"...I would love to read more of these fairy tales as they were dark and creepy and extremely entertaining. Think Brother’s Grimm fairy tales...." Read more

"...Now leave an old woman with her last thoughts.” Dark and rich, evoking the beginnings of mankind amongst the legends that reach back as far as..." Read more

"...There’s a lot of fear, and creepy darkness and mean people, but it’s got a great fairytale quality about it...." Read more

"...The world is very interesting and dark. The characters were humanly flawed and did some things that hurt to read, while knowing better as the reader...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • W. Ray
    5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, but read the short story first :)
    Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Fast-paced exceptional fairy-tale fiction. I really enjoyed this one, it flew by and afterward it was tempting to push everything else aside and just read through the next four books. A marvelously fun read, reminiscent of countless things yet still enthrallingly unique. It conjures a storybook world of magic and myth that has the classic feel of a childhood story, but with added sophistication to give it more depth and maturity.

    The Yarnsworld setting is fantastic and intriguing, and through it's unique twists it leaves the reader with multi-layered questions about what is real, what isn't, and what might be. It's a great stand-alone story that leaves the reader with philosophical questions rather than sequel musings, and I love that. I particularly love that the series keeps going with more stand-alone stories in the setting, and I am definitely hooked and will read the rest.

    The structure was cleverly conceived, with chapters alternating between three related narratives; legends the main character knows, dreams he has about a prince, and then his own waking life. From the beginning the stories parallel each other thematically, but it's also easy to see that they interrelate, even if the 'how' is not immediately obvious. They render a setting rich with possibility and mystery.

    Patrick creates a storybook feel where everything is dreamlike and familiar, but with a sort of unsettled undercurrent of more mature themes. Those themes never become overly explicit or gorey, but they are present enough to destabilize the reader, which in turn removes the solid anchor of an expectation of happy endings. That combination of a familiar feel but with off-key themes allows Patrick to recreate the sensation of a youthful reading experience of such stories even for a jaded adult audience. It is a delicate balance of just enough hints of maturity and just enough echoes of the familiar set against the strange and unique, and the author handles it masterfully well.

    The one down note I might add, however, is that some of the framing of the setting for this otherwise stand-alone story comes not from this book, but in a short story entitled And They Were Never Heard From Again. In combination, this is undoubtedly a 5-star story, but without that additional window of understanding, I don't think the narrative contained entirely within They Mostly Come Out at Night really captures the full depth of the setting. It is brilliant in context, but some of that context isn't there as a stand-alone. Without getting too spoilery, a lot of the deeper questions about what Artemis and the Pale Lady have done don't feel quite natural to ask without previously understanding the true nature of stories in the Forest and the first novel doesn't explain that as explicitly as the short story does. That story is free from the author's website, so for the full experience I encourage you to read it first and then read this novel.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Katie - Melting Pages Book Blog
    4.0 out of 5 stars Loved the fairy tales between chapters!
    Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    The first thing that had me interested in this book was the cover because it is STUNNING, and then after reading the synopsis it sounded like it was going to be dark and creepy and I was so prepared for that!

    It was a little confusing getting into the story and learning about this world, because it’s a little unclear as to whether or not the clans (mouse, owl, magpie, etc.) are people with human interpretations of each animals characteristics, or if they were actually the animals. I think that it is the former after finishing the book, but I’m still not 100% certain.

    In this world, there are these creatures that come out at night and attack the villages, and it’s not safe to be outside at night so the villagers sleep in cellars to protect themselves. In one particular village we follow Lonan, who as a child was accused of causing these creatures to attack and kill his father and his best friends mother. But Lonan knew that he didn’t cause it, he was trying to warn everyone of the coming danger.

    Lonan also has these dreams where he can see the Magpie King, who is the protector of the villages and destroys the creatures in the night. To the rest of the villagers, the Magpie King is just a myth. Lonan soon realizes that his dreams aren’t just dreams. They are visions of the real Magpie King.

    One thing that I really liked about this world is the magic system, which are called Knacks. Anyone can develop a Knack and it’s based off what you do best in life. So if you are a farmer, you would develop a farming Knack and be especially skilled at that, or if you are training to be a blacksmith, then you will probably develop a Knack for blacksmithing. There are also Knacks for washing clothes and cleaning as well, which tend to be the Knacks that women develop during the course of taking care of the home.

    Another thing that I really enjoyed was the fairy tale aspect. In between each chapter is a tale about this world and they add to the story that is happening in the surrounding chapters. I would love to read more of these fairy tales as they were dark and creepy and extremely entertaining. Think Brother’s Grimm fairy tales.

    There is also a nice twist in this book that I didn’t really see coming and I had no idea how the characters were going to come back from that. This definitely doesn’t have a “happy” ending, but with this book it worked very nicely. It is also the first in a series, so it will be interesting to see what the next books are about since this one was wrapped up nicely.

    The downside for me was the pacing, at times it felt like the story was dragging while at other times it felt like it was going too fast. I also wish that there had been a little more explanation about the world and the characters, but for a book under 300 pages, it wasn’t bad.

    This was a really enjoyable, quick fantasy read that was well written. I haven’t read too many indie books yet, but this one is setting the bar quite high! I highly recommend this!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • E.Y.E.-D
    3.0 out of 5 stars A unique world with a refreshing style of story telling.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    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.
    28 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Thiago d'Evecque
    3.0 out of 5 stars Começa bem lento, mas melhora
    Reviewed in Brazil on March 11, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    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
    5.0 out of 5 stars Really good
    Reviewed in Germany on September 19, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Well written, difficult to put down
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  • Laura Ribaudo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
    Reviewed in Italy on April 12, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    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!
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  • Dave Higgins
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced Gritty Fantasy in a Nuanced World
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    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.
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  • Freighnos
    5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant debut set in a fascinating world
    Reviewed in Japan on August 22, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    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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