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The Night Eaters, Vol. 1: She Eats the Night by Marjorie M. Liu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved this more than I did Monstress (and I very much enjoyed that too). I think maybe because this is a smaller scope story and I find myself drawn to those more these days. Ipo and Keon immigrated to Hawai'i from Hong Kong before their twins, Milly and Billy were born. Fast forward about twenty odd years and the twins live in NYC (and their parents do come for visits). They are trying to keep a restaurant going during Covid. Milly has dropped out of medical school for this and Billy would rather play video games than anything (don't we all, Billy, don't we all).

From the get go we can see we're going to have more than a simple Tiger Mom disappointed in her children's choices (Keon is much more easy going). Ipo, with her ever-present cigarette, is fierce and cold. She seems to love her garden and plants more than her children (Keon is devoted to her, her kids are annoyed with her). Through the very neat art (by Sana Takeda who also worked on Monstress, but this is much more muted than that), we can see the home across the way has something going on (rather looks like ghostly vines) that is not going to bode well.

The story unfolds back and forth from the present and the haunted house and the past as Ipo and Keon court, marry etc. So it's one layer after another with this story and I don't want to say more about it because it needs to be experienced. What I can say is Ipo (and to a lesser extend Keon) think their kids are soft and a little spoiled (with reason) and Ipo has decided it is time for them to learn to be harder before her past catches up with them.

To be fair, Milly and Billy are a bit whiny and self centered. As much as she won't admit it, Milly is hard like her mother. Billy is more like dad. When push comes to shove, they're going to have to face a nightmare and come to terms with their heritage.

I loved this as mention above (oh probably should say the gore isn't much but the f-bombs are fast and heavy) and I am looking forward to part one.



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