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thebigemmt505's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
“Christ save me from Americans.”
What Moves The Dead is unique retelling of The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe written by T. Kingfisher. It follows Alex Easton’s journey to the House of Usher, following the reception of a letter from the sister of one of ka’s close army friends.
Now, admittedly, I haven’t read the original- I just pick up books when I find them interesting, I suppose. Even without the context of Poe’s story, I really enjoyed this one! The writing is fun and easy to read, but not lacking in great description and very solid dialogue. I find fungi fascinating, so having it be a driver of the narrative was entertaining and interesting. The depiction of the hares was downright disturbing and worked well. The characters are well-characterized, as much as is needed for the story, anyways. Alex Easton is a delightful character to read. Ka’s quick humor and fascination with people’s passions makes the character super likable, even without the narrative being strictly character driven. It’s a really unique portrayal of a queer character as well, and very refreshing in the wake of so many forced, hetero-ified, cliché portrayals found in a myriad of other novels being released today. (I don’t say this in the grifter way- I’m one of the LGBTQs myself, and I do love a lot of queer media, but dear lord do some need to get better at writing! The main draw of a book doesn’t have to be watered down queer-ness, people.)
I don’t have many critiques as far as the writing goes. My rating quality wise is closer to a 4/5 or even 4.25/5, but I suppose the story didn’t pack the full punch I wanted it too. I don’t think that’s what the story was necessarily going for though, so I wouldn’t call that a flaw. It comes down to preference more than anything else. I also feel as though Madeline could’ve had a bigger presence in the story before the end, and that might’ve made the climax more effective. Anyways, it was a really nice read!
Overall, What Moves The Dead is a fun little re-telling of a classic that anyone who is into horror should add to their list.
What Moves The Dead is unique retelling of The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe written by T. Kingfisher. It follows Alex Easton’s journey to the House of Usher, following the reception of a letter from the sister of one of ka’s close army friends.
Now, admittedly, I haven’t read the original- I just pick up books when I find them interesting, I suppose. Even without the context of Poe’s story, I really enjoyed this one! The writing is fun and easy to read, but not lacking in great description and very solid dialogue. I find fungi fascinating, so having it be a driver of the narrative was entertaining and interesting. The depiction of the hares was downright disturbing and worked well. The characters are well-characterized, as much as is needed for the story, anyways. Alex Easton is a delightful character to read. Ka’s quick humor and fascination with people’s passions makes the character super likable, even without the narrative being strictly character driven. It’s a really unique portrayal of a queer character as well, and very refreshing in the wake of so many forced, hetero-ified, cliché portrayals found in a myriad of other novels being released today. (I don’t say this in the grifter way- I’m one of the LGBTQs myself, and I do love a lot of queer media, but dear lord do some need to get better at writing! The main draw of a book doesn’t have to be watered down queer-ness, people.)
I don’t have many critiques as far as the writing goes. My rating quality wise is closer to a 4/5 or even 4.25/5, but I suppose the story didn’t pack the full punch I wanted it too. I don’t think that’s what the story was necessarily going for though, so I wouldn’t call that a flaw. It comes down to preference more than anything else. I also feel as though Madeline could’ve had a bigger presence in the story before the end, and that might’ve made the climax more effective. Anyways, it was a really nice read!
Overall, What Moves The Dead is a fun little re-telling of a classic that anyone who is into horror should add to their list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Suicide and War
kaylascoffeeplot's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Body horror
Moderate: Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
mothmania's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Grief, Medical content, and Gore
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This is an intriguing blend of horror, mystery, fantasy, gothic retelling/reimagining.
This was a fascinating take on the Fall of the House of Usher, a story I find fully engrossing! The setting was eerie — Alex Easton (nonbinary MC) receives a letter that their friend Madeline Usher is dying, so they goes to be with her at the Usher manor. Alex is shocked to see the dire state of the home, and so are readers. The descriptive writing had me fully immersed in this creepy ass world😭
I used they/them in my review but in the book, Kingfisher created new pronouns entirely in this world, with ka/kan, va/van, which I did appreciate and found very neat!
I won’t give anything away but I’m averse to mushrooms after reading this hahaha. I’m the president of weenie hut jr. so please let me be 😂
cw: Suicide, Body horror, Fire, Animal death, Animal cruelty
This is an intriguing blend of horror, mystery, fantasy, gothic retelling/reimagining.
This was a fascinating take on the Fall of the House of Usher, a story I find fully engrossing! The setting was eerie — Alex Easton (nonbinary MC) receives a letter that their friend Madeline Usher is dying, so they goes to be with her at the Usher manor. Alex is shocked to see the dire state of the home, and so are readers. The descriptive writing had me fully immersed in this creepy ass world😭
I used they/them in my review but in the book, Kingfisher created new pronouns entirely in this world, with ka/kan, va/van, which I did appreciate and found very neat!
I won’t give anything away but I’m averse to mushrooms after reading this hahaha. I’m the president of weenie hut jr. so please let me be 😂
cw: Suicide, Body horror, Fire, Animal death, Animal cruelty
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
orasmis's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Murder, and War
Moderate: Suicide and Animal death
Minor: Alcohol and Mental illness
aparker89's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Terminal illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: War, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Dementia, Self harm, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, and Animal cruelty
bibliograflieg's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
hedsek's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I really wanted to like this but I couldn't with the writing style. Why is the main character so annoyingly aware of the (modern) reader? It feels very anachronistic and kind of took me out of the book a few times. I also really did not enjoy the snarky dialogue and all the random stereotyping about different nationalities, which is like 1/3 of the dialogue. There's also a few times where it is super clear what we're supposed to figure out as the reader but the author still pretends it's mysterious only to drop it at the end of a chapter like it's some huge plottwist, especially the thing with Madeline walking like the hare . I'll be reading the original story as well, the book did get me curious.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Confinement, Sexism, Cursing, Misogyny, Suicide, and War
autonomous_lass's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Cursing, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Suicide
onthesamepage's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I really love T. Kingfisher as an author, but before reading this book, I didn't have much luck with her horror stories. I read two, enjoyed them well enough, but other than loving her writing and sense of humor, the plots and characters were fairly forgettable. I picked up What Moves the Dead as a sort of "last chance" for me with Kingfisher's horror, and I was kind of shocked by how much I loved it.
This has a lot to do with the main character. Alex Easton is just a delight to read about. By page 26, I knew exactly what kind of person they were. The snark and sarcasm were right up my alley—opinionated characters are so much fun, truly.
This has a lot to do with the main character. Alex Easton is just a delight to read about. By page 26, I knew exactly what kind of person they were. The snark and sarcasm were right up my alley—opinionated characters are so much fun, truly.
"But the war," said Denton. "Weren't you frightened?"
Sometimes it's hard to know if someone is insulting or just an American.
Denton lifted a hand in protest. "Barely that," he said. "I had one year of schooling and then the South took it in its head to secede, and I was shoved out the door with a bonesaw and a sheet of paper saying I knew how to use it."
"Were you frightened?" I asked, with gentle malice.
I also found it impressive how much Kingfisher managed to do in a scant 165 pages. There was enough room for character development, the story, and worldbuilding. The concept of sworn soldiers was really interesting, as is the way she used pronouns throughout the book. I'm not familiar with The Fall of the House of Usher, but I am curious to read it now and see what is different and what is the same. The horror elements were appropriately creepy, and the cover is both so stunning and so horrendous that, even as my brain was going "DO NOT WANT", I had to buy a copy anyway.
A few more quotes that I loved:
I am never sure what to think of Americans. Their brashness can be charming, but just when I decide that I rather like them, I meet one that I wish would go back to America, and then perhaps keep going off the far edge, into the sea.
A Frenchwoman once told me that I had no poetry in my souk. I recited a dirty limerick to her, and she threw a lemon at my head. Paris is a marvelous city.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide