Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

6 reviews

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, and War

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Transphobia

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

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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

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. 

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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

keen's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcoholism, War, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Misogyny and Fire/Fire injury

karatics's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Confinement

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Rating: B+

When she stood against the sun, I half expected to see light stream through her like a stained-glass window, with a frame of bones instead of lead.

What Moves the Dead is a rewrite of the Edgar Allen Poe story, The Fall of the House of Usher, about a mansion and its occupants who are going through a health crisis as the house around them seems to be haunted by a strange being.

I liked the unfolding of the story and especially appreciated the world-building with explanation of the protagonist's foreign language, culture and personal pronouns, interspersed with inter-personal relationships developed through the protagonist's thoughts and reflections. I found the supporting characters to be truly interesting and a delight to read and enjoyed the dark and eerie storyline appealed to me strongly.

Mist clung to the surface of the dark lake and gathered in hollows on the ground, but Hob cantered through them and broke them up like the shreds of bad dreams.

I did like the author's writing style and use of language, it really attributed to a believable 1800s lifestyle and communication style to make the story and characters more real. There were moments of body horror and a few creepy, gory scenes, but overall it was not that wild and frightening. I think what pulled me down for this book was just that I wasn't really surprised by it. It's still a good book. 

And then we parted and went to bed, and that was the last remotely normal day in the house of Usher. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Alcoholism and Gore