Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

62 reviews

sorceress_j's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of my favorite reads of the year. I mean, it would about have to be, considering I absolutely flew through this novella in four days. It takes my favorite Poe short story and turns it completely on its head in a new, refreshing way. It's also one of the few horror books in which I found sympathy in every character! That doesn't happen very often. T. Kingfisher is an author I will definitely check out more from now on. Absolutely love her writing and what she brings to the table with her characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Animal death, and Mental illness

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

The pseudo fantastical nature was foreboding and creepy in a good way, but I'm not a big horror person so I mostly just wanted to get away from the sentient fungi.  I did read the short story it is based on which was predominantly vibes, and I liked this reinterpretation of it more than the original because the characters had much more depth.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Slavery, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Sexism, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

bethann_coleates's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, War, and Alcohol

ruthiedr89's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness and Misogyny

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark funny informative 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Body horror

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, and War

qteabeans's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Clear concise story telling. Exactly the right length. Beautifully creepy without being too much to read after dark. I want to give this to friends and to make partners read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Death

sydneyjn's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

I read this book very quickly - it was well written and engaging.  The low rating is because it didn't seem to bring anything really new, outside of one gender swapped character.  Nothing surprised me.  But - this is a straight retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, so I shouldn't be surprised, right?  It was fine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Terminal illness

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I am developing a soft-spot for this author. I am tickled in both my sciencey and my witchy wants and that's all good by me. This is a book that I was recommended though book club, and I was glad to find a copy to listen to.

30 minutes into the audio (12%) I realised that I had assumed the gender of the protagonist because of what the Audiobook narrator sounded like. This story has an interesting take on gender and I like the diversity of it. I do wish that the narrator of the book could manage to use unfamiliar pronouns as though they were.. pronouns? rather than emphasising them due to lack of familiarity and treating them like they are nouns. It got annoying that the flow was interrupted in a way that it wouldn't have been if I was just reading it myself.

I have not read the original Poe, Rise and Fall of the House of Usher, but it is source material for this re-imagining. The author's note on the end of the book gives a little more insight and it's really cool. I vibe deeply with the author's love of passionate people with fringe interests, and this same tendency is  mirrored in the protagonist of the story.

There is a satisfying cast of supporting characters in this story. Each has their own flavour and inner motivations. There is an English mycologist who is confounded by her peers' reluctance to acknowledge her work (due to her lack of a Y chromosome). Although she is fictitious, the character is portrayed as Beatrix Potter's aunt, which ties really nicely in with the narrative device of strangely behaving animals.

Dunno if I am the target audience, or just too overly interested in natural science, because the plot was fairly transparent, to me. I don't know how easy it would be for non-nerdy people to understand and predict like I did. I like that the story is relatively short because it didn't have a lot to it more than vibe (which is apparently the case with the original). Short stories are nice when they don't overstay their welcome.

A little creepy, a lot interesting, and with some cute ideas developed. I will read more books by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Animal death, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Alcohol, War, and Fire/Fire injury

kathburke's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Grief and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Misogyny, Transphobia, Gun violence, and War

mishmoshroom's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Alcohol, Death, Body horror, Blood, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Grief

Minor: Transphobia and Vomit