Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

206 reviews

alarara94's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, War, and Suicide

acorny's review

dark funny 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

I enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel. It was predictable (which didn’t particularly bother me but it made it less exciting) and not particularly scary but the descriptions of the hares and Maddy’s ailment was vivid and will stick with me. I also like the exploration of gender in this retelling. The narrator added some brief moments of humor and was believable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Suicide and War

booksthatburn's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

WHAT MOVES THE DEAD is a retelling of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", which I waited to read until after I'd finished the retelling. This was a good decision, leaving me room to enjoy what the novella actually does rather than waiting for the scant events from the original story to play out. The cast of characters is larger and significantly more developed than in the original, which is good. The particular fungal incursion is resolved, but as this gets a sequel I doubt the problem was handled once and for all, merely suppressed in this particular instance. 

Things I love, in no particular order: the way pronouns and gender are used; the appearance of a relative of Beatrix Potter, who was a children's writer/illustrator because of sexism precluding her from illustrating botanical texts; the way the discovery of the cause is approached; how creepy the hares are.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, Gore, and Death

Moderate: War, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Medical content, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Gun violence, and Suicide

flaminggecko's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Misogyny, Classism, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Animal death

Moderate: War and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

This is my second time reading this, first time reading the audiobook. 

Second time around the beginning felt a little slow, but I get that some world building had to happen until we could really get into the story. Once the plot picks up it really is great. Despite knowing the ending it was still a fun read. 

Didn’t love the narrator for the audiobook, but the accents were just a little off for me but overall really enjoyed the book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide and War

Minor: Vomit

jackal_crow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Suicide

lunaquarius's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: War

gonetohilo's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I was initially pretty unimpressed with this book. The prose was a bit too simple, both for my tastes and for the mood it was trying to set.
It was descriptive enough, but very repetitive in a way that I could tell was trying to be a stylistic choice that unfortunately just fell flat.
This may be a very personal gripe, but I think it did the book no favors that the prose read very modern which feels at odds with it being a story set in the 19th century.
Luckily, once the pace picks up about a third of the way through, it gets less noticeable. It's still present, but the action and dialogue between characters were engaging enough for me to shift my focus completely.
The ending read to me more as action/thriller than horror, but I did genuinely enjoy the imagery presented. Maybe the mood just wasn't set properly for me, but I still love the general concept and mechanics of the Usher's affliction. There was clearly a lot of thought put into how things work in this world.

Overall, I think it's a fine book! Don't take the 3 stars as a discouragement to read it. It's an above-average score, and my issues with the writing style are subjective. I would not have written this long of a review if I didn't care about the book at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gore

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and War

lazmataz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Murder, Medical content, Death, Grief, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Minor: Transphobia and Vomit

zkramer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, and Death