Reviews with content warning for Vomit - What Moves the Dead

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

38 reviews

star_charter152's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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? No

3.5

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kukucocoreads's review against another edition

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dark funny informative mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

I liked individual components of this book, but it felt a little underwhelming as a whole to me. I went back and forth between giving it 3 stars or 4. I think its sitting somewhere between 3.75 and 4.00.

I read The Fall of the House of Usher in high school. I remember it vaguely, but believe that I enjoyed it. I did refresh my memory before reading this because I was curious about the changes.

The book's aesthetic immediately grabbed my attention. The cover art is amazing and the title intrigued me. The end page art on the hardcover is also a plus.

Despite that, I had a really hard time getting into this one. I carried it around in my purse for an entire month and only made it to the third chapter. I'm not sure if this was due to the book or a reading slump, but I just couldn't find the motivation to read it. But then last night I sat down to read and ended up finishing it in one go.

I really like the main character. I also enjoyed the exploration of gender, identity, and purpose through Easton, Maddy, and Miss Potter in this 1890 landscape. The use of a fictional country was a great way to introduce those themes, though I do feel as if the explanation of the pronouns at the beginning was a little clunky. Rather than expositing it all in one go, I would have preferred a more subtle introduction (such as in the end when Easton asks

"Why is she referring to a child?" when Madeline uses the va/van pronouns for the tarn

as an example).

There were several moments that I chuckled or laughed out loud and I enjoyed the inclusion of the humor to lighten things up. While this made the story lose some of its atmospheric tension, it gave the characters a little more depth for me. The American bashing was a little much at times, but ultimately it was in good fun and I found it amusing.

There were some pretty creepy moments and I enjoyed how the hares and fungi were used in this. Where it was going was a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed the journey there. I appreciated how the ending played out and how the

fungi was compared to rabies and the "its not evil, its alien"

message to describe motivations.

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kirtreads's review against another edition

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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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lazmataz's review against another edition

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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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whimsylee's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

Obsessed. The quick witted gender nonconforming protagonist is an absolute delight. I will happily venture into the unknown with kan again and again. The dark gothic fungi infested mysteries of this book broke a spell of artists block for me that had gone on for over 6 months. Highly recommend if you enjoy fungi, dead things, rotting houses, and gothic mysteries.

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