Reviews tagging 'Grief'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

84 reviews

readerette's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I didn't read the description of the book before reading, just added it to my library list on a friend's suggestion, so when it turned out to be an alternate take on classic Poe I was delighted. I think it would have felt less creepy to me if I weren't familiar with the original story, but it would still have been worth reading. Perhaps a little too much history on the region Easton comes from, but I appreciated their nonbinary identity and how much they loved their horse. 

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

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

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

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a fast and interesting read. The first half of the book was a little slow, and the last half a little fast, but overall the pacing added to the element of mystery. It wasn't hard to guess where the story was going, in terms of the fungal poisoning, but smaller aspects of the mystery were still surprising.

Madeline having been dead since before the start of the events of the novel was an interesting twist. It makes a lot of sense looking back. It's also really neat how the integration of a language with so many pronouns into the plot through the character of Alex creates further interest and intrigue in how Maddie and Alex interact concerning the way she references the fungus as if it were a child. I don't have any particular love of Poe, beyond the general appreciation, but this was an engaging use of his premise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide, War, Misogyny, and Vomit

I marked eating disorders as being a graphic description because of the ways in which the emaciated characters are explained in depth.

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Ouch

Unfortunately, this did not hold up to my expectations.

First of all, I don't see the need for this fictional world that Kingfisher has created. She spends valuable pages explaining a world that isn't relevant to her story. That's not to say that I don't like it, but I wish she would've chosen one or the other—fantasy novel or a short horror story.
Because the mystery doesn't really start until the book is nearly done. I never really got the feeling of something ominous or even anticipation for what happened next. Well, that isn't entirely true. The part about the rabbits really intrigued me! But Kingfisher's writing style here seems too—rushed. She's moved on to the next point before she ever lets the last impression set in. I want more detail—insight into the characters.
Still, I like that she writes a non-binary character without writing an LGBT novel. I'm gay myself—I have nothing against them, but representation in genres that aren't LGBT is important, I think. Normalises it.

Another thing I'd like to mention, is that I personally didn't like at all the part where the fungus learns to talk and speaks through Madeleine and stuff. It was boring, really. Felt cliché and wasn't actually eerie in the least.

Well, as a whole, I just think the mystery and horror never struck me. I very rarely read horror at all, but I do love Poe's work, so this disappointed me deeply.

However! Not a bad book. As I said, there were parts that intrigued me, but I'd really expected more of this book.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Transphobia, War, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicide

aubreystrawberry's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Medical content, Terminal illness, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Chronic illness, and Suicide

matcha_cat's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

affabletoaster's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

Well, this was a delightful and quick read! It expands on Poe’s work in the most satisfying ways, and with the wry humour and practicality that I love and look for in T. Kingfisher’s work. Easton is just the right kind of first-person narrator for this story — out of the way enough that you are immersed, but with enough of a personality that you get to sort of try it on. And in the author’s note she recommends two more books that I have now added to my TBR list (which I am clearly making no progress at shortening!) 

Took me about 2.5 hrs to read, which is shameful when you realize that I checked it out of the library twice because of my poor sitting-down-and-reading habits. Many thanks to my in-laws who watched my children while I devoured this at last!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Animal death, and Suicide

Moderate: Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War

Minor: Misogyny, Grief, Gun violence, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was equal parts terrifying,   Brilliant, and emotional. How it’s all packed into this tiny book is a mystery. Is there anything T. Kingfisher can’t do? Amazing. I don’t even like horror but this horror has purpose and excellent execution. You get attached to characters and the spooky horror and everything happening around the setting end up making sense in the most fascinating way. Definitely worth a read!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Death, Violence, Body horror, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail