Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

24 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

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

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

adragoninspace's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Medical trauma, Animal death, and Body horror

Minor: Suicide

bibble_kingly's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Chronic illness, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Confinement

Moderate: Medical trauma, War, and Murder

Minor: Transphobia

autonomous_lass's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Cursing, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide

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

hobbit_at_heart's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Medical content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, War, Murder, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Medical trauma

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Oh, this was delightful!

Atmospheric, dark, and a sort of subtle terror within the imagery that creeps along the back of your neck and holds you hostage up until the last chapter. 

That last chapter is what kept it from being a 5 star read for me. It has a rather lack luster climax, which in a Gothic style horror isn't a bad thing, but the ending is abrupt and a tad disappointing. 

As a retelling, I think T. Kingfisher knocked it out of the park. The fungal element was well thought out, and the imagery was beautiful. If that ending would have been a bit more.. complete, I suppose, it would have been phenomenal.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Vomit

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