Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

98 reviews

vickybuka'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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Gore, Medical content, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, War, and Death

Minor: Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Loved the narrator of this one, added such fun and levity to the dark, gothic goings on at the House of Usher. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Religious bigotry

bookboxbabe's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

i mean, it’s alright i guess. 

i wasn’t spooked or anything but i had no idea it was a retelling of edgar allan poe when i picked it up, which is on me i admit (i don’t like eap)

regardless, the book was boring. 

not bad, not good, just blah. it was quick which is why i finished it in one sitting, but i just didn’t care about anything that happened.

and fungus? really? alright then, i guess that’s the hill we’re dying on.

the only character i hoped lived and that i actually liked was hob. yes, the horse. he was the only good person in here.

this would work well as a short film or movie i think. the vibes were there and it would’ve been more eerie and creepy in film form.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Sexism, and Medical content

anastasiamakes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is definitely more on the horror-end of Kingfisher's work (which it doesn't pretend not to be!) and I just found some of the body horror a bit much for me. Not an issue with the book itself, just not for me. Still had the balance of darkness and humour that I've enjoyed in her other works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Death

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

biwi's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

unexpectedly funny but still Edgar Allen Poe adjacent. Anything fungi related is an instant read for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Animal death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

remuslibrary'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: War

Minor: Sexism and Fire/Fire injury

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

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

melitta's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Suicide