Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - What Moves the Dead

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

129 reviews

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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jackal_crow's review against another edition

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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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gonetohilo's review

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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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