Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

121 reviews

flaminggecko's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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? No

5.0


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lizzisok's review

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

4.0


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keishbby's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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thebigemmt505's review

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dark 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

3.75

Christ save me from Americans.

What Moves The Dead is unique retelling of The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe written by T. Kingfisher. It follows Alex Easton’s journey to the House of Usher, following the reception of a letter from the sister of one of ka’s close army friends.

Now, admittedly, I haven’t read the original- I just pick up books when I find them interesting, I suppose. Even without the context of Poe’s story, I really enjoyed this one! The writing is fun and easy to read, but not lacking in great description and very solid dialogue. I find fungi fascinating, so having it be a driver of the narrative was entertaining and interesting. The depiction of the hares was downright disturbing and worked well. The characters are well-characterized, as much as is needed for the story, anyways. Alex Easton is a delightful character to read. Ka’s quick humor and fascination with people’s passions makes the character super likable, even without the narrative being strictly character driven. It’s a really unique portrayal of a queer character as well, and very refreshing in the wake of so many forced, hetero-ified, cliché portrayals found in a myriad of other novels being released today. (I don’t say this in the grifter way- I’m one of the LGBTQs myself, and I do love a lot of queer media, but dear lord do some need to get better at writing! The main draw of a book doesn’t have to be watered down queer-ness, people.) 

I don’t have many critiques as far as the writing goes. My rating quality wise is closer to a 4/5 or even 4.25/5, but I suppose the story didn’t pack the full punch I wanted it too. I don’t think that’s what the story was necessarily going for though, so I wouldn’t call that a flaw. It comes down to preference more than anything else. I also feel as though Madeline could’ve had a bigger presence in the story before the end, and that might’ve made the climax more effective. Anyways, it was a really nice read!

Overall, What Moves The Dead is a fun little re-telling of a classic that anyone who is into horror should add to their list. 

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mothmania's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0


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aparker89's review

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75


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hedsek's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted medium-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? No

2.0

I really wanted to like this but I couldn't with the writing style. Why is the main character so annoyingly aware of the (modern) reader? It feels very anachronistic and kind of took me out of the book a few times. I also really did not enjoy the snarky dialogue and all the random stereotyping about different nationalities, which is like 1/3 of the dialogue. There's also a few times where it is super clear what we're supposed to figure out as the reader but the author still pretends it's mysterious only to drop it at the end of a chapter like it's some huge plottwist, especially
the thing with Madeline walking like the hare
. I'll be reading the original story as well, the book did get me curious. 

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autonomous_lass's review

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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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rmgmorrow's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A spectacular and spooky twist on a classic, with a wry vein of humor carrying through it all. Great world building, with just enough of the horror explained to make the remaining unknown extremely unsettling.

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skranz's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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