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bohemianhermit04's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and War
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.
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.
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
flaminggecko's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Misogyny, Classism, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Animal death
Moderate: War and Mental illness
Minor: Death of parent
gonetohilo's review
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gore
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and War
lazmataz's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Murder, Medical content, Death, Grief, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Minor: Transphobia and Vomit
gondorgirl's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Death, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Murder, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
bookishmillennial's review
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This is an intriguing blend of horror, mystery, fantasy, gothic retelling/reimagining.
This was a fascinating take on the Fall of the House of Usher, a story I find fully engrossing! The setting was eerie — Alex Easton (nonbinary MC) receives a letter that their friend Madeline Usher is dying, so they goes to be with her at the Usher manor. Alex is shocked to see the dire state of the home, and so are readers. The descriptive writing had me fully immersed in this creepy ass world😭
I used they/them in my review but in the book, Kingfisher created new pronouns entirely in this world, with ka/kan, va/van, which I did appreciate and found very neat!
I won’t give anything away but I’m averse to mushrooms after reading this hahaha. I’m the president of weenie hut jr. so please let me be 😂
cw: Suicide, Body horror, Fire, Animal death, Animal cruelty
This is an intriguing blend of horror, mystery, fantasy, gothic retelling/reimagining.
This was a fascinating take on the Fall of the House of Usher, a story I find fully engrossing! The setting was eerie — Alex Easton (nonbinary MC) receives a letter that their friend Madeline Usher is dying, so they goes to be with her at the Usher manor. Alex is shocked to see the dire state of the home, and so are readers. The descriptive writing had me fully immersed in this creepy ass world😭
I used they/them in my review but in the book, Kingfisher created new pronouns entirely in this world, with ka/kan, va/van, which I did appreciate and found very neat!
I won’t give anything away but I’m averse to mushrooms after reading this hahaha. I’m the president of weenie hut jr. so please let me be 😂
cw: Suicide, Body horror, Fire, Animal death, Animal cruelty
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
aparker89's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Terminal illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: War, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Dementia, Self harm, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, and Animal cruelty
hedsek's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Confinement, Sexism, Cursing, Misogyny, Suicide, and War
onthesamepage's review against another edition
dark
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
5.0
I really love T. Kingfisher as an author, but before reading this book, I didn't have much luck with her horror stories. I read two, enjoyed them well enough, but other than loving her writing and sense of humor, the plots and characters were fairly forgettable. I picked up What Moves the Dead as a sort of "last chance" for me with Kingfisher's horror, and I was kind of shocked by how much I loved it.
This has a lot to do with the main character. Alex Easton is just a delight to read about. By page 26, I knew exactly what kind of person they were. The snark and sarcasm were right up my alley—opinionated characters are so much fun, truly.
This has a lot to do with the main character. Alex Easton is just a delight to read about. By page 26, I knew exactly what kind of person they were. The snark and sarcasm were right up my alley—opinionated characters are so much fun, truly.
"But the war," said Denton. "Weren't you frightened?"
Sometimes it's hard to know if someone is insulting or just an American.
Denton lifted a hand in protest. "Barely that," he said. "I had one year of schooling and then the South took it in its head to secede, and I was shoved out the door with a bonesaw and a sheet of paper saying I knew how to use it."
"Were you frightened?" I asked, with gentle malice.
I also found it impressive how much Kingfisher managed to do in a scant 165 pages. There was enough room for character development, the story, and worldbuilding. The concept of sworn soldiers was really interesting, as is the way she used pronouns throughout the book. I'm not familiar with The Fall of the House of Usher, but I am curious to read it now and see what is different and what is the same. The horror elements were appropriately creepy, and the cover is both so stunning and so horrendous that, even as my brain was going "DO NOT WANT", I had to buy a copy anyway.
A few more quotes that I loved:
I am never sure what to think of Americans. Their brashness can be charming, but just when I decide that I rather like them, I meet one that I wish would go back to America, and then perhaps keep going off the far edge, into the sea.
A Frenchwoman once told me that I had no poetry in my souk. I recited a dirty limerick to her, and she threw a lemon at my head. Paris is a marvelous city.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide