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irenemarie's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
mondovertigo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Mental illness
naomi_k's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Transphobia and War
wireblight's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and War
on content related to child death, in increasing level of spoilers: *sunbirdbooks's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death and Terminal illness
Moderate: Animal death and Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
aardwyrm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
thehutonfowlslegs's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
This novella included two of my obsessions: Edgar Allan Poe and fungi; thus, I am biased in my automatic love for it. The horror was phenomenally written, and I greatly enjoyed the unique retelling of a classic horror story. Kingfisher wove so many elements and details from the original story into her own version, expanding on questions left unanswered and adding her own explanations for the Ushers’ madness. With the inclusion of some mild body horror and gore, I found myself loving this version even more. The writing was good, the pacing kept me intrigued--I couldn’t put this book down. T. Kingfisher has become a new favorite/must-read author of mine.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Mental illness
Moderate: Murder
horrorandscience's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
What Moves the Dead is definitely in my top 10 (or even 5) books of 2022. There’s still a few months left in the year, and some amazing looking books on my TBR, but as soon as I finished this book, I already wanted to reread it. As someone who doesn’t really reread books, that tells how much I enjoyed it.
“The dead carry lanterns down in the deep.”
The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe released in 1840. More than 150 years later, T. Kingfisher weaves it into a modern day story, while still retaining a lot of the classic elements that I enjoyed in the Poe story. What Moves the Dead takes the original gothic story and makes it queer, with a touch of fungus. My favorite.
As mentioned in Kingfisher’s author’s note, this novel is reminiscent of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Mexican Gothic is another one of my favorite novels, and while WMTD is similar, it definitely works on its own. File it under “a fungus comes in and makes everyone slightly crazy” and I will read it. And most likely love it.
I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy from Tor Nightfire, and my opinions are my own. Go buy this book if you haven’t already. I highly recommend.
CW for animal death, gore, suicide, war, and mental illness
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, and War