Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by writerdgabrielle
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
4.0
Sometimes an author ties things up too neatly and that is why I give What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher four stars instead of five.
The problem is that had Kingfisher ended this story where I thought it should have ended, I might have been upset by the questions left unanswered at the end. As it was, though, I felt like the last chapter, conveniently chapter 13, was too much, too tidy, and more than we needed.
Perhaps it is because this is the first in a series and I expect to see Alex, our narrator, again in the future, that I felt like I didn't need things tied into such a neat bow. Perhaps, had I thought this were a standalone, I might have been more curious about the fate of the characters, beyond the end of chapter 12. Unfortunately, one can never truly know the answers to questions like this.
I am being intentionally vague.
What Moves the Dead is a reimagining of Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher," where the author seeks to answer the questions she had at the end of the original short. Primarily, what the hell is this obsession with fungus?
But more than that, What Moves the Dead seeks to reimagine the zombie genre. But they are sentient, intelligent zombies. No stumbling around, looking for braaaaaiiiinnnnsssss in this tale. Good, because I am not usually a zombie girlie.
Overall, though, I recommend What Moves the Dead to anyone who has found themselves disenfranchised by the horror genre of late. For those who miss the creepy not-quite-rightness of a good, old fashioned Gothic tale and would take that over splatter, gore, or jump scares any day of the week.
Which is not to say there isn't some suitable gore or a few jump scares to be found here. But they are well-placed and they further the plot rather than become its entire foundation.
The problem is that had Kingfisher ended this story where I thought it should have ended, I might have been upset by the questions left unanswered at the end. As it was, though, I felt like the last chapter, conveniently chapter 13, was too much, too tidy, and more than we needed.
Perhaps it is because this is the first in a series and I expect to see Alex, our narrator, again in the future, that I felt like I didn't need things tied into such a neat bow. Perhaps, had I thought this were a standalone, I might have been more curious about the fate of the characters, beyond the end of chapter 12. Unfortunately, one can never truly know the answers to questions like this.
I am being intentionally vague.
What Moves the Dead is a reimagining of Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher," where the author seeks to answer the questions she had at the end of the original short. Primarily, what the hell is this obsession with fungus?
But more than that, What Moves the Dead seeks to reimagine the zombie genre. But they are sentient, intelligent zombies. No stumbling around, looking for braaaaaiiiinnnnsssss in this tale. Good, because I am not usually a zombie girlie.
Overall, though, I recommend What Moves the Dead to anyone who has found themselves disenfranchised by the horror genre of late. For those who miss the creepy not-quite-rightness of a good, old fashioned Gothic tale and would take that over splatter, gore, or jump scares any day of the week.
Which is not to say there isn't some suitable gore or a few jump scares to be found here. But they are well-placed and they further the plot rather than become its entire foundation.