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A review by julieannasbooks
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
4.0
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced finished copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
There’s definitely elements of What Moves the Dead that took me out of my comfort zone (as intended). But for the most part, this book checked off all the boxes for me. Retelling? Check. Gothic horror? Check. Mushrooms? And yes, I said mushrooms – check!
I have to admit, for a novella, this was a bit slow-going for me at first (as gothic novels usually are), but things really began to pick up for me as the story continued. I especially loved the intense imagery that Kingfisher’s writing conveys – not just in visuals themselves, but also with sound. The main character’s tinnitus and even the subtle sounds in otherwise quiet areas really added to the suspense that I felt throughout.
And now, I’ll explain the mushrooms thing – I really loved Mexican Gothic. And mushrooms are an integral part of the story in that novel. So seeing this element in another story was really interesting – and as I learned from the author’s note, Mexican Gothic inspired the author to experiment with fungi as a part of the plot, which I thought was really cool. This is also a Poe retelling, and I found it to be an excellent balance between exploring the unknowns without making things too questionable.
If you love gothic horror (especially the classics) and books like Mexican Gothic, I highly recommend What Moves the Dead. I’m always amazed to see how much emotion (and in this case, suspense) writers can evoke in readers in such few words.
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