What Moves the Dead

by

First edition, 160 pages

Published July 11, 2022 by Tor Nightfire.

ISBN:
978-1-250-83075-3
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5 stars (4 reviews)

From T. Kingfisher, the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

3 editions

reviewed What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Mmmm, Gore and Fungi

4 stars

So…probably should have read House of Usher first. As such, references and the quality of the adaptation is lost on me. But otherwise, what a delightfully horrible book! It takes quite a lot for horror to get to me, but Kingfisher’s prose is vibrant, detailed, and wonderfully skin-crawling.

The main character has great narration with lots of care put into kan descriptive choices and dialogue. This book touches on many topics; fungi, war and PTSD, the unfortunate state of being American (lol), and queerness that is respected and ingrained in the man characters culture of kan home country.

4/5 and an excellent, quick read! Recommended for those who want body horror, queer rep, characters with actual personalities, and thrilling writing that had me eating up the pages.

reviewed What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Atmospheric and Terrifying

5 stars

Without being too spoilery, I never, when I started reading this book, thought I would finish it feeling pity for a fungus, but here we are.

I love Poe, and Usher is one of my favorite stories of his, and this retelling is absolutely masterful. The descriptions of the grounds and house are atmospheric and almost dripping with dread, which fills every page from page one and grows slowly, but incessantly, until you reach the end.