What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”. This creepy little story gets under your skin in the best worst way. Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the ARC.

Interesting take on The Fall of The House Of Usher. This definitely did a good job of creating a gothic atmosphere with the imagery of the house and the mushrooms. I would say this book is mostly vibes, so if you click with them, you will like it! Also, something that I was not expecting was that it was funny! It wasn't like laugh-out-loud funny but there were comments here and there that felt clever in a funny way which I definitely liked. When I have read other gothic literature, I definitely don't usually care about the story or the characters, but in this case, I felt that the characters were definitely interesting and I wanted to know more about them.

How could I forget: I thought the discussion on language and pronouns was a super interesting part of the story and I liked how it fit into the story. This made me want to learn more about language and pronouns in general. I always think it's a good sign when a book leaves me wanting to learn more about a particular subject.

I didn't dislike the vibes but I also didn't LOVE the vibes... For a novella, I felt like it was pretty slow (maybe it's the gothic vibes that didn't hook me in?) As I mentioned above, I liked how the humor would break up the serious tone of the overall story. Even though I liked the characters, there was something about reading the story that felt difficult or laborious for me.

An interesting take on the House of Usher story. It was sufficiently creepy in the tradition of Poe, but had its own spin on the details. Definitely makes you think of fungus in a whole new way.

Going into this I had no idea this was a retelling. It instantly peaked my interests then grabbed me by both shoulders and shook. Cannot wait to suggest this to everyone in the library for a fun and quick read.

What a creepy story! This book was such an interesting read. I read Fall of the House of Usher by Poe a long time ago but don't remember it at all so I basically went into this book blind without knowing the plot or premise and I'm glad I did. Kingfisher did a fantastic job with the atmosphere and uneasy feeling of the house and characters. The book was the perfect length to get the story across and leave an impact. I would definitely like to read more from this author, they have a very interesting and engaging writing style.

“The dead don’t walk. Except, sometimes, when they do.”

WHAT MOVES THE DEAD
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher is a short retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” It reminded me that an Edgar Allen Poe reread is in order as it has been too long. Also, Mike Flanagan who produced The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass just wrapped his Netflix series adaptation and it may be possible that it will release this year? There will be many familiar faces and Mark Hamill is joining the cast. AND. I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT.

Ok. Beck to What Moves the Dead. Alex Easton is a retired soldier who has come to the aid of their friend, Madeline. She is sick with an unknown illness and it appears her brother, Roderick has the same illness. But one looks at their home and one can see that there is someone about the house that isn’t right.

T. Kingfisher’s writing has just the perfect aesthetic to take on an Edgar Allen Poe story. She perfectly captures the eerie grotesqueness of this story. The author does bring her own voice to the story and I do wish it were longer. I understand it is a retelling of a short story but I felt that with her unique touch there could have been more. I did appreciate the author’s note at the end of the book and I urge everyone to read it. But if you are looking for a creepy short story for this Fall, then this is it!

I decided to reread Poe's story The Fall of the House of Usher before reading What Moves the Dead, and I have to say that Kingfisher did a brilliant job at retelling this iconic story. I was blown away at how the author captured the same sense of dread and horror of the original story while also adding a unique and extremely creative twist.

The story beings with Alex Easton, a retired, gender-queer solider, going to the house of their friend Madeline Usher, after receiving a note from Madeline that she is sick. Before reaching the house, Easton meets Eugenia Potter, a British mycologist, who is fiercely independent and smartly aware of the limitations of being a woman scientist in the 1890's. Even in this first scene, we get a creepy sense of unease, from the toxic mushrooms to the view of the dilapidated house across the lake.

This sense of dread continues to grow as Alex reaches the house and takes in the tattered curtains and moldy walls. They meet Roderick, Madeline's brother and Easton's former comrade-in-arms, who is emaciated, sickly and jumps at the littlest sound. Easton is also greeted by Denton, an American doctor, called in by Roderick to examine Madeline.

In true Kingfisher form, the setting and atmosphere becomes just as much a character as the rest. I missed the author's witty, snarky humor which is absent in this story, but the writing was just as descriptive and evocative. It also has the same dreamy, folktale quality as a lot of her other works.

From creepy, twisted hares to the horrifying answer to what is causing the fall of the house of Usher, What Moves the Dead showcases T. Kingfishers ability to tell a compelling story that will keep you turning the pages.

I'd highly recommend this book if you love horror stories that involve creepy houses, love Poe retellings and are already a fan of T. Kingfisher's writing.

*Thank you so much to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the digital arc. My opinions are my own.

Creepy and well written. The cover is fantastic as well. Enjoy the references to Poe. Would recommend for purchase and a possible book club title.

The Fall of the House of Usher is one of my favorite Poe stories, and T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors, so I was stoked to see this, and it did not disappoint. This had everything that I love in it--gothic ruined mansion, family dynamics, mysterious illness, and, of course, sentient plants. A deliciously creepy book.

Retired soldier Alex Easton travels to the remote countryside of Ruritania to check on their childhood best friend Madeline Usher who is suffering from a strange illness.
When Alex arrives at the crumbling Usher ancestral home, they’re stunned to find Madeline and her brother Roderick are both rapidly declining - aging over night, it appears - with bouts of sleepwalking and strange voices.
With the help of an American doctor who is also a houseguest as well as a local mycologist, Alex investigates what is causing the bizarre malady in the Usher siblings - a mystery that becomes more ominous with the discovery of seemingly possessed wildlife and fungi that is consuming the estate.

This atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is absolutely fantastic! What Moves the Dead is a novella that packs a huge punch of gothic horror and paranormal fantasy, filling readers with dread the longer we spend at the crumbling estate.

Huge thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. What Moves the Dead is scheduled for release July 12, 2022.

I've marked this as a story with "transgender representation," and although that is a way of seeing Alex Easton I don't know of it's one ka would approve of. I could simply be another American man committing a dreadful solecism in kan opinion. Oh well.

Now. On to the bad, awful, hideous, nightmarish stuff.

You've most likely read "The Fall of the House of Usher" at some point in your school career/teenaged glooms. (Not-Americans even know about this story, and I understand it's popular among Poe's French-speaking admirers.) So did T. Kingfisher, and did she have questions after reading it! Wowee toledo.

Alex Easton, our narrator-cum-PoV person, has a strangely English name and a uniquely different cultural outlook. Ka was born female and swore into the life of a soldier, an ungendered occupation among kan fellow countrymen. I suspect it wasn't uncommon for warrior societies to have permeable gender boundaries given that not all man-plumbed persons are suited to soldiering and not all woman-plumbed persons are suitable to motherhood. Those being the basic occupations of the sexes for much of human history, it would surprise me greatly if most didn't have some kind or sort of accommodation to this reality. I believe the warrior graves with female bodies in them discovered all over Europe and Asia are an indicator of this.

Easton, as ka is known to the Usher siblings ka knew in distant childhood and youth, has at last emerged from soldiering...one senses unwillingly...now that peace has returned. A letter from kan friend Madeline Usher brings ka at the trot: "Roderick thinks I am dying." For one thing, bonds that old...and ka was Roderick's commander during the war, to boot...can't be gainsaid. Off ka, and kan batman Angus, and kan horse Hob (all well-sketched characters of great sensitivity in their portrayal) trot to the Ushers' ancestral home in neighboring Ruravia (!) to Do What Needs Doing.

Thus the nightmare begins. Ka finds Roderick a wisp, Madeline a cold shell of her former lovely self, and Roderick's American friend Denton...whose soldiering was done in the Civil War, in a medical tent. Despite kan poor opinion of Americans, this earns him a degree of latitude for being gauche and unfamiliar with how to treat sworn soldiers like ka. (That little pronoun, in kan Gallacian language, is used for both sexes of sworn soldiers. Tidily solves the vexed problem of gendered soldiery.) Alex finds Denton, and the English language, adequate but frustratingly unsophisticated, leading to kan delightful outburst, "Damnable English language—more words than anybody can be expected to keep track of, and then they use the same one for about three different things."

I relate, my soul sibling Alex. I so so relate.

I don't think it helps anything to recapitulate "The Fall of the House of Usher." I am aware that some people haven't read it, though honestly I find that easier to conceptualize than to understand. Let's just say that the mycohorror subgenre that's come into being and has fetidly overgrown the various horror and adjacent literary fields...<I>Annihilation</i> and its siblings, <I>The Girl with All the Gifts</i>, on and on...have been gazumped (from German gesumpf, tossed into a swamp) by T. Kingfisher's lighter, brighter touch and inimitable ability to slosh humor over a rankly rotting, unnaturally ambulating, little-white-hyphae-shedding Object of Horror, and not have the results resemble a desecrated grave.

I loved the read. I think most people I know would at the very least like it. And, fellow old-enough-to-remember souls, I think Denton the American is a call-out to <I>The Rocky Horror Picture Show</i>. I can't prove it...the author doesn't mention it in her self-deprecating endnotes...but I found myself humming "Denton, Denton/you've got no pretensions" every time he hove into view.

...wait...what are those little white...EEEEEEEEEEEEEE

What Moves the Dead is a wonderfully creepy an incredibly atmospheric horror novella with all the gothic, spooky, strange vibes. This is my first book by T. Kingfisher and it was great! I loved this elevated retelling of such a classic tale, centering around the Usher House where our narrator is summoned to visit his sick childhood friend.

What the heck is actually going on in that sinister Usher House?! Why does Madeline look like a zombie, sleepwalking through the night? What makes Roderick so hysterical? This is not a bloody slasher horror book but rather one that slowly creeps up on you in small and barely detectible ways. The entire time you're reading, you have a gut feeling that something isn't quite right but it's almost like peeking through your fingers when you cover your eyes at the scary part of a film - you want to keep looking even though you're unsettled.

Inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe and mixed with a touch of Mexican Gothic, horror fans should add this to your TBR!

This was my first T. Kingfisher book. I assure you, it won't be the last. I truly didn't know what to expect going in, since I did read the source material, but by "read", I mean "skimmed enough to take a test 20 years ago", so I can't imagine that really counts. Anyway, we encounter retired soldier Alex Easton who is travelling to the home of childhood friends, the Ushers. Things aren't going great for the Ushers, and Alex wants to help them out, as good friends do.

Only... things are not okay here in this town. Alex finds many unsettling facets, not the least of which is the very ill (near death's door, really) Madeline Usher. And her brother Roderick isn't doing a whole lot better. Frankly, there are so many things wrong with this place, it's hard to tell what the actual culprit might be. There are questionable mushrooms, rabbits that are... well like the ones on the cover of this book- just not okay. Is it the water? The house itself? An illness?

Alex wants to get to the bottom of this, and hopefully remove the Ushers from the whole situation. Only, they refuse to go. They have a fairly incompetent American doctor who I enjoyed, though he can't exactly help them. Alex also finds a mycologist who is quite interested in the fungi around town to help with the cause. She is a gem too.

The writing of this story is an absolute dream. I fell into this world wholly and completely, with the author's incredibly atmospheric prose and witty dialogue. I truly can't recall having read a story that could be so sinister, yet so delightful. Yes, everything was a terrifying mess, but also yes, I adored Alex and the other characters, enjoyed their interactions, and could not put the book down.

Bottom Line: I positively devoured this story, with its incredible atmosphere, gorgeous writing, and wonderful characters.

What fun! This is not my go-to genre and I’m so glad I picked it up and dove in. Love the Poe - ness of it with so many twists and turns and WONDERFUL writing. Awesome reading non-binary pronouns that are varied - loved the representation!! This is my first Kingfisher and won’t be my last. Heartfelt thanks to Tor Nightfire for the copy. You made my day!

Another great novel by this author that makes any subject scary and eerie. These are books you need to be immersed in so that the whole story can be experienced. I have read other books by this author and after each one, the book stays on my mind for days.

This was a great, gory retelling of Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher done in signature T. Kingfisher style. Overall it was a fun and quick read!

This book is really really weird and I think that’s its best trait. I was extremely spooked by The Fall of the House of Usher as a small child, (and also confused it with the popular musical artist, Usher, and was terrified of him as well). The narrator has a really interesting Narration Style, which is sometimes weird and sometimes makes everything spookier. The audiobook is also narrated by the fantastic Avi Roque, who gets five stars from me! Also, the main character is nonbinary. If you’re looking for something spooky, especially around this October, you should definitely pick this up. Also, just look at that COVER! Five stars.

What Moves the Dead was described as a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher. Yes, please! I love me some Poe. Reading this rewrite made me really appreciate the decisions that Poe made in the original short story. Let me go back and say that I love T Kingfisher’s writing style. It was moody and creepy and made the whole thing flow. Everything I’ve ever read by Kingfisher has been beautifully written. Let me also say that I understand the changes made in this retelling. There were definitely themes added-mostly around gender identity.

Now, unfortunately, I found the changes took away from the mood. I get why Poe kept the narrator as an unnamed character. As the reader, I felt like I was the narrator, even though I have actually nothing in common with the little we did know about the character. I was seeing through their eyes. The addition of a backstory and of other characters was distracting. I was especially distracted by a character added that just seemed to be there to annoy the narrator, though not by acting in any really offensive way, especially for the time. One really odd character was charming while treating people as specimens while the other just seemed to be there for the main character to say, “Stupid American.” Regarding the three main characters from both stories, the relationships amongst them was just more interesting in the original. The point Poe was trying to make was far different than the point Kingfisher was trying to make. There was just something much more creepy about the narrator being completely in acknowledged by Madeline Usher.

I both read and listened to this book. I preferred to read. The narrator wasn’t bad, necessarily, but I got much more engrossed when reading it to myself. Though not my favorite by this author, I will still keep the name on my list of authors to watch for.

When a childhood friend writes Alex Easton to inform them of her illness, Alex finds themself at the ancestral Usher home - a decrepit gothic castle that looks like it could fall over at any moment. Alex soon discovers Madeline is not sick with any normal illness; she looks like a corpse and can be found sleepwalking and hallucinating through the halls at night. With the help of a mycologist, Alex attempts to unravel the mystery of the Usher home.

My first book by T. Kingfisher and it was great! What Moves the Dead is an incredibly atmospheric horror, giving gothic, fantasy, and spooky fungal vibes. I think it was the perfect amount of just creepy enough, without being absolutely terrifying or disgusting. If you have a free afternoon on a gloomy, rainy day, definitely read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, I didn’t finish this book. Although I love Poe, I just didn’t love this retelling.
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.