Book: What Moves The Dead
Author: T. Kingfisher

Summary:
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.

Review: This was an eerie retelling of, The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. This was a short read that really packed a punch. I loved that the narrator was non-binary. The creepy atmospheric setting and the touch of humor made this a book that I will definitely be rereading in the future.

What Moves the Dead is a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher.

The author sets the foundation for the tone, and some reveals from page one. A sense of dread follows you as you meet new characters and as the main character, Alex Easton, uncovers new information. It has a small cast of characters, each as mysterious as the last.

As short as this book is, the characters feel fleshed out, except for Madeline, but there’s a reason for that.

This book was disturbing, but I could not put it down! If you like horror with nature elements, pick this one up!

A magnificently queer reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall Of The House Of Usher,” What Moves The Dead features all the key elements of the original source material: The two remaining Ushers, Roderick and Madeline; the house, formerly grand but now falling into decay; the illness, the death, and the mystery surrounding them both; the tarn, and its inexplicable nighttime glow; and, of course, the mushrooms.

Oh, the mushrooms.

But Kingfisher takes all of these elements and spins them out, pulling and twisting the threads — the mycelia, if you will — to create something new, exploring different themes

This one is not just about the way a family can destroy itself, but also about the way inherited secrets can fester, and grow, and become one’s undoing — but also about how we don’t have to let those secrets take us down with them, and what we can DO about them instead.

What Moves The Dead is, dare I say, hopeful — something Poe, although many things, never, ever is.

Also, I would like to petition to make "mushroom horror" a thing. Between What Moves The Dead and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, it has become very, very clear that fungus is HORRIFYING.

What Moves the Dead is a carefully woven trap that ensnared me in its center, tugging me under before I even had a chance to scream.

Nothing here is quite what it seems.

T. Kingfisher is a master of atmosphere and setting. By the end of this story, I wished for a hazmat suit. I worried I’d eaten the mushrooms and the whole experience was a weird hallucination.

What just happened?!

I loved the depth and complexities of the characters, the way we eased into the eeriness, and the total immersion.

What Moves the Dead is a retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, but you don’t need to be familiar with Poe’s story to enjoy this one.

Just finished this one and idk how to even rate this because it’s not my thing but also well done if it is your thing. Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe retelling. I’m not a fan of stories set in the 1800s nor am I fan of the old English and some of the words used that make zero sense to me and I really really could have done without reading a book about fungus while having a super rare Candida issue that Google doesn’t even know about but with that being said……well done for what it was. 3 stars lol

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is not a spoiler free review- read at your own peril!

In many ways, What Moves the Dead is a fairly straightforward adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," but this certainly isn't a negative or a slight towards it. A good adaptation both recognizes the inherent qualities of the original and improves upon it, both of which T. Kingfisher manages to do with real skill.

Fairly obviously, the story is expanded significantly from its original short length into a comfortable novella (or even novel) amount of pages. Kingfisher does so by fleshing out the world and the characters; at no point does the work feel bloated or overdone. Instead, it feels like a natural expansion, what the reader was missing or didn't get from Poe's original text. The nameless narrator suddenly has one- Easton- and a personality as well. They have a history, a point of origin, and even special pronouns.

World building necessitated Kingfisher creating her own country for the book, one that's vaguely central European and has a long history of war. It's also one that is more permissive than its other cultural counterparts, one in which women can serve in the military and earn their own title and gender- one in which gender is a far more loosely designated subject than it is for the Americans or the British also mentioned in the text. This little twist modernizes the story in a way that feels refreshing and unforced, something for the reader who might feel daunted by Poe's rather dated ideas.

The house is set in, if possible, an even more grim setting than the original Usher mansion, one that is eternally gray and coated in fungi. Fungi play a large role in the text, a significant pivot from the original but also one that seems delightfully macabre. It's reminiscent of Silvia Grace-Moreno's Mexican Gothic without feeling like the same story (though they both share an inspiration point.)

The real strength of Kingfisher's work are the characters. Poe's were somewhat one-dimensional; here we have a cast that are all unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses, who react to the environment in real ways as they try and solve what has caused a mysterious illness.

This made a perfect read even on a warm summer's day- I would very much recommend it to all that are interested in horror that manages to be both classic and modern at once.

If you’re a fan of Edgar Allan Poe and gothic horror don’t miss out on this novella. This short story packs a punch and encapsulates the gothic and creepy atmosphere of Poe’s original story.

𝔸𝕦𝕕𝕚𝕠𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕜/𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Pub date: July 12, 2022
Narrator: Avi Rogue
Duration: 5H 11M

5 fabulous stars for this creative take on Poe’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳! What an absolute delightful terror of a story! I was held in thrall for the entire 5+ hours I listened. Bravo, Kingfisher, bravo!!!!

When retired Lieutenant Alex Easton arrives at the House of Usher at the behest of her childhood friend, Madeline Usher, she is shocked not only by the dilapidated conditions of the mansion but by the appearance of her friend and her brother, Roderick. It’s obvious that Madeline is suffering from an illness that is draining the life out of her.

While at the home, she meets Denton, an American doctor who’s there to treat Madeline’s condition but he confesses he has no idea what ails her. The longer that Alex stays, the stranger things get, starting with the Hare’s in the area that behave strangely and the mysterious lights that appear in the tarn (lake). With the help of her batman (like a squire?) Angus and Denton, will they get to the bottom of what’s plaguing the House of Usher?

The characters are fantastic and it didn’t take long for me to become invested in them, the plot is insidious and sinister, slowly creating a tense gloomy atmosphere right to the end. In true Kingfisher fashion, this story is not without comedic relief and I loved that she included Hob, the horse, as a character because, c’mon, Hob is amazing!

This is narrated by the amazing Avi Rogue, one of my favorites and a phenomenal narrator! Their voice is unique and affecting, drawing me in to the story with a sultry tone and changing nuances seamlessly.

My thanks to @MacMillan.Audio for this gifted ALC and to @TorNighfire for this gifted DRC.

Alex Easton is a retired soldier and moves to their childhood friend’s home. Their friend, Madeline Usher is not well. When Alex visits they wonders if there is a secret to the Usher house that may be affecting Madeline and others.

I think I would have enjoyed this even more if I was more familiar with the Fall of the House of the Usher. Poe fans are certainly going to love this one. It’s got a deep, dark ambiance familiar to Poe, but a modern feel as well. It is very creepy and you feel like you are right there in the house. This is a novella, so a short read that you will definitely read in one sitting.

“The dead don’t get up and walk around. Sometimes, however, the nearly dead do.”

What Moves the Dead comes out 7/12.

T. Kingfisher writes luxuriously dark and mysterious stories, and What Moves the Dead is another marvelous entry in their body of work.

A strange and twisted reimagined take on Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. As if the story could get any darker, Kingfisher weaves a bizarre tale that is like Edgar Allan Poe meets Jeff Vandermeer. It would be remiss to say more about this fascinating novella, but it is a stunning, gothic tale with loads of creeps and chills.

A very Kingfisher addition to the canon of fungal horror. I'm not the biggest fan of Poe's Usher, mostly for the reasons that Kingfisher herself mentions in the author's notes, and I found this infinitely more compelling. The pacing felt a bit odd at times, but that may be my own fault, as I read this in intervals interspersed with long instances of Life Happening. Nonetheless, it was delightfully eerie, and I adore the cast of characters. I can't imagine them appearing again, given the nature of the novella, but I would do a lot of things to get a story or novel or what have you featuring Easton and Angus.

5/5 stars
This was a creepy, fascinating retelling of Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher." I waited to reacquaint myself with the original Poe tale until I had finished this novella, and I'm so glad I did. Kingfisher's creativity with horror and creep is endlessly fun to read.

T. Kingfisher’s “What Moves the Dead” was utter, gothic perfection. The book is an even better read than “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe. She includes more extensive character development. We come to know the Usher twins more intimately and their relationship with House’s unnamed narrator, who we learn is Alex Easton. Easton is an Gallacian Army Lieutenant who eventually collaborates on a scientific level with a former Civil War American doctor and an intelligent mycologist Eugenia Potter.

Kingfisher builds suspense and unease with Easton and the American doctor comparing war stories including appendage amputations and PTSD experiences.

Scenes with Madeline Usher in the crypt are much more creepy and unsettling vs Poe’s original tale. Noises, foot prints and just the simple unknowing of where everyone is located causes the reader’s mind to imagine the worst. (And oh, how we love to be fearful of what might be out there, don’t we readers?)

The basic plot of Poe’s “House of Usher” was further developed by Kingfisher. I found the plot expansion to be ingenious and interesting. While in Poe’s “House of Usher” we never know what’s going on completely; Kingfisher on the other hand gives us a unique possibility.

Many thanks to Tor Nightfire for my E-ARC on Netgalley. I’ll be picking up a hardcover of this to add to my collection. Gothic and horror lovers please pick this up. You’ll be rewarded with a great read.

* Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for an advance copy for review purposes *

I don't normally read much horror, but I have a soft spot for Edgar Allan Poe. "The Fall of the House of Usher", with its mysteriously ill siblings and a decrepit, condemned house as the main character, captured my imagination since high school. My interest on "What Moves the Dead" was piqued both by the disturbing cover and the reference to the sickly Madeline Usher. This retelling of Poe's classic does not disappoint - the atmosphere is truly creepy, the explanation of their illness makes sense (T. Kingfisher is right, it is hinted at in the original!), and the main character (the narrator) is quite interesting, coming from the self deprecating and grammatically creative land of Gallacia. The flashes of humour were much welcome among all the dread.

As T. Kingfisher points out in the acknowledgements, an eerie house and mysterious mushrooms bring to mind Silvia Moreno-Garcia's fantastic "Mexican Gothic". While both books manage to ensure that bleach is a treasured item in our home, they are very different books.

Another winner from T. Kingfisher.

I'm basically a total T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon fangirl, and this one hit all my sweet spots. A world weary but practical MC (who happens to be nonbinary), a horrifying/uncanny mystery plot, friendship and loyalty, wit. This follows the formula of her previous horror novels in that there's no romance in this unlike her fabulous paladin books. But the characters are all quite delightful. Particularly the MC and ka's batman, and the indefatigable elderly Miss Potter.

I'm not really much of a horror reader. This one definitely had some urk! moments for me, but nothing as awful as some of the scenes in The Hollow Places or that freaking jump scare in The Twisted Ones.

As for the nonbinary rep, it seemed well done to me as a cis person, and I liked the world building around the MC's made up home country of Gallacia and their sworn soldiers.

All in all, a great book. Highly recommend.

This book was so fun to read!! The descriptions of the Usher manor as well as inhabitants were so unsettling I felt like I was standing in the house with the characters. What Moves the dead has all the best elements of horror and fantasy, I especially enjoyed the way gender was explored in this society and how the main character existed outside of the gender binary.

Ps im going to be side eyeing mushrooms for a bit… as if they already weren’t suspicious enough!

I'm not going to lie the cover is what caught my attention. This was a reimagining of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall Of The House Of Usher". It was a very short,creepy, and atmospheric read. It has body horror that involves fungus & very creepy hares. I won't be able to look at those two things the same again after this. It gave me a gothic vibe while reading it, which I loved since I'm a big fan of Gothic fiction. Towards the end of the book, in the authors footnotes, the author encourages you to read "Mexican Gothic" since both stories have a similar tone. So if you've read and liked "Mexican Gothic" I recommend giving this one a try. I can see myself re-reading this in the future. I can't wait to own a physical copy of it to have on my shelf. Overall I give this 4 stars.

I'll be posting this review on Instagram closer to the pub date at:
https://www.instagram.com/chibichapters

4 stars

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is one of the very few canonical texts that I not only keep on my syllabi but actually look forward to teaching (many years into that game). It's creepy, confusing, and useful: an expert lesson in unreliable narration and the influence of the place on the person. Similarly, I am obsessed with Kingfisher whose work is a little newer to me but still quite dear. I had very high hopes coming into this read, and they were met in most ways.

In the inspo text, the narrator is such a blank slate - and his view so magnified - that readers can't help but join him on the downward spiral. His view is our view. Here, as Kingfisher explains in the not-to-be-missed author's note, the goal is to find answers instead of generating more questions. In essence, Kingfisher takes what feels like the most sinister aspect of Poe's work - the pervasive uncertainty - and...answers the questions. I struggled with this a bit, but folks less familiar with the original may not have any attachment to this construct at all.

The Ushers themselves feature prominently in the original and while they are central in some ways here, they are so much less interesting - vehicles, some might say - than the other characters who appear in their orbit. In my wildest dreams, these ancillary characters get their own series in which Kingfisher implants them into all kinds of canonical works. I'd like to see Easton peeling some yellow wallpaper, Potter making sense of Bartleby's work ethic, and obviously the American answering questions about why babies are delicious in support of Swift. Let's do this.

Anyone who has read _Mexican Gothic_ will be unable to think of anything else while reading this piece. Frankly, I thought of it more than I thought of Poe. I felt relieved when this came up in the author's note. Others who find themselves bordering on discomfort over what will become obvious connections should definitely jump into that note. It'll help.

I love that lurid, black tarn, the profuse fungus, and that fissure (that definitely does not get enough play here), and folks who share an affinity for the original may similarly come away feeling a little bummed about missed opportunities but mostly thrilled by the *new life Kingfisher breathes in* to this timeless creep show. Pick it up. You know it'll stay with you even longer than you stay with yourself...

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend is dying, they travel to the crumbling Usher mansion. Easton finds Madeleine and her brother, Roderick, both frail and sickly. Intent on being a supportive friend, Easton stays, only to slowly discover that they may have indeed arrived to the House of Usher too late.

After reading Nettle and Bone earlier this year, I was excited for another Kingfisher novel. What Moves The Dead, though certainly a different experience, didn’t disappoint. This books is simultaneously terrifying, disgusting, and hilarious—Easton’s disdain for Americans and predilection for sarcasm when frustrating had me laughing out loud.

My favorite aspect of this book was the characters. Easton, The Ushers, Denton, Miss Potter, and Angus were such a colorful crew of people—it was as if an episode of The Office took place in a dilapidated mansion in a mountainous European country in the 1890s. Still, my favorite was Hob the Horse. His haughtiness helped break up the tension in some of the more unsettling scenes.

I was thoroughly engrossed by this story; indeed, during one of the more frightening moments, I was so engrossed that I jumped right out of my skin when the air conditioning unexpectedly kicked on. This was a great summer horror read, and I would recommend to this who love dry wit and the macabre.

Interesting and charming. Based on Poe's Fall of the House of Usher.

The imagery of the countryside where the story was set was evokative and immersive. If not for the horror elements, I would describe the nature and the vibe as vaguely cottagecore.

The supernatural (?) forces were revealed slowly. Each element began as slightly disturbing, in a way that blurred the lines of curiosity and terror. You felt the instinctive desire to know more and to approach these phenomena - and yet this intense awareness that something is not quite right and you should leave this place immediately and stay as far away as possible.

Personally, I always find fungi and hares awfully fascinating and slightly eerie, so this book was right up my alley.

This novella also features post-war PTSD, tinnitus, mental health issues and an alternate 19th century European history very similar to our own.