What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 A very spooky very gross retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher. Like at one point I said ‘Gross!’ out loud to myself and started laughing so hard 😂

A creepy retelling of Fall of the House of Usher. The inclusion of the fungus as the reason for the madness and the touch of body horror made this book right up my alley.

3.5 ish. While I enjoyed this gender-queer version of the story of the House of Usher, I admittedly didn't love it. I was fine with all of the characters, but didn't particularly click with or grow fond of any of them. The idea presented was interesting, although I do feel like maybe more could have been done with it. Some of the story did seem a bit stilted, but overall, this was a fun and fast read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

An excellent reimaging of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe. The narrator Alex Easton is smart, funny, and easy to like. I look forward to the next Sworn Solider title. I would recommend this book to fans of horror and paranormal mysteries. Reminds me of Mexican Gothic.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher is beyond original. If you’re considering picking this one up I HIGHLY suggest skipping the audiobook version. Sadly, the narrator makes getting thru this audiobook virtually impossible. I couldn’t get into this audiobook and gave up quickly after I started it. I didn’t want the narrator to ruin the reading experience for me. The voice truly made this a very painful listen.

Later I picked up the physical book and I enjoyed that. The storyline was original and good. I really enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation. This one had gothic vibes and I was here for it. This book was hella atmospheric, suspenseful and just plain creepy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for this e-arc & listening copy in exchange for my honest review. If I was rating this solely on being an audiobook, it’s a one star because well I can’t give it anything less. If I’m rating the story itself is as a non audiobook it’s 4 stars from me.

An eerie and unsettling story, What Moves the Dead is sure to keep you on the edge of suspense. Inspired by The Fall of Usher, the story stays true to it's original source material for ... all of 10 seconds (okay, honestly it's longer than that!). It TOTALLY goes into an unexpected direction that gives the story more character building (yes, this includes the house itself) and sets the stage for higher stakes.

Delightfully creepy.

Just impeccable vibes all around.

The cover and the fact this is an Edgar Allan Poe retelling were enough for me and Kingfisher didn't disappoint.

It was creepy, it was engaging, and it was the perfect length! Take note – things don't have to be drawn out and 600 pages to be profound.

Plus so many good quotes about mushrooms!!

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Publication date: July 12, 2022

Date read: March 8, 2023



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.

This book is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher”.

I first want to note that I have not (yet) read “Fall of the House of Usher”, so I cannot comment on its success as a retelling.

This book is less than 200 pages, but it is able to pack quite a punch into its short length. It is more creepy and unsettling than pure horror, but the atmosphere and creepiness are established so well so quickly. This book is my first by Kingfisher, but if she is able to set a stage this well in her other books, then I can’t wait for the next one.

The book has a slightly confusing bit near the beginning where Gallacian pronouns are explained (Alex’s character is from this region, and the pronouns are quite complicated). It is confusing, but don’t be worried if it never completely sinks in - it helps to develop Alex’s character, but isn’t really necessary to the plot. I do like the way that the complicated pronouns are just stated as a normal thing and not made a big deal of, past the short explanation. I can see how this might be off-putting to some readers, though.

I really enjoyed just how creepy this book was. Without giving anything away, the shooting of the hare was so wonderfully disturbing that I knew this book was going to be good, and it didn’t disappoint. Anyone with serious triggers for animal death should not read this book, but for anyone who isn’t sure, there is a fair amount of animal death, but the animals aren’t “right”, and the killing is necessary to the plot.

The characters are well done and enjoyable to read, but really the star here is the atmosphere. No complaints about the characters at all, though.

I also recommend reading Kingfisher’s author’s note, because while I was reading this book I did get serious Mexican Gothic vibes (although I actually liked this one a bit more), and she actually talks about that in her author’s note. (She was actually in the process of writing What Moves the Dead when Mexican Gothic came out, and noticed the similarities herself - and actually recommends that book as well).

Overall, this is a wonderfully creepy short horror novel that I highly recommend to all horror readers. It’s one of the better atmospheric horror books I’ve read, and one of my favorites of the year so far.

Content warning: gore, body horror, war (mentioned), surgical amputation (mentioned), graphic animal death.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This book packs quite a lot of gothic atmosphere and horror into a small amount of pages. Having never read The Fall of the House of Usher, I cannot say how well it does at retelling the story. However, it does an excellent job of telling its story. While some of the characters are not as fleshed out as some might want, the overall effect of only knowing a little about the people involved in the increasingly disturbing events that are unfolding works well. It looks like there will be a sequel to this novel, which I eagerly look forward to.

In this retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic ‘The Fall of the house Usher’ we follow Alex Easton, who visits his former friend Madeleine Usher, who is slowly dying of a mysterious illness.

The story is very slow building. First when we are introduced to the Ushers, we know something is wrong but can’t decide what. It takes a while for the creepiness to settle in but once it starts it gets creepier and weirder with every Minute Alex spends in that house and the company of the Ushers.

To be honest, in the beginning I wasn’t sold on the book, it took me some time to find it interesting, but then it sucked me in with it’s creepiness and T. Kingfishers detailed and partly disgusting descriptions of fungi and hares.

This was so freaking good and so gross and eww I hate fungus. A perfect retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher. In my initial Goodreads review I included a quote from the Wikipedia entry on Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the fungus that infects a certain species of ant, uses their dead host body to drive the ants to a location ideal for spreading more fungus. It's brought up in one of the Planet Earth episodes from years ago, and I honestly had to turn it off because it weirded me out so much. And this is immediately what I thought of when I figured out what was happening in What Moves the Dead. Anyway, probably my favorite T. Kingfisher novel thus far. Incredibly well done.

From Cemetery Dance Review by Haley Newlin

The dead don’t walk.

There is a place secluded by an untenable smog, a 30-foot drop lake, and shrouded with acrimonious fungi. Some say it is the place the devils dance on moors. Others say at this ancestral residence, The House of Usher, they can hear the worms in the earth, craving flesh.

T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead follows Alex Easton, a retired soldier, who journeys to The House of Usher after receiving word that their childhood friend, Madeline Usher, is dying. Upon arrival, Easton discovers that Madeline’s illness is far more severe and gruesome than they ever imagined. Madeline and her brother, Roderick, possess an unearthly appearance, with bone-colored flesh, eyes deep hollows, and their frames frail. The Ushers looked like walking corpses.

But “the dead don’t walk,” Easton reminds themselves repeatedly.

What Moves the Dead is an expert reimagination of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” integrating some of the most haunting and memorable elements of the classic gothic tale. Kingfisher resurrected the knocking from the crypt, the misogynistic “hysteria” diagnosis, and the nightmarish fungal growth but still made this book a unique horror story.

What truly separates — rather, elevates — Poe’s original story is Kingfisher’s likable characters, from the aspiring British mycologist, Miss Potter, Easton’s batman, Angus, and even Easton’s horse, Hob. I’ve heard Kingfisher is known for making outstanding, strong-headed animal companion characters, and after reading What Moves the Dead, I wouldn’t doubt it.

Possibly, that charming quality allowed the author to create such disturbing, sickly, and memorable animals on the Usher property, particularly the hares, as well. I would argue the hares are one of the most memorable and bothersome images in What Moves the Dead.

Contrary to the typical hare nature, the ones at The House of Usher don’t scurry away at the slightest movement or even gunfire. Instead, they linger. They stare with a dead gaze. And they walk in circles, trailing one leg behind themselves.

I won’t give too much away here, but how this detail comes together, with the help of the American doctor, Denton, and Miss Potter, feels like an ode to a leading trope in the zeitgeist of gothic horror. Poe would be proud.

I do wish the climax received more page time. The build of What Moves the Dead feels like a growing itch you can’t scratch, eyes you sense behind you but don’t see when you turn around. It’s nagging, twisted, and such a surreal delight.

Furthermore, Kingfisher managed to answer so many questions Poe left unearthed or the elements he left only partially crafted. I couldn’t help but imagine his work as a halfling creature who escapes Dr. Frankenstein, still shy of his empathy and compassion. And that’s what Poe was really missing — the heart.

Kingfisher’s Afterward says of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “He [Poe] devotes more words to the fungal emanations than he does to Madeline.”

In What Moves the Dead, you mourn for Roderick, somewhat understanding his reactionary, violent slip-up. You wish the head of the Usher House recovery and pray the illness doesn’t reach the others. You ache for Easton’s constant run-ins with PTSD, or battle nerves, as they call it, and hope it, in some way, will be their angel at the table.

If Poe had given us just a bit more character depth, more explanation behind the illness befallen the House of Usher, and some gender queerness, he would’ve had the gothic, spine-chilling brilliance T. Kingfisher has achieved here.

An absolute must-read for fans of Roger Corman films, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, and readers of Edgar Allan Poe.

I hope authors like T.Kingsfisher, continue reframing classic works, adding in a dose of heart, kickass queer characters, and more scare!

Horror can be a hit or miss depending on the genre. If anything I'm feeling more icky and itchy and I'm not even that big of a germaphobe.

"What Moves the Dead" by T. Kingfisher is a chilling and suspenseful horror retelling of the classic Edgar Allan Poe tale, "The Fall of the House of Usher".

Set in modern times, the novel follows Alex Easton, a soldier who is called back to the Usher family's decaying estate. As they attempts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the family, Alex is drawn into a world of supernatural terror that threatens to consume them.

Kingfisher's writing is atmospheric and evocative, creating a sense of dread that permeates throughout the narrative. The pacing is slow and deliberate, allowing the tension to build to a crescendo as the story unfolds.

The novella also explores themes of family, legacy, and the impact of the past on the present. Kingfisher's skillful use of foreshadowing and symbolism adds layers of meaning to the story, making it more than just a simple horror retelling.

While the novel may not be for everyone, especially those who are easily frightened, "What Moves the Dead" is a masterful horror retelling that is sure to appeal to fans of the genre. Kingfisher's skillful storytelling and attention to detail make this book a must-read for horror enthusiasts and fans of Poe's original work.

A creative retelling of “Fall of the House of Usher” with a twist reminiscent of “Mexican Gothic”. Though not too unique, this is a fun, horror novel to curl up with on a cold, stormy night. Recommended for fans of Poe and those in love with the trend of monsters that are… of the mushroom variety.

What Moves the Dead is a short read based on Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. This book starts off relatively slow and doesn't pick up pace until the end. I gave it 3/5 stars because I desired more of the base story line than character development and feedback.

An enjoyable read chock full of atmosphere. Great prose and dialog kept me invested and entertained.

T. Kingfisher has really interesting takes on classic horror, and this was fantastic. Poe couldn’t have done better himself.

I quite liked this novella, I have to say it was one of my most satisfying horror reads of the year. Kingfisher really did a very good job picking up all the elements of The Fall of the House of Usher and turning them into something familiar but also very new. Think family friend coming to visit because they receive a letter that an old friend is dying. Now add into that animals behaving strangely and fungus.

It was just layers of horror that was satisfyingly creepy. Once the plot really started going into the horror aspect of the book, it didn’t let up. Though the author did include a bit of humor interspersed that helped to cut the tension at times. Kingfisher also did an amazing job of taking little things that were mentioned in the very short original story and making them into a novella that can entirely stand by itself.

Even though I did really enjoy this book as a whole, I must say that the end was a bit anti-climactic. The “final stand off” I guess you’d call it, happened off site so we never saw what actually happened which was kind of disappointing.

But all and all it was very good. It was a fantastic idea for a novella and very well executed at that. If you want to read a uniquely creepy short story, this is the one to pick. You don’t have to know anything about the original short story to read and understand the plot.

From the very creepy intro, this author’s writing style is exceptional from beginning to end. It’s a very good story that grabbed me the moment I started reading with a solid, old-school style approach. I got so many medieval and Gothic vibes all throughout which I genuinely enjoyed. Don’t worry, I won’t ruin anything for you but my goodness, I will never look at mold, mushrooms, or rabbits the same ever again. SO GOOD!