Thank you to Tor Nightfire for providing me with an e-ARC of What Moves the Dead in exchange for an honest review!

This is my first T. Kingfisher & it definitely won't be my last. Right away, I was enchanted by the writing & honestly? Taking on an Edgar Allan Poe story can't be an easy task, but T. Kingfisher nails it in What Moves the Dead. This short little novella is very atmospheric, as can be expected in an EAP retelling, and at times very creepy. And with about a quarter of the story left, things get a little wild.

Admittedly, there were parts that lost me & my mind ended up wandering a bit. This could very well be a Becca issue & not an issue with the story.

A very creepy and unique take on the classic story, The Fall of the House of Usher. The atmosphere continuously carries a sense of lingering dread. It's a short story with solid world building around Easton and their country of Gallacia. The characters were fully realized and the mystery of what was actually going on was haunting. Overall, a chilling and delightful read.

A reimagining of Edgar Allen Poe? This book was great! If you're a fan of gothic literature go buy this book right now! It's a short story inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher. T. Kingfisher does a great job of creating a creepy atmosphere and really bringing these characters and the story to life. I only wish this book was longer!

It took me a little bit to get into this book, but once I was in it wouldn't let go. The creepy atmosphere kept me on the edge of my seat.

*I received an advanced copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. *

I'll start by saying- I've never read the original The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. I know, I know, I'm handing in my horror buff card right now as I type this. The problem is he's just a little hard to follow, I get lost in the wording. Somehow though T. Kingfisher crafted this hauntingly beautiful retelling, so I could officially join the club! Yes, it was a slow burn that lost my interest at some points yet managed to pull me back with the imagery. Here for the gothic ambience-

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

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this arc.

Thank you to T. Kingfisher, Tor Nightfire, and Netgalley for an advance copy of What Moves the Dead.

Alex Easton returns home to see to the death of their childhood friend. When they arrive, things are much stranger than anticipated. Madeline Usher is sleepwalking, talking in strange voices, and looks well past dead. Things seem off around the property as well – animals acting strange and unusual fungus growing rampant. They meet a mycologist studying the fungus as well as a doctor sent to care for Madeline and together the group work to figure out what has happened to Madeline, and how to stop it before it takes everyone out.

Ashamed as I am to say this, I have to be honest – I’ve never read The Fall of the House of Usher. I live in Baltimore and I have not read all of Poe’s most famous work. I know, it’s awful. However, I have read some Poe and I know that reimagining his stories is a difficult task to achieve. T. Kingfisher is successful as far as I can tell. Just as atmospheric and creepy as any Poe I’ve ever read, we are transported to a very unsettling environment trying to figure out which way is up.

The main character is non-binary as far as the readers can tell, and there are also a ton of pronouns for certain people and even objects and animals, I believe? This part confused me and I didn’t feel as though it brought anything to the story outside of the confusion, but it’s possible that I just missed the thought process behind it. While this story is definitely plot driven, we get enough info about the main character and supporting cast to have me invested in them and concerned about what could happen to them, they were unique and fun, if not slightly frustrating at times.

The atmosphere was just INSANE. I felt like I was in a dark foggy humid location the entire time that I was reading this. While this is a novella, I walked away feeling like I ingested a full book, a concise and hearty beginning, middle, and end. I will definitely be reading more T. Kingfisher in the future.

What Moves the Dead
By: T. Kingfisher
Pub Date: 07/12/22
Publisher: Tor Nightfire - MacMillian
Audio Narrator: Avi Roque

Summary
In this retelling of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe, T. Kingfisher tells the story of Alex Easton; a retired soldier who receives word that his childhood friend, Madeline Usher has taken ill. He travels to visit her and finds something far more sinister and terrifying than he thought possible.

Review
As a first-time reader of T. Kingfisher's work, I enjoyed the style through which this story was retold. It has this steampunk-Esque quality that I thought was an interesting stylistic choice. I also really appreciated how unexpected the antagonist of the story was. It was something I had never seen before.
On the other hand, as someone who has never read the original source material, I feel I missed the connections and cannot adequately compare the two pieces. This has certainly inspired me to check out the original story.

Based purely on what I thought of this current iteration without taking the original source material into consideration, I decided to rate this novel 3.5 stars. Although it was a retelling it was unlike anything I had read before and the mystery of the antagonist was exceptionally well done. I highly recommend this to Edgar Allen Poe fans and those who like an odd horror with a mystery element.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited about this one, as it was a retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, but sadly I did not love it as much as I wanted. The pacing was decent and I would definitely classify it as weirdly creepy. The atmosphere was also well done and added to the creep factor. In the end, this just wasn’t for me. I’m sure others will love it though!

Well this was a creepy trip. While I've never read the story that this was based off of, this was a great horror novella. Quick-paced, as to be expected, but Kingfisher also does a good job of introducing the characters and explaining Gallacia and their customs for the reader. Loved the creepy aspect of the fungi....and the hares CREEPED ME OUT!

I think this would be incredibly cool to listen to in audio!

This novella is a retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and let’s just say that the author blew it out of the park. Everything that made the original creepy is expounded on and one can’t help but like the protagonist, Easton who finds themselves at the house because an old childhood friend wrote them about this sister’s slow demise. The book is moody and dark, and you’re quickly wrapped up in the mystery and eeriness. However, there are moments of comedy when Eugenia Potter, a British mycologist is in the scene. She was by far my favourite character, and couldn’t wait for her to show up. If you love Poe and love dark gothic mysteries, then do yourself a favour and read this now!

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Alex Easton, a non-binary career soldier from the country of Gallacia, heeds the call of childhood friends, Roderick Usher and his gravely ill sister Madeline. When Easton arrives at their Gothic mansion in Ruravia, the retired soldier is not sure what is more distressing: the pale, emaciated, and unhinged siblings, the decaying estate, or the estate's weirdly glowing lake. I enjoyed this extended-dance-version retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's classic The Fall of the House of Usher. The book belongs on a list of recent horror lit featuring creepy rabbits and mushrooms (Mexican Gothic and Mona Awad's Bunny hop to mind ;)

[Thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this book.]

I loved this queer retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher. The tone of the narration felt true to Poe's original and all of the highlights of Roderick and Madeline's story are included yet Kingfisher adds a depth to the story while stretching it to novel length and puts a spin on it designed to chill modern readers.

I thought Kingfisher did a great job of queering the story in that the main character was nonbinary and that the world was described in a way where nonbinary people could simply exist without question and have common, socially acceptable pronouns.

I got an ARC of this book.

It wasn't bad, but I don't know why this book exists. The inspiration was considered an amazingly written piece where every detail was perfectly placed and needed. This just felt like trying to take something that everyone praises as amazing and add to it. It is hard to take your own spin on something like that. I like Kingfisher, but I didn't even finish this one. I thought I had and then I would open the app and oops, it was still being read. So maybe try it? It didn't really do anything for me.

This was an unsettling, creepy read, though it lacked some of the whimsical charm characteristic of Kingfisher's other horror books.

5 gothic stars

Oh YES. I had such a horrifically good time. This is the mirror-twin counter melody to Mexican Gothic, the Fall of the House of Usher done grotesque.

Concept: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★★

Well, it's happened again: I have fallen in love with yet another bizarre and lingering horror story with a special focus on mushrooms. ("Again," yes, because this niche apparently has multiple books in it.)

Join me and the spores...

Alex Easton has heard word that their childhood friends, the Ushers, are struggling. Madeline is gravely ill, Roderick is not faring much better, and something is amiss.

Alex arrives, and they quickly realize that Roderick's understated things. There is something very, very wrong with this scene.

Madeline looks like she's already dead, Roderick doesn't look much better. The Usher estate is damp, moldy, and near-death itself. There's a visiting American doctor who has no idea what is going on, and a wandering older British woman on the grounds with a passion for mushroom study and a daughter named Beatrix Potter.

As Alex stays in the home, a creeping sense of foreboding and inevitability starts to sink in. The longer they stay at Usher, the worse it seems to get...

And that's IT. I won't say any more.

What Moves the Dead looks like—and sounds like—a repeat of concepts to those of us who have already read and loved Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic. In fact, T Kingfisher themselves writes in the Author's Note that they'd been chewing on this idea already, and then Mexican Gothic came out and What Moves the Dead disappeared into a drawer, almost for forever, as Kingfisher went "gah, I can't do it better than THAT!"

Well I, personally, am thrilled that someone got T Kingfisher to revisit and finish this tale. This is something akin to a cousin, a neighbor, someone with the same facial features as Mexican Gothic but with an entirely different set of personality traits. These two novels are NOT the same, and—as a Moreno-Garcia superfan I can't believe I'm saying this—What Moves the Dead did it... better.

This was grotesque, truly horrifying, and went somewhere that even I didn't full expect. I thought I knew the steps, and I was having a good time, but then... yeah. This seasoned reader was still surprised in an interesting way. A very, very good horror novella that I recommend to anyone with the stomach to handle it.

Thank you to TOR/Nightfire for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

A very good retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher." When his childhood friend Madiline turns terminally I'll he rushes back to her childhood home to see her. But was it more than he bargained for?

This was a take on Poe's The House of Usher. I love Poe. However, I've never read the House of Usher. What Moves the Dead was delightfully creepy and engaging. I wanted to read it during a storm or on a dark fall night. The descriptions are detailed and you feel transported to the dreary area and falling down house. The characters, especially Ms. Potter, are very alive on the page. If you enjoy a good gothic horror mixed with some fantasy this is the book for you. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

WHAT MOVES THE DEAD is an atmospheric, quick, gothic read that was just the right amount of creepy and intrigue and mystery. The characters were very well developed and even without having read the source material, this was still so damn enjoyable.

I don’t read a lot of horror but I think I need to look into more horror novellas. I loved how this book just kept getting more and more intense page by page in the best of ways. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time!

My favorite part was having a non-binary MC and the interesting discussion and use of pronouns throughout. Highly recommend this one!! I’m so excited to read more from this author.

I really enjoyed Nettle and Bone, this author's previous book, as well as The Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, so I was excited to receive an ARC of What Moves the Dead. After trying several times to get carried away by the story, I just...wasn't. I'll avoid posting this review publicly as I do not want to finish the book.

While I liked the idea of a story based on Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher I didn’t particularly like this execution of it. I think perhaps this author’s writing style and interests are not for me.