Hot damn again, I am a professed biased reader for this author.

Actually I was really skeptical for this as I have such a love hate with the source material and author of all that but I really really love this author glad I took the chance.

This is one I’d say is a relatively ease you into this author’s style I feel like this felt pretty light in all of my usual idea of this author. Great book

I love our main character Easton, they are a great narrator for this story and with that said our narrator was perfect too.

Honestly if you have a love hate with this original story I say give this a go.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher @macmillanusa for providing an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I felt that there was too much world-building that needed to be accomplished for such a short novel, which ultimately meant that there wasn't enough plot or characterization to keep my interest.

While this atmospheric, surrealist retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher didn't quite work for me, I think you'll enjoy it if you're already a fan of Poe's tales and experimental Gothic settings. For the right reader, this could be a new favourite!

Absolutely amazing! I listened to the audiobook, thanks to NetGalley, and am giving my honest feedback.

First- the narrator was incredible! The narration was very atmospheric and enhanced the author's story. I literally sat in my car at my destination to finish the final chapters.

T. Kingfisher did an amazing job with The Fall of the House of Usher retelling. Poe was outdone. I felt creeped out the whole time while listening to this book. The descriptions were perfectly calculated to elicit a visceral response. I pause before drinking water now and I don't look at mushrooms in my yard the same way anymore. It was absolutely brilliant. One of my top reads this year.

Review posted on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4538506876

I will always be impressed when an author is able to make a retelling of a well known story still tense with the wonder of what happens next. Kingfisher is doing The Fall of the House of Usher, and dang if they don't make me still surprised as it moves along. The additional characters are a fantastic touch and help to ground a story that can very easily go off the rails. I know it's a short story, but I was still sad that it ended so soon.

This novella is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher". I don't often go for retellings but the cover of this one as well as the new Netflix show inspired by Poe's stories tempted me to pick this up.

Officer Alex Easton gallops to Ruritania when they learn their childhood friend, Madeline Usher, is on her deathbed. The house surrounded by fungus and a glowing lake, they wonder what might be behind the strange behavior of Madeline and her brother Roderick. Can Alex, an American doctor, and a mycologist solve the mystery of the House of Usher?

I think this retelling was able to really distinguish itself from the original and really add to the story. The atmospheric uneasy build up is excellent. There were clever ways of bringing current topics to the table. I enjoyed the genderqueer representation and the addition of different pronouns based on their native culture. The downside of audio was that these were a bit similar to each other phonetically. A similar issue i had was with the words hair/hare. But otherwise the narration was great. There is something eerie about listening to gothic stories that i just love.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC of this one!

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this one as much as I was hoping to, it still got a 3⭐️. The first half was a little slow for me, but as soon as I hit the second half I did enjoy it more. The second half, at some points got really creepy🫣. When I was listening late last night, I did pause the book a couple times because I thought I was hearing things(it was just my dog🐕). So it scored extra points for creeping me out, since that rarely ever happens.🙃

“The dead may walk, but I will not walk among them.”

Whew, what a ride this book was. This novel started straightforwardly enough — I’ll admit, it took me a little bit to get into this. However, after about a half hour into the audiobook, I was hooked. Kingfisher writes very well, and I really enjoy the changes made to the classic short story. The narrator of our story was eloquently written — they are interesting and felt so very real, their anxiety and grief palpable throughout. Madeline has been given such a well-developed and intriguing story here, which I’ll admit makes her much more interesting than the original story (though I do love Poe). Overall, I’m very impressed — I was quite nervous at first, thinking that nothing could even compare to the original, but I find that Kingfisher proved me wrong. This story is beautifully written and the changes made to the original story are so well done and make perfect sense. This book was subtly suspenseful, leaving me feeling uneasy the entire time I was listening. The narrator was also sublime — I typically listen to books at 2.5 speed, but I found myself reducing the speed in order to savor Avi Roque’s masterful narration.

What Moves the Dead is a gothic horror novella with fantasy and sci-fi elements by T. Kingfisher. It is also a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," though you do not need to have read it to enjoy this version. The ebook version is 176 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little over five hours and is narrated by Avi Roque. We follow our main character with a first-person point-of-view.

Retired soldier Alex Easton is in the process of racing back to the ancestral home of their childhood friend Madeline Usher, after receiving word that she is dying. Once arriving in Ruritania, they find a nightmare of mushrooms and possessed wildlife around a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline is prone to sleepwalking and sleeptalking in strange voices, and her brother Roderick seems consumed with some kind of nervous malady. Alex needs to unravel the secrets of the House of Usher with the help of their new friends--British mycologist, Eugenia Potter and American doctor, James Denton--before they all are consumed.

I was excited to see that Avi Roque was the narrator here, as I loved their reading of Cemetery Boys.

The cover of this book is amazing and gives you a good feel for what you're about to read. I'm a big fan of Kingfisher's brand of horror, and they excel at descriptions of creepy and ominous things. I noted this in the content warnings below, but there's a LOT of body horror in here, so head's up if that's not your thing. There was one moment where I had a full body shudder.

Alex's culture (they are from Gallacia) is very interesting! In their language, there are a ton of different pronouns, including one for rocks and one for god. I really enjoyed the explanation of these pronouns, and how the genderless pronoun sworn soldiers use came about due to bureaucracy. Alex still chooses to use said genderless pronouns even though they are now retired from the army. Alex themself does not seem to be directly referred to as "they/them" but they appear to be a nonbinary character on the surface level. There are mentions of having a "military haircut" and that they "no longer bind [their] breasts."

Side characters in here are great. Alex's horse, Hob, steals the scene a few times as he's quite opinionated. I also really enjoyed Alex's batman, Angus. Eugenia Potter is quite lovely, and I wish she was my friend.

Tropes in this book include: retelling ("The Fall of the House of Usher")

CW: body horror, creepy fungus, possessed wildlife, animal death

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio, Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire, and NetGalley for providing an audio galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Alex, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying. When Alex arrives at the Usher House, they discover strange fungal growths, possessed wildlife, and a glowing and pulsing tarn (lake).

What I loved:
✨Nonbinary representation and Kingfisher’s clever use of pronouns.
✨Gothic Vibe - dilapidated old mansion, supernatural events, Madeline in distress
✨Atmospheric storytelling
✨Creepy hare - I will view the rabbits in my yard differently now. 😬
✨Slice of sly humor throughout the novella
✨Narration - top-notch! Roque captured all the tension and creepiness awarded to What Moves The Dead!!

Read this if you like:
✨Edgar Allen Poe's stories or Mexican Gothic by SMG
✨Dark reads - paranormal, horror, sci-fi, fantasy
✨Fascination of fungi and mycology

Well… I think having read “The Hollow Places” and now this, T Kingfisher’s writing is just not for me.

The things I liked are important things! We have a non-binary main character. I’ll always be happy to see representation like this. It comes into play in the way Alex moves through the world, and the complexities of being misgendered.

I adored Mrs. Potter and her fascination with fungus.

The humor is charming but I don’t actually find it funny. The setting is cool but I feel zero atmosphere. It’s a slow burn gothic horror, which I love, but because the book is short that means we jump from scene to scene and there is no way NOT to rush certain things which takes away from any tension you could create. I really prefer the source material, but you don’t need to read it first.

Basically, I figured out the ending almost immediately and that could have been fine if the journey there was more compelling. It just wasn’t. But I think I’m definitely in the minority here. So if you like this authors writing and it sounds interesting, pick it up! It’s got a stunning cover and some great elements. The pieces were all so good, a shame it didn’t come together for me.

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher is a creepy gothic horror. It’s a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher.
Alex Easton is a retired army soldier that receives a letter from a childhood friend, Madeline Usher, saying she’s gravely ill. Alex takes a journey with his horse, Hob, to go visit and help find out what is making Madeline and her brother Roderick very ill.
There’s Hares that are creepy.
I Loved Hob the horse.
I definitely recommend this creepy gothic, with a bit of humor, horror.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

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

A disclaimer right up front, I am not familiar with the inspiration for this book and that likely swayed my overall views.

What Moves the Dead is undeniably brilliant,expertly crafted with Kingfishers telltale wicked and weird story telling. Had I read this physically ( the narrator is incredible by the way!) I would have tabbed passage upon passage of lines that resonated deeply with me. Sadly, when I look at the story as a whole though, I struggled to feel connection with the characters or story.

In What Moves the Dead we follow retired soldier, Alex Easton, as they rush to a sick friends bedside. Alex, with the help of a quirky mycologist and American doctor, work ardently to solve the chilling cause of the illness. There are healthy doses of gothic dread and body horror here creating an overall atmospheric and lush setting.

Was this an all time favorite for me? No. However the quality of writing is superb making T. Kingfisher an auto read author for me.



I received a copy of this from Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for a review.

This was such an eccentric read! I went in really wanting to love this unique novella but unfortunately I just couldn’t fully get into it. Everyones been loving it and I’ve seen some rave reviews, so I think it’s still worth checking out, especially if you like retellings and are a Poe fan!

What I did enjoy was was the wittiness and humour throughout this horror story and I will say that it was quite fun for a creepy and sometimes gruesome plot. Although I’m not sure I’ll ever look at mushrooms and hares the same!

What Moves the Dead
By T. Kingfisher
⭐⭐⭐⭐💀

[blurb]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.

[Review] What a wonderful surprise this book is. I mean, it's creepy and crawly and awful in all the best ways. But this book was a delightful surprise. It's a slow burn, and I'll admit I was resigned to probably not liking this book. But I really liked it, and I'm already thinking about who of my friends would get this book and really enjoy it.

I loved the gendered aspects of this book and how you can choose, and it's just accepted. But there's also the ever present 'hand kissing' for women. There was so much I liked about this book. I was a bit let down by the ending, but that was a personal preference. I think I just wanted more, a second book. Something more.

Thank you Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for the ARC copy of this audiobook. Thank you T. Kingfisher for writing this, and thank you, Avi Roque, for the wonderful narration!

I love a good gothic. Between that premise and the stunning cover design, I was excited to read What Moves the Dead. I only have a passing familiarity with The Fall of the House of Usher, which is the basis of this novella, but I appreciate the ways it reworks Edgar Allen Poe's original. Perhaps most compelling are the expanded characters: the narrator and Madeline, who take a backseat to Roderick in the source material. This novella was creepy and filled with dread, which is the best part of any gothic. The role mushrooms play in the downfall of the Usher family and its dilapidated estate reminded me a bit of Mexican Gothic, in that fungi both give nuance to the gothic's motif of madness. I was surprised by this similarity, but I've ultimately decided that the mushrooms in What Moves the Dead operate in a distinctly terrifying way.

I give this novella three starts for the story, with an extra star for the audiobook version, which is gorgeously narrated and produced. It was compellingly readable.

I am unashamed to admit that I requested this book based on the cover alone- anything to do with mushrooms and I'm in. The added bonus is that it's a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, one of my favorite Edgar Allan Poe tales, something I didn't know I needed in my life.

You can compare the synopsis of this book to the original story and you'll find that it's largely the same, but we get many details from T. Kingfisher's book that are new. I really enjoyed the protagonist, Lt. Alex Easton, and their observations about what was happening around them. The creepy factor and the gratuitous body horror were balanced by Easton's wit and sense of humor. I was obsessed with the mycological connections in What Moves The Dead. Such a cool way to flesh out (sorry) the work it was inspired by.

The audiobook narrator did a great job representing the different characters and I really loved what their incredible range brought to the story.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Macmillian Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

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.

What an absolutely wild, unique, and fun retelling of "The Fall of the House of Usher" this insane novella was!

A very weird take on it, but I definitely had a good time and appreciated the creepiness.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.