What Moves the Dead by T.Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead, is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's, The Fall of the House of Usher. I've never read anything by T.Kingfisher before, I couldn't resist the temptation offered by this ARC from NetGalley. I'm a longtime Poe fan, and The Fall of the House of Usher is my favorite.

Alex Easton, a retired Gallacian soldier, receives a letter from his childhood friend, Madeline Usher. The letter is urgent, she doesn't have long left to live and now her brother's health is failing as well. He rides out to the House of Usher, to find the manor decrepit; its occupants too poor to maintain it, and too sickly to leave it. An American surgeon, Dr. James Denton, has been called to treat the Ushers' strange malady, but admits to not knowing what it is or how to help them. As Alex tries to help his friends, he begins to realize there is more to the mystery than meets the eye. Out on the heath, the animals are acting strangely...

The first two paragraphs of this book set the tone for the whole story, like the opening salvo in a war. As Alex rides into town, he passes some dodgy looking mushrooms, life springing forth from decay. The imagery is spectacularly dark, visceral, precisely Poe-esque. With much of her prose, T. Kingfisher totally nailed the tone.

Unlike Poe, who made the house its own character in the story, T. Kingfisher preferred the tarn; the mountain lake residing just beyond the Ushers' doorways became a focal point. It seems equally fitting; water is the one thing all life would perish without, and yet: Creatures from the heath are determined to die in it.

I found much of the history about Gallacian soldiers and Gallacian pronoun use entertaining. It's a subject I know nothing about, but it appears as if the author did her research. It was great for developing Easton as a character, and later for solidifying the tarn as a character.

The only weak spot appears to be dialogue. The characters were all fairly engaging, some of the dialogue is inconsistent for the age of the characters in the timeline that they're in. Certain conversations read a little too young.

Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed this novella. It was heavy on creep factor and the mystery of the mystery illness kept me turning pages. It was an up-all-night kind of book with out the up-all-night length. Depending on when you start reading it, you'll have plenty of night left for sleeping.

Expected publication date is listed as July 12, 2022. 

My review for this book will also be posted on NetGalley and GoodReads.

4 Stars