What Moves the Dead

de T. Kingfisher

First edition, 160 pages

Publié 11 juillet 2022 par Tor Nightfire.

ISBN :: 978-1-250-83075-3

(4 critiques)

From T. Kingfisher, the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."

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.

3 éditions

Ri a publié une critique de What Moves the Dead par T. Kingfisher

Lovely

4 étoiles

Maybe this is a weird adjective to use to describe a horror book, but that's the exact word that matches my feelings regarding this one. It simply was lovely. The atmosphere, the smoothness of the writing, everything about it was lovely. It is predictable, but also I don't believe every book in the world has to be unpredictable - I read this book for the atmosphere, not necessarily mystery. Either way, if you've read "The Fall of the House of Usher" you already kinda know what to expect, no? At least I did.

A very nice read overall and exactly what I needed today.

Meadhbh Dhommnail a publié une critique de What Moves the Dead par T. Kingfisher

Atmospheric and Terrifying

5 étoiles

Without being too spoilery, I never, when I started reading this book, thought I would finish it feeling pity for a fungus, but here we are.

I love Poe, and Usher is one of my favorite stories of his, and this retelling is absolutely masterful. The descriptions of the grounds and house are atmospheric and almost dripping with dread, which fills every page from page one and grows slowly, but incessantly, until you reach the end.

moving to outside.ofa.dog a publié une critique de What Moves the Dead par T. Kingfisher

Puts the right flesh on the bones of Poe's story

5 étoiles

Avertissement sur le contenu mild spoilers for the whole book

I found The Fall Of The House Of Usher intriguing but ultimately frustrating, and judging by the author's note at the end of this book, so did Ursula Vernon. Her reworking does a great job of keeping the atmosphere of the original while filling it out to be much more of a satisfying story, with clearer reasons behind what happens and much more compelling characters.

I love how the narrator has so much of their own story, and it's mostly made relevant to the core story of the book. And the mystery aspect is very well done, with that tantalising sense that we as readers are just slightly ahead of Easton & Denton in figuring out what's going on and what will have to happen. I also appreciated how Roderick gets to be more of an actor in this telling rather than a pure victim, and I'm intrigued by the ambiguity of whether Madeline also is one or whether we're purely hearing from the fungus towards the end of the book. It must be tempting when writing a story that fills in so many gaps from the original to fill in every gap, and I think stopping short of doing that was a very good move.

Julie a publié une critique de What Moves the Dead par T. Kingfisher

Creepy Version

Aucune note

Creepier version of Edgar Allan Poe's story of The Fall of the House of Usher.