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Book Summary and Reviews of What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

What Moves the Dead

Sworn Soldier #1

by T. Kingfisher

  • Published:
  • Jul 2022, 176 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" from Hugo, Locus, & Nebula award-winning author T. Kingfisher.

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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Thoroughly creepy and utterly enjoyable." ―Publishers Weekly

"An infectious new spin on classic Gothic horror." ―Booklist

"Readers will be rapt as the tension builds to near bursting levels and the true meaning of the title comes into full, skin-crawling view." ―Library Journal

"This gothic retelling is a hair-raising, enthralling read." ―Buzzfeed

"A grotesque romp! It takes up residence beneath your skin and refuses to leave." ―Caitlin Starling, USA Today bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence

"Creepy, claustrophobic, and completely entertaining, What Moves the Dead left me delightfully repulsed. I adored this book!" ―Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows

"The distilled terror of T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead insinuates itself into the reader's nervous system from the very first sentence and quickly overtakes their sense of self control. I was powerless against this novella's pestilential pull and had to finish it in one sitting ... or maybe it finished me." ―Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

This information about What Moves the Dead was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

T. Kingfisher Author Biography

Photo Credit: JR Blackwell

T. Kingfisher (she/her) writes fantasy, horror, and occasional oddities, including Nettle & Bone, What Moves the Dead, and A House with Good Bones. Under a pen name, she also writes bestselling children's books. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, dogs, and chickens who may or may not be possessed.

Link to T. Kingfisher's Website

Other books by T. Kingfisher at BookBrowse
  • Thornhedge jacket
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call jacket
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