What Moves the Dead
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4.2 • 218 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller
A Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist
A Goodreads Best Horror Choice Award Nominee
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
*A very special hardcover edition, featuring foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*
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.
Also by T. Kingfisher
What Feasts at Night
A House with Good Bones
Nettle & Bone
Thornhedge
A Sorceress Comes to Call
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Something is rotten in the European countryside, but this is no ordinary decay in T. Kingfisher’s imaginative retelling of an Edgar Allan Poe gothic horror classic. Retired lieutenant Alex Easton rides to the decrepit house of Usher after receiving a letter that the formerly great family’s only remaining siblings have taken strangely ill. Meeting eccentric English mycologist Eugenia Potter and brash American doctor James Denton, Alex arrives to find Roderick Usher in a manic state, too paranoid to sleep, and his wispy sister, Madeline, deathly ill. Much like Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, T. Kingfisher makes everything—from the wildlife, water, and fungus to the mansion itself—seem possessed by something otherworldly. If you love the ominous dread of classic gothic horror mixed with a touch of postmodern absurdity, What Moves the Dead will move you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hugo and Nebula Award winner Kingfisher (The Hollow Places) returns to the horror genre with this powerful, fast-paced retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." As a child, Alex Easton, who uses the pronouns ka and kan, befriended twins Roderick and Madeline Usher and went on to serve with Roderick in the recent war. Now Madeline writes to tell Alex that she's ill and Roderick believes she is dying, and Alex must come at once to their family home in remote Ruravia. There, Alex finds a moldering mansion full of fungal rot and strangeness and two Ushers who are terribly, irreversibly changed. Alex must unravel the dark secret that is consuming the house of Usher—before it consumes Alex as well. Kingfisher adds wonderful dimension and tangibility to the classic Poe story, filling it in with standout character work and scenic descriptions that linger on the palate, while fleshing out the original plot with elements as plausible as they are chilling. It's thoroughly creepy and utterly enjoyable. (Jul.)
Customer Reviews
Short, Sweet, and Interesting
This book made me look at my fish tank with a little bit of concern. It was a slow build up but stayed interesting. Satisfying ending.
I would revisit at a later date for a reread.
Amazing
Great book!
Amazing book with a unique origin from Edgar Allen Poe, combined with a thrilling hint of scary science
Excellent!
Gothic creepiness and a killer tarn that…well that would be a spoiler, makes this retooling of EAP’s H of U pages a’flyin masterwork. T. Kingfisher is my new favorite author. On to the sequel. If you like this…check out “Mexican Gothic “