What Moves the Dead

de

First edition, 160 pages

Publié 11 juillet 2022 par Tor Nightfire.

ISBN :
978-1-250-83075-3
ISBN copié !

Voir sur OpenLibrary

(3 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.

4 éditions

a publié une critique de What Moves the Dead par T. Kingfisher (Sworn Soldier, #1)

A satisfying retelling of Poe

A retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, about a nonbinary war veteran who receives a letter from their old friend, Madeline Usher, urging them to visit.

They arrive to find Madeline suffering from a mysterious ailment, and on the way meet a delightful Englishwoman who is very into mycology.

I really enjoyed it. Not too long, but just long enough. It expands quite a bit on the original, and it feels like a classic in its own right.

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

Atmospheric and Terrifying

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.