What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, 1)

By T Kingfisher

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 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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Published Dec 26, 2023

176 pages

Average rating: 7.21

337 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *What Moves the Dead* by T. Kingfisher offers atmospheric gothic horror with compelling characters, especially its witty, non-binary narra...

IdleExpatter
8/10 stars
Loved it! A very tidy and effective package. Great ratcheting up of the sense of dread and wrongness, engaging characters, and brisk pacing.
Denise Lauron
8/10 stars
I picked this up for bookclub. This story started off slowly, but became an enjoyable book by the end. I rated it a little lower than I normally would because of the slow start.

Merged review:

I picked this up for bookclub. This story started off slowly, but became an enjoyable book by the end. I rated it a little lower than I normally would because of the slow start.
DybbukDoll
An interesting take on The Fall of the House of Usher.
KandaLea
9/10 stars
I enjoyed this book immensely. It captivated me from the beginning. The comparison to Fall of The House of Usher also made reading this pleasurable. I highly recommend.
DH1984
5/10 stars
An interesting spin on an old story. But the pronoun nonsense, and the occasional needless jab at men, took me out of it at times. I saw a picture of the author and wasn't surprised.

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