A Voice & Vibe Book Review
What Moves the Dead. T. Kingfisher. 2022.
Horror. Gothic fiction. Dark fantasy.
In this retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, a nonbinary military officer tries to understand what is controlling and moving the dead or dying, including local wildlife and his best friend’s sister.
In a nod to the story’s 19th-century Gothic roots, Fisher uses her protagonist as a framing device by allowing him to break the fourth wall and speak directly to his readers. But where Poe’s unnamed narrator was a product of 19th-century superstition and religious anxiety, Alex Easton has a decidedly modern sensibility.
This sensibility allows Kingfisher to modernize her retelling in a way that is in line with expectations that readers have today. Her protagonist does not simply observe and run away as Poe’s did. Kingfisher’s protagonist accepts agency and takes steps to deal with the horror before them.
This, combined with their discovery of the nature of the horror, allows Kingfisher to retell an American classic in a way that is relevant to her readers today.
AUTHORS – I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.