Way back in English class at Athens Community High School, I read The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. I thought it was a weird and dull story because I was distracted dreaming of a few girls in the classroom instead of paying attention. A man was putting his wishes ahead of a woman’s. Quite fitting for the story of the Usher siblings, I think. In freshmen composition class, I reread the story. Actually, that should probably just be I read the story because it sure felt new the second time I read it. One little change of closely reading the story changed my experience of it. In the decades since, I haven’t reread the story, but it has always left an impression on me. Mainly, I remember the visage of the house and how sinister it felt. When I read T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead, it felt like experiencing The Fall of the House of Usher in a new, richer way.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher retells the story of The Fall of the House of Usher in a deeper, more visceral way that has been updated for modern readers. Recommended.
From the Publisher
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.
Cover art by Christina Mrozik
Cover design by Peter Lutjen
Review: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Alex Easton rides her horse, Hob, to visit her friend, Madeline Usher, who has taken ill. Easton pauses before the decrepit Usher manor to let her horse take a drink from the tarn, a lake on the mountainside. Both Easton and Hob are put off by the tarn’s appearance. From across the grotesque pool, Easton gives readers their first glance of the Usher manor where Madeline lives with her brother, Roderick. The house, along with the Usher bloodline, is collapsing. On her way to the manor, Easton meets Eugenia Potter, a mycologist sketching many of the fungi around the tarn. Eventually, Easton makes it to the manor, but no one is there to greet her. The shabbiness of the outside is reflected on the inside of the house. Soon, she comes across Roderick Usher, an old friend and subordinate during the war. She no longer recognizes him in either physical or social form. In fact, Roderick is surprised that Easton showed up. Madeline shows up greatly diminished and clearly ill. She’s being attended to by an American doctor, James Denton. Actually, doctor might be too generous. He was a bonesaw during the civil war. It quickly becomes clear that Madeline’s health is declining rapidly. Both Easton and Denton seek to help her heal, but nothing is working. Easton catches Madeline sleepwalking in the chilly night air. Madeline, other than her illness, seems like herself. Roderick, however, is not his old self. He’s on edge always and refuses to allow Madeline to leave. Not that they have the funds to really go anywhere else. Something sinister lies beneath the surface of the House of Usher. But what?
What Moves the Dead is a first person POV novella set in the point of view of Alex Easton. It both retells and expands upon the original story of Usher. Kingfisher has added some excellent worldbuilding like sworn soldiers, Ruravia, and Easton’s comments on the English. It’s a short work that benefits from a close read. One could quickly read through this story, but I enjoyed taking my time over Kingfisher’s descriptions. Easton’s early encounter with Potter discussing the “stinking redgills” is a pleasure to read. I don’t care about mycology, but I could read a book written by Eugenia Potter about it anytime. Like Easton, I, too, am delighted by unusual passions.
Revisiting Usher
For this review, I reread The Fall of the House of Usher. I wanted to do an accurate comparison. First, Poe’s story feels different than Kingfisher’s. Poe’s story is very much of its time. The writing style is different than what we consider good today. It’s very descriptive, and it would be called purple prose today. It’s a bit overwrought. Sentences like, “I lack words to express the full extent…,” would not work today because as a writer, the author is expected to have the words. It’s also ironic considering how many words he uses for description in other places.
Madeline is a prop in Poe’s story instead of a character. She doesn’t have any dialogue. Kingfisher changes this. Madeline has a better role in What Moves the Dead. She has dialogue, relationships, and a backstory. Kingfisher’s narrator goes to the house seeking Madeline, but Poe’s narrator seeks out Roderick.
Kingfisher’s Usher is more visceral than Poe’s. And grosser, in a good way. The hares and the grounds of the Usher manor are off-putting. They add to overall feel of decay and finality that one expects from the house of Usher. A sense of foreboding and wrongness hangs over the writing throughout. Poe’s writing feels distant because the narrator observes. He is very passive, just watching the action happen, and writing his reactions to it. Easton is a part of the action, and it makes the story feel more immediate and closer. I think this is why What Moves the Dead feels so visceral.
Whether in description, action, or plot, Kingfisher’s Usher is more fleshed out as well. The story has more detail with a more efficient prose. For example, Poe describes the manor and grounds as covered in mushrooms, but Kingfisher digs in and gives us descriptions of the mushrooms. She even added in a mycologist to suggest how mushroomy the whole place actually is.
Kingfisher’s ending is…different but the same. The ending is what distinguishes it as a simple retelling. I can’t say which ending I liked more because they are different enough to change the whole meaning of the story. I applaud Kingfisher on how she ended the story because she threaded the needle of staying true to Poe’s story while making it her own. Without going into spoilers, I can’t explain more. All I can say is that I loved the ending.
Sworn Soldiers
Kingfisher brings to the story an interesting gender identity of a sworn soldier. Ruravia has fascinating and complex pronouns. An enterprising person found a loophole in Ruravia’s laws that allows them to join the military by stating that their gender is that of a soldier. I’m not doing it justice, but it was a really neat and novel (at least to me) use of gender. It takes a bit to get the explanation as to what being a sworn soldier means. The explanation is worth the wait however.
Characters
Kingfisher’s characters are great. Easton, Potter, and Denton made the book for me. The Usher twins were a bit flat. In a story where the reader already knows what happens, having engaging characters makes or breaks the novel. Kingfisher succeeded here. I could read a collection of stories about Potter traveling around looking for interesting mushrooms. Easton’s little aside about her English-ness made me laugh, and a buddy cop novel with the two would be great.
Conclusion
T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead reexamines the story The Fall of the House of Usher. Kingfisher’s version fleshes out the story and adds interesting characters. This update is an excellent refining of the original story and hopefully will introduce a generation of readers to Poe’s decrepit house. What Moves the Dead takes gothic horror and adds a bit of weird to it for a wholly enjoyable story. Recommended.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher is available from Tor Nightfire now.
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