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roadtripreader 's review for:
What Moves the Dead
by T. Kingfisher
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Living desiccation is given a wide berth as it creeps and crawls its way the spine to become terror mixed with despair. What a tragedy. From the moment the mushrooms come into focus and as their stench assaults the senses right up to the emergence of the dilapidated architecture of a historically never-beautiful-always-threatening estate - this story is a slow suffocation to the senses. I get the distinct sense that the house is suffering from Locked-In Syndrome.
Tinnitus is used as forewarning early one and I immediately turned down the sound on my headphones - granted, I was just listening to some fairytale ambience music but still, the imagery of a creaming high pitched tone rendering our main character immobile while his horse waited patiently was enough to put the fear of loss in me.
To anyone suffering from Tinnitus - my sympathies. This is a haunting masquerading as a few mental disorders beneath a thick coat of old school bigotry. It is unsettlingly poignant.
Plot/Storyline: The chain of events that draw Alex Easton further in seem gloomy at best, but the story takes a turn, not a sharp turn but enough to change everything horrifically.
Characters: Roderick and Madeline and that awful house have inspired a new post-it-note to self: Do Not go live in a mansion that looms, or even gives of a whiff of potential looming Nope.
Favorite scene: Easton's 4th wall intrusion to give the reader a Gallacian 101 lesson - this memory sequence juxtaposed with the collective held breath in the study watching Roderick and Madeline barely human and leaning more into ghostly form is really interesting. One is robust and the tale of an expansion of Sworn soldiers and the other is the visual representation of wasting away.
Favorite Quote/Concept: This is one of those rare quotable books. A few that stood out,
♡ I am a soldier, I deal in cannonballs and rifle shots. Death that simply comes and settles is not a thing I had any experience with. (Easton on Madeline's physical decline)
♡ Marlia Saavendotter is a Gallacian Badass!
♡"They say mushrooms spring up where the Devil walks. And where faeries dance. (Angus on the cheerless house he "mislikes")
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror books by 2025
Tinnitus is used as forewarning early one and I immediately turned down the sound on my headphones - granted, I was just listening to some fairytale ambience music but still, the imagery of a creaming high pitched tone rendering our main character immobile while his horse waited patiently was enough to put the fear of loss in me.
To anyone suffering from Tinnitus - my sympathies. This is a haunting masquerading as a few mental disorders beneath a thick coat of old school bigotry. It is unsettlingly poignant.
Plot/Storyline: The chain of events that draw Alex Easton further in seem gloomy at best, but the story takes a turn, not a sharp turn but enough to change everything horrifically.
Characters: Roderick and Madeline and that awful house have inspired a new post-it-note to self: Do Not go live in a mansion that looms, or even gives of a whiff of potential looming Nope.
Favorite scene: Easton's 4th wall intrusion to give the reader a Gallacian 101 lesson - this memory sequence juxtaposed with the collective held breath in the study watching Roderick and Madeline barely human and leaning more into ghostly form is really interesting. One is robust and the tale of an expansion of Sworn soldiers and the other is the visual representation of wasting away.
Favorite Quote/Concept: This is one of those rare quotable books. A few that stood out,
♡ I am a soldier, I deal in cannonballs and rifle shots. Death that simply comes and settles is not a thing I had any experience with. (Easton on Madeline's physical decline)
♡ Marlia Saavendotter is a Gallacian Badass!
♡"They say mushrooms spring up where the Devil walks. And where faeries dance. (Angus on the cheerless house he "mislikes")
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror books by 2025