Book Review: “What Moves the Dead” by T. Kingfisher

Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of What Moves the Dead, the first book of the Sworn Soldier Series by T. Kingfisher; a retelling of Edgar Alan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.

This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

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Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

Gallacia and its people are adaptive and dynamic. The Gallacian language itself boasts seven separate sets of pronouns for inanimate objects, God, girls, adult women, boys, adult men, and for sworn soldiers (ka/kan instead of they/them/theirs). After over 15 years of serving as a sworn soldier, the now-retired Lieutenant Alex Easton (who is biologically female) can only identify kanself as ka/kan.

After receiving a distressing letter from kan oldest and dearest friend Madeline Usher, the now-retired Alex Easton makes kan way to the Usher mansion in their ancestral homeland in the countryside of Ruravia. Easton is not the superstitious sort, yet upon reaching the gloomy Usher mansion—with its dead or dying plants and “windows looking down like eye sockets in a row of skulls”—she cannot explain what she sees. A strange fungal growth has crept over the landscape and architecture and the wildlife seem to be hypnotized. Instead of running away, the hares near the Usher mansion and surrounding lake just stand and stare, as if completely transfixed.

The strange behavior is not limited to the animals. Madeline Usher, whose health worsens every day, is seen sleepwalking and speaking to herself in strange voices at night. And her twin brother, Roderick Usher, is afflicted with a peculiar “malady of the nerves.” Alex Easton cannot solve this mystery alone. But with the help of an elderly British mycologist, an American medical doctor, and kan father’s former orderly, she will uncover the horror that moves the dead at the crumbling House of Usher.

My Thoughts on What Moves the Dead: 5 stars!

The main events of T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead take place in Ruravia, the fictional ancestral home of Roderick and Madeline Usher nestled within late 19th Century Europe. The setting of the Usher mansion is dark, gloomy, and spooky. The wildlife and landscape surrounding the mansion are inundated by a strange mycelium network that may have some affect on how they interact with each other.

Although not directly featured, much detail is given about the language, traditions, and exports of Gallacia, the fictional home country of Alex Easton. The anecdotal moments where Easton reminisces about kan home allows the reader to see that although kan identity has evolved greatly over kan adult life, ka still has home in her heart. All in all, T. Kingfisher presents a vivid mental illustration of the past and present worlds that Alex Easton walks through, as a highly-trained sworn soldier and as a concerned friend.

What Moves the Dead is told from the first-person perspective of Alex Easton. The reader follow’s kan as ka returns to the Usher mansion, meets and learns from old friends and new acquaintances, and works together with others to figure out what is going on. Alex Easton’s narration strikes a balance between curiosity, reflection, empathy, and horror. Ka is not a passive decoration to the plot. The decision Alex makes and actions ka takes alongside others actively moves the story along at a pace that is both quick and chilling.

The players of What Moves the Dead consists of six principal characters: Alex Easton, Madeline Usher, Roderick Usher, Eugenia Potter, James Denton, and Angus. Madeline and Roderick Usher are twins and have known Alex Easton since childhood, with Alex identifying Madeline as her best friend and Roderick as a former fellow sworn soldier. Eugenia Potter is an older mycologist who Alex meets as she approaches the Usher mansion. James Denton is an American medical doctor and war veteran who arrived at the Usher mansion months earlier to assist with Madeline’s declining condition. And Angus is the former orderly of both Alex Easton and her father, who was also a sworn soldier.

I appreciate the dynamic that exists between the characters. None of them are idiots or incompetent fools, which is a horribly annoying trope. They each have their own areas of expertise, which requires some explanation of things from one character to the other, but at no point does any character make a stupid decision that compromises the others or the overall plan.

My overall rating for T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead is 5 out of 5 stars! What Moves the Dead closely follows Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher. If you felt that Poe’s short story ended too soon, then What Moves the Dead would be a good pick for you. T. Kingfisher (which is a pen name used by the author Ursula Vernon) has a wonderfully creepy and suspenseful writing style. She presents a character whose overall identity is formed and informed by experiences beyond her gender or biological sex. And Avi Roque’s performance of the audiobook is fantastic. I enjoyed the story so much, I listened to the audiobook twice. And I greatly look forward to its sequel, What Feasts at Night.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher.

Rating Cheat Sheet

• 4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)

• 4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!

• 3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.

• 2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.

• 0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 2 September 2024

Published: 3 May 2022

Publisher: Tor Nightfire

Audiobook Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Performed by Avi Roque