What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher, reviewed by Katy Mitchell-Jones
Retired soldier Alex Easton is summoned to a childhood friend’s dilapidated mansion after receiving a letter from Madeline Usher that she is dying. Once Alex arrives, it is apparent that something very grim has taken hold of the estate, and not all is what it seems.
The eerie tone is set immediately as Alex rides on horseback toward the House of Usher. The forest path is lined with mushrooms described as “flesh-like” and “clammy”, which grow “out of the gaps in the stones of the tarn like tumors growing from diseased skin” (1). The surrounding lake also “lay dark and very still,” and does not encourage the idea to drink from it, even after a long ride. Just around the corner from the house, Alex meets an illustrator named Eugenia Potter, painting the mushrooms, with whom Alex engages in conversation. Miss Potter informs Alex of certain histories and scientific names of the species, which segues into a brief explanation of Alex’s fictional home country of Gallacia, and the idiosyncratic intricacies of its language.
The language from Alex’s home country of Gallacia differs, in that it utilizes seven sets of pronouns, and Alex uses a genderless pronoun that soldiers adopt once they are sworn into the army. When Denton, an American doctor, meets Alex for the first time, he “stared,” and Alex “recognized the look” (17). Alex muses internally that Denton, “was likely not expecting a short, stout person in a dusty greatcoat and a military haircut. I no longer bother to bind my breasts, but I never had a great deal to worry about in that direction, and my batman sees that my clothing is cut in proper military style” (16). During their conversation, Alex observes, “the wheels working in his head, trying to determine my relationship to his friend’s sister. It was vaguely amusing and vaguely offensive all at once” (18). Non Gallacians often try to categorize Alex into the gender binary when they first meet, not knowing their pronouns ka/kan, which are used to refer to anyone serving in the Gallacian military.
In this retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Kingfisher modernizes some aspects, like including non-binary characters, while still keeping some of the historical components. For one, the time period is still set in the late-1800s and modern medicine and technology have not yet been developed. Characters rely on old modes of transit like horses and carriages, as well as antiquated means of communication, like letter writing. As far as the more modern components, the voice and perspectives of the protagonist, Alex, are more updated. Alex is told that, “Hysterical epilepsy is probably the diagnosis she’d be given in Paris, for all the good it does…a useless damn diagnosis” (31). Historically, women who showed signs of distress that were not obviously due to a known medical cause, were often labeled hysterical and were subject to hysterectomies – the removal of one’s uterus – as a treatment. It is refreshing to read a conversation about an ailing woman in which a doctor agrees that hysteria is a “useless” term to describe her symptoms.
When Alex arrives at the house of Usher, the twin siblings Madeline and Roderic have outwardly aged many more years than expected. Alex describes Roderick as “unrecognizable” due to his skin being, “the color of bone, white with a sallow undertone, a nasty color, like a man going into shock. His eyes had sunk into deep hollows tinged with blue…” (13). Madeline too, “had become so thin that [Alex] could nearly see the bones under the skin. Her lips were tinged with violet, like a drowning woman’s… then she stretched out a hand like a bird’s claw… and [Alex] saw that her fingernails were the same deep cyanotic violet” (16). Alex is alarmed by the siblings' deterioration, and attempts to sway them to leave their home, to seek healthcare in Paris, but they refuse.
The house itself is initially described by Alex as “a depressing scene,” as “the windows of the house stared down like eye sockets in a row of skulls” (9). Despite the grim exterior, Alex’s determination is not hampered. Inside the entrance, “wallpaper had peeled back from the walls, hanging in rages, leaving the exposed flesh of the building behind. Mold crept up the pale boards, tiny spots of black that joined together like constellations.” Roderick claims to “hear things… Other people’s breathing sounds like thunder…worms in the rafters” (30). Alex worries that Roderick is going mad. After Madeline passes away, Alex is devastated but Roderick behaves oddly. He is skittish and paranoid, thinking he hears whispers from the walls. Alex begins to wonder if Madeline’s death was due to natural causes. Perhaps Roderick’s paranoia is truly a result of grief, but maybe it is more sinister?
The novel is packed with atmospheric imagery, from the description of the house, to the deterioration of the characters appearances, to the odd-behaving, orange-eyed hares that surround the estate. It is up to Alex to figure out the cause of the Usher siblings’ poor health, alongside Denton.
It is not necessary to have read Poe’s original story before enjoying this one, though it is interesting to compare the two. Poe is known for extremely dark, ethereal writing, and T. Kingfisher does not disappoint in this retelling; the creepy mood is apparent on every page, through characterization and imagery. She adds a few more characters and traits than the original, as well as a subplot or two to add to the chilling conspiracy. It is a quick, gripping story to read leading up to Halloween, or just on a cold, rainy day.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
July 12, 2022
Tor Nightfire
165 pages
Katy Mitchell-Jones is originally from a small town in Washington state and graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with her BA and MA. She then headed to Boston to teach high school English but has since returned to her west coast roots. Her favorite authors are Margaret Atwood, David Sedaris, Tana French, and Glendy Vanderah. She has published three short stories with Chipper Press, for middle-grades. You can follow her on Goodreads here.