Review: What Moves the Dead

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I'm honest, this was a little disappointing.

I'm so captivated by The Fall of the House of Usher: An Edgar Allan Poe Short Story so I've read a few different things related to it now and I have to say this one was underwhelming.

My main problem, I think, was it spent too much of the set up trying to be unique. I enjoyed the story that eventually revealed itself but for the first half of this short book I was kind of bored.

Easton was such a confusing character, and the usage of 'ka' and 'va' etc as pronouns made things unnecessarily complicated. Same with the obscure random history lessons. WHY. I spent most of the novel trying to work out if Easton was man, woman or other. I'm still not sure.

The unsettling atmosphere doesn't really settle in til well over halfway through, despite trying really hard to build creepiness at the start. There are some interesting visual descriptions but they didn't sit easily - they seemed to lack an authenticity that then detracted from the eeriness.

The final tale and its reasoning was pretty cool, though it never really chilled my bones I'm afraid.

Kingfisher is popping up a lot lately as a recommended horror author but this is my first from her and so far I'm not seeing what the fuss is about. Some great descriptions, sure, but ultimately a little over-hyped. Hoping the next one I read has a bit more logic to the storytelling.

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