When I recommended What Moves the Dead  on the New in 2022 Book Releases | July - December post, the one thing I said I wanted out of this novel was beautifully grotesque descriptions of fungi and I got it. The novel starts with a detailed description of fungi and from that moment onwards, I was hooked and I think you will be too. Please note, this review is from the viewpoint of someone who has never read "The House of Usher," by Poe, so I cannot attest this story's relation to the inspiration piece but I can attest this novel is one worth reading.

The horror within is heightened by delivery. The beginning provides an inkling of fear that by the end, is full-blown. There were three scenes within What Moves the Dead that made my skin crawl. My fan caused a notebook to flip a page when I was reading one of those scenes and I physically jumped. This is a story that will evoke fear in you; you will be scared by the narrative and captivated by the descriptions - both the beautiful and terrifying. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher is the ideal short story to give you a fright and one worth an hour of your time.

Again, I have not read "The House of Usher," but based on the author's notes, this story is an expansion upon the original and focuses more on how Maddy got sick and what her illness means within the House of Usher. Told over a short period of time, the novel starts and ends with the House. The literary descriptions make it easy to envision the state of the home and the surrounding landscape, the images created are ones that will scare. The plot does a good job taking the focus of both physical horror and emotional horror into consideration and combines them to create something worth reading. A scary something worth reading.

The characters pay homage to their original inspiration. Alex, Deaton, Eugena, Maddy, and Roderick are solid characters that work well within this house of fear. There is not much to say about them; they worked well in the plot, that's it.

The ending of What Moves the Dead is hands down the best section of the novel. It utilises the budding fear you have to its advantage and will blow your socks off. This is a well-written psychological horror story that delivered on every single aspect I wanted. I found the best parts to be the fungal descriptions and the few moments of brevity in the story. If you want something to make your skin crawl, this is the novella for you.

Yes, I am stoked that this novel heavily focused on fungi. Fungi was the silent killer and I loved it. I loved it so much. I think fungi is beautiful, I really would like to be a mycologist, and I like how the story paid homage to its beauty but also its disgusting underbelly. There is fungi that when touched, emits a smell so foul it is associated with rotting flesh. I do not doubt that the countryside could have that fungi running rampant in the 1800s before people realised how disgusting it was and uprooted it. I mean, I wouldn't want rotting flesh fungi dominating my landscape's smell. And it was after that first fungal description of the rotting-flesh fungi that I knew I was going to love this book. I was hesitant seeing the shortness of it and braced myself for the story to focus more on hidden horror emanating from the home with a touch of fungi but no, it was fungi on fungi on fungi and I loved it!

Fungi was the villain and Kingfisher wrote its evil well. She embraced the darkness of "The House of Usher," and expanded upon a portion that absolutely deserved to be expanded upon. This is a retelling that scared me - a lot. For example, when Madeline came back from the dead with a broken neck, I couldn't imagine something so demonic looking at me, demanding my body for its own use - ugh, it scared me. When she escaped from the crypt, how Deaton and Alex reacted scared me, they were two strong characters brought to their knees in fear. Those moments combined with the fungal descriptions and also a woman demanding the right to be admitted into a mycologist society, made me adore the story. I am always on the prowl for books that use fungi to its full advantage and am very pleased I found this one. What a scary, spooky, and wonderful read that I highly enjoyed.