#90 in Horror
What Moves the Dead
- 175
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“What Moves the Dead” is a short, clammy retelling of Poe’s story of the house of Usher in which the rot is literal. Fungus, a pulsing lake and hares that behave as no hare should surround the house; T. Kingfisher balances the dread with vivid characters and lively banter, and the oppressive atmosphere never lifts. Some who know the original see the central revelation coming early; others enjoyed it without having read Poe.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania. What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves. Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
Reading order · Sworn Soldier
Full order & progress →- What Moves the DeadThis book
7.67.6 / 10 - What Feasts at Night
7.57.5 / 10 - What Stalks the Deep
7.77.7 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 704 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 83% of the weight and the score stays at 7.6 — the Horror average of 7.5 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.3 | 8 | 1% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 696 | 99% |
Frequently asked
How long is What Moves the Dead?
It has 175 pages — shorter than 92% of the ranked books in Horror.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Horror — and a score of 7.6, the closest to this book.
