March 2023 Group Read #1 - What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

[Alan]

This is the discussion thread for March 2023 Group Read #1, What Moves the Dead.
Remember to use chapters/page numbers for reference and spoiler tags when discussing.
Happy reading!

[Frederik]

I read The Fall of the House of Usher today and I’m pretty hyped for this one!

[J.C.]

I’m in!

[Jennifer]

I’m in!

[Cal]

I am really looking forward to this! This book caught my eye awhile back after I heard the description. Usher's Passing by Robert McCammon really got me enthused about plays on Poe's work!

[Char]

I loved Usher's Passing so much! It's one of the books that I own a first edition of.

It's definitely helpful to devour the Poe short story, before starting this one, but it is not necessary.

[Damini]

So excited! I'm in :D

[Franziska (tintenklexxe)]

I've read this last year and loved it!

[Stephanie]

My daughter gave this to me for Christmas and I haven’t had a chance to read it yet so now is as good of time as any!

[destiny ♡]

I loved this book SO much! I might re-read it with you all!

[Kimberly]

destiny ♡ wrote: "I loved this book SO much! I might re-read it with you all!"

Same here--I'm in for a reread just because I loved it!

[Amanda]

Awesome. Can’t wait to get started!

[Amelia]

This book is so interesting! I read it last year. I can’t wait to see what you guys think.

[Trista]

I read this when it first came out last summer, but I’m excited to see what everyone thinks. T. Kingfisher is the best!

[Latasha]

Hope y’all love this. T. Kingfisher is one hellva storyteller. She’s probably my 3rd fave author.

[Gillian]

I'm in.

I snuck in Poe's short story today in preparation. It's been years since I read it.

[Laura]

I am so in! I have this physical book! I cannot wait to start!

[Kimberly]

Laura wrote: "I am so in! I have this physical book! I cannot wait to start!"

This discussions should prove interesting--I'm really hoping to pick up on anything I missed the first time I read it!!

[WendyB]

I'll be joining in next week. :)

[Alan]

I just reread Poe's Usher and requested this from 2 libraries, so hopefully I'll get a copy in the next couple of weeks.

[Ayla]

Just started the book! One chapter down & so excited to join in! 🥳

[Giovanni]

i read it a couple of months ago and I liked it. I'm eager to see what you think about it

[Kaytlan]

I'm excited to read this in March! it's been on my tbr for a good while!

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

This was one of my favorites last year! Looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks!

[Joné]

Definitely joining for this one!

[Zachary]

This is my first time participating here. I'm in!

[Kimberly]

Zachary wrote: "This is my first time participating here. I'm in!"

Glad to have you join us!!

[Krystal]

I finished this recently and was a little disappointed ... I feel like it didn't really do Poe's work justice. It felt more like it was re-telling the exact same story only with more words, and the places it veered seemed pointlessly confusing to me. It picked up about the 2/3 mark but I wanted to love it more than I did.

My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gillian]

Krystal wrote: "I finished this recently and was a little disappointed ... I feel like it didn't really do Poe's work justice. It felt more like it was re-telling the exact same story only with more words, and the..."

I read this in a single sitting today. Initially, I had similar feelings. A long-winded version of a classic.

When I finished, and while having conflicting thoughts:--"Did I just read it too quickly? Should I have spaced out my reading sessions?" or "Wow! I think this just wasn't good."--I decided to go ahead and read the Author's notes which, sadly, are not included in the audiobook but are present in the physical book, (view spoiler)[I learned that Kingfisher built on the idea of the "fungi zombie". She explains therein that Poe had a fascination with fungi as he wrote about it in other works as well. I think the story muddled its way to an inevitable conclusion that could only be "fungi zombies". (hide spoiler)]

I think it was in reading the Author's Notes that I was better able to understand what happened and why she led the story in that particular direction.

I ended up giving it four stars after reading the Author's Notes. Had I not, I would have leaned more towards three.

[Gabriel]

First group read here! I'm in!

[James]

I just reread the Poe story as well and getting started on WMtD today! I’m hopeful since there are so many ways you can interpret the Poe story that this will be similar in that way

[debbicat *made of stardust*]

I’m in I bought this on kindle a couple of months ago.

[Martha]

This would be my third group read here! I'm very excited for this one (since Poe is one of my favorite authors)

[Krystal]

Liz wrote: "Krystal wrote: "I finished this recently and was a little disappointed ... I feel like it didn't really do Poe's work justice. It felt more like it was re-telling the exact same story only with mor..."

I read slowly AND read the author's note but neither really helped. I liked reading about how this story grew but I think because the main character didn't appeal to me and the pronouns threw me I just couldn't jump on board like I wanted to.

[Cal]

“The pronouns threw me”

oh boy…

[James]

Just finished this and think I’ll need to take some time with it. My initial impression is that I liked the additions to the story and I think it was very cleverly written. I’m thinking other influences may be there outside of Poe as well. And now I’m realize my how much I’ve written the word “think” and that I appreciate that in a book, so for that I’m glad I’ve read it! Looking forward to more conversation on it.

[Eric]

I finished this recently and overall liked it. Had a few issues telling the characters apart at the start and yes the pronouns thing was a little goofy but pretty solid story after that.

[Leigh]

this book is on sale today on amazon < a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FHGRWQ4/..." > What Moves the Dead< /a>

[Leigh]

ugh..tried to add a fancy link and that didn't work out at all. It doesn't look pretty but it works

[Gillian]

Leigh wrote: "this book is on sale today on amazon What Moves the Dead"

Thanks, Leigh. Great catch!

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)]

I really enjoyed the addition of the new pronouns, and I think it's a good introduction to familiarizing readers with ones that aren't strictly binary. I don't find anything goofy about a soldier gender that's neither male nor female, and I thought it added a cool layer to the main character.

I also really liked (view spoiler)[how it came back later in the story, the way Madeline uses the child pronouns to talk about the fungi. (hide spoiler)] Both give us such a unique insight into Madeline and Alex's perspectives.

[Trista]

Leigh wrote: "ugh..tried to add a fancy link and that didn't work out at all. It doesn't look pretty but it works"

I came here to post about this, but you just beat me to it!

[destiny ♡]

Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) wrote: "I really enjoyed the addition of the new pronouns, and I think it's a good introduction to familiarizing readers with ones that aren't strictly binary. I don't find anything goofy about a soldier g..."

Agreed very much with all of this.

[Krystal]

Calvin wrote: "“The pronouns threw me”

oh boy…"

Haha controversial can of worms, huh?

To clarify: because I was reading this slower (and reading other things in between) I forgot that there were these extra pronouns. So for example I read a paragraph where van was used a lot and I thought it was a typo for can and I was just really confused. So it was more because they were words I'd not encountered before AS pronouns, rather than the use of them itself. It took me out of the story.

[Ian (RebelGeek)]

My Libby audiobook hold just came in. I'm excited to read this one. I'm posting without reading any of the above comments to avoid possible spoilers.

[J.C.]

I’ll begin this book tomorrow… March 1st…

[Alan]

Just got a copy from the library!

[Jessica]

Just finished "Fall of the House of Usher" so I'm excited to join this group read!

[Ophelia]

I'd like to take the rest of the week off work to read!

[Jennifer]

I have a copy of this as I'm trying to read all of the 2022 nominated horror books this year. I've just started a book and have Steve Stred's book to read next so I'll be a bit late at getting to this but imma try to get it read in March.

Not read a Kingfisher book before so looking forward to it.