Publishers Weekly
01/08/2024
In the haunting second installment of Hugo and Nebula Award winner Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series (after What Moves the Dead), reluctant, battle-damaged hero Alex Easton, who uses the pronouns ka and kan, returns to kan childhood home in the grim and Gothic countryside of Gallacia. It should be a routine, even boring, visit to the Easton family hunting lodge. Instead, Alex arrives to find the old caretaker has died, and the village buzzing with rumors that the supposed lung disease that killed him was in fact something far more sinister. To Alex, a practical old soldier, the villagers’ tales seem fanciful, the kind of thing one might tell to scare a child—until the new housekeeper’s son falls ill the same way, and Alex begins to have strange nightmares. Something has awoken in the Easton hunting lodge, and it wants to steal the very breath from all of the inhabitants’ lungs. Moving away from the Edgar Allan Poe story that inspired the first entry in the series, this sequel offers more surprises and just as many moments that will haunt readers’ dreams. Kingfisher’s winning formula of creepy folklore, affable protagonists, familiar Gothic tropes, and truly unsettling horror imagery makes this sing. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
Praise for What Moves the Dead:
“A grotesque romp! It takes up residence beneath your skin and refuses to leave."—Caitlin Starling, USA Today bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence
"Thoroughly creepy and utterly enjoyable."—Publishers Weekly
“Creepy, claustrophobic, and completely entertaining, What Moves the Dead left me delightfully repulsed. I adored this book!”—Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows
“T. Kingfisher spins biting wit, charm and terror into a tale that will make your skin crawl. Poe would be proud!”—Brom, author of Slewfoot
“Dissects the heart of Poe’s most famous tale and finds a wholly new mythology beating inside it. …Pure fun.”—Andy Davidson, author of The Boatman's Daughter
“What Moves the Dead is a must-read, period.”—Jordan Shiveley, author of Hot Singles In Your Area
“A gothic delight!"—Lucy A. Snyder, author of Sister, Maiden, Monster
“A fluid technicolor reimagining of Poe's "House of Usher" that takes no prisoners. . . Not to be missed."—Brian Evenson, author of Last Days
"Perfectly hair-raising in all the right ways."—Premee Mohamed, author of Beneath the Rising
FEBRUARY 2024 - AudioFile
Narrator Avi Roque conveys all the creeping horror of this sequel to WHAT MOVES THE DEAD. Alex Easton, a retired soldier, travels to their family's hunting lodge in their damp and unwelcoming home country, Gallacia. Alex discovers the lodge cold and empty and learns that the caretaker has died under mysterious circumstances. The villagers are wary of Alex, and the lodge and land are oppressively silent. Roque lightly voices Alex's humor and dry wit and delivers the Scottish and imagined Gallacian accents. Roque ramps up the terror with a quickened pace and dramatic flair as Alex's dreams become haunted by spectral creatures. Listeners won't soon forget the gruesome sights Alex encounters. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
