And BOY, did it!įirst of all, we got an expanded cast of characters: in Poe’s original, it is pretty much just the narrator, Roderick, and Madeline. But given that this novella is about 3-4 times as long as the original tale, I knew that it had to eventually serve something a little different. Right off the bat for me, it seemed like this was going to be a pretty straight forward retelling of Poe’s short story-the book opens with tons of similarities, right down to the names of the characters. (The author also mentions the similarities in the “authors note” at the end, so I’m glad I was on the mark with my feelings, haha).
Thoughts : One thing that popped into my mind while I was reading this is that it giving me strong M exican Gothic vibes-so if you liked that one, I’d recommend this book for sure. Throw in a glowing lake, a proper British mycologist (who also happens to be the maiden aunt of Beatrix Potter?), creepy hares, and a lot of fungus, and we have ourselves a dark, Gothic mystery. He’s having horrible nightmares, and he’s hearing things that no one else can hear. Roderick, while faring somewhat better than Madeline, is also not quite right. Madeline is very obviously sick, but no one can figure out what’s afflicting her. Alex rushes to the ancestral home, where things quickly get…weird.
Madeline lives-along with her brother, Roderick-in their crumbling old family mansion, located in a rural countryside. The book opens with our narrator, a soldier named Alex Easton, having received word that their childhood friend (Madeline Usher) is dying. Plot : So, yeah, it’s Fall of the House of Usher retelling, but with some originality laced throughout too. Illustration by Czech artist Matěj Čadil.
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