it's interesting to see how this series is progressing, it seems to me that kingfisher is trying to experiment with easton's voice and the feel of the series. the humor is more prominent (some of which works, and some of which piles up more than i'd like) and there's some nice callbacks to the previous books. i appreciate the effort (and overall enjoyed the story) but it lacked the punch the first brought. the first maybe 2/3 of the book had a fantastic eerie claustrophobic atmosphere that really rivaled "what moves the dead". i always find that pitch black caves get under my skin fast (the luminous dead, as above so below, the descent). something about restricted movement and fear of the void is really powerful.

then it took quite a funky turn into the absurd and reminded me of nick cutter's "the deep". after the "reveal" there was a complete arrest in the tension and it almost turned a bit comical? it was interesting from a scientific standpoint but it was really quite a shame to lose the wonderful atmosphere. and oh the red light, what a let down. it was a fantastic device earlier that was completely underutilized.

by itself, its a fine read but unfortunately i think "what moves the dead" set quite a high bar and it's very difficult to look at the stories individually (likely my own shortcoming). it's too bad because i'm a big fan of kingfisher's work and the stories are certainly creative. it's hard to get those fungus tendrils out of my head.

i can see the appeal, hallmark movies are successful for a reason and i have respect for them. i have an unfortunate habit where i prefer to see the world as how it is vs. how i'd like it to be; i think i am more inspired by characters overcoming a harrowing experience vs seeing characters flourish in a beautiful world (without a ton of hardship). i wish on a shooting star the world could be like snow falls - it's beautiful, uplifting, and accepting. but to this cynic in this year of our lord 2025, my eyes are rolling down the block and the story comes across as incredibly manicured and about 100 pages too long. i nitpicked each character to filth (even maryam who was the best of them) and had no patience for their trivial suffering. anna god bless i really tried to find it in my grinch heart to come around to you, but i don't think i'd offer you a tampon in the club bathroom no matter how much tequlia is involved. i don't actually have that many qualms about the story (beside the fact that half of the characters did nothing but breathe air) but it didn't grab me. the writing was unfortunately very underdeveloped and holy exposition batman. i give A LOT of credit for the diversity within this book, it was refreshing and brought some (if not the only) depth to the characters. i think i'm glad i gave this a shot but i'll be retreating back into goth girl winter now.