PR: When an ex-field medic, who constantly reminds us of their non-binary identity, receives a letter from Madaline, they go to help Roderick through his disease and imminent death of his sister.
Upon arrival, they find the expected "all's dead, rotten, stagnant, and covered in fungi" atmosphere. Then, there's a huge buildup filled with inconsequential dialogues, such as war tales from another field doc, xenophobic comments against Americans, and pronoun discussions that seem out of nowhere. The main character's constant reminders of their non-binary identity make it difficult to imagine them, especially when Roderick, supposedly a long-known character, addresses them as "sir." The WWII setting makes the presence of female field doctors astronomically small, yet the main character complains about females not being taken seriously.
By the time the characters discover something is wrong, the book is nearly over. The best part comes when they find headless hares attacking, gore descriptions, and a hive-mind pond fungal monster, all very entertaining.
Small parenthesis: The author's decision to call this a retelling of E.A.P.'s House of Usher is questionable. The story has nothing in common with the Usher lineage or its decay. Roderick isn't the same character; he plays piano instead of guitar, doesn't paint, read, or write poetry, and lacks the characteristic acute senses. Madeline takes on a more protagonist, yet uncharacteristic, role as one of the antagonists. The author mentions E.A.P.'s frequent mentions of fungi, but this doesn't justify the false connection.
Continuing PR: The ending is funny, albeit anticlimactic. Madeline returns from being murdered by Roderick as a fungal monster but reveals she's been one all along, or at least since the beginning of the book. She's a cultist nurturing the fungal monster to infiltrate human society, potentially making humans puppets to the fungus. Leaving aside scientific stretches, the idea that this fungal entity can and wants to dominate the world seems paranoid. The main character assumes this is its agenda (and gives the fungus pronouns). They burn the place down with Roderick inside and pour sulfur on the lake, killing the fungus. The affected wildlife's fate remains unexplained, assuming the lake is the core.
Another of the book's problems is the characters. There's Easton, who's a field doctor traumatized by the war, then there's the american who is also a field doctor traumatize by the war, they're both skeptical 75% of the book and seem to come to senses at the same time, so the american is redundant. Then there's Potter, the Mycologist of sorts whose role is exactly the one we surmised from page one, pointing at the monster and saying "Yep, it's a fungus". Even the trivia she gives is mosly none-consecuential, as even the one thing concerning the monster (the hyphae thing she mentions) seems unrelated to whatever effect the so-called "white hairs" have on Madeline's skin, not to mention that I googled images and it doesn't look like hair is more like white roots or cowebs. That's everything she does, playing that small part that wasn't even necessary as when they find out about the monster Madeline's dead body is walking around the house shredding white mold, a much more obvious sign that the "white hair".
Madeline's maternal feelings for the fungal monster are not explained when it would require some solid justification, and the only interesting character, Roderick who has been living with this half-monster sister for the past month barely gets any development.
The book is too stretched out, but the horror segments are solid. The first paragraph is captivating and foreshadows visceral body horror. Without the E.A.P. character recycling and the injected pronoun discussions, the book would be much better. Entertaining, yet trope-reliant and ultimately a forgettable experience. 4/10
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