If the original Fall of the House of Usher is a gloomy campfire tale, then I'd characterize the retelling as body horror with gender vibes. Vernon's version fleshes out both the characters and the world itself. It's set in a fictional Galacia, the narrator gets a batman, Madeline and the doctor get a lot more page time, and also introduces the delightful Eugenia Potter.

I reread the original[*] before I started, which was added a lot to my enjoyment of this version. Apart from the main plot parallels, having read the original made me appreciate a lot of the word choices too (e.g. sedges, tarn), and notice details (like the fungus digressions, or the single sentence mention of a doctor, who I suspect is the source of Denton in this version).

The gender angle (of course, for me) was a delight. I like the idea of an occupation being a gender in and of itself that can transcend bodies or other signifiers, and can be worn either temporarily or forever. It was fun worldbuilding, but only tied (loosely, in my opinion) into the plot.

On that note, I enjoyed all of the pieces going on here, but I am not convinced they all worked together in a way that supported each other. Galacia and its uniquely gendered army were fun to read about, and the war trauma worked well in the context of a horror story. However, I couldn't help but feel like it was an entire second story inserted here that was working a little at odds with the main thrust of the first story.

I was also a little sad about some details of the ending itself (which Vernon also expressed in the author's note at the end), but overall I admit that it is hard to see a retelling of the House of Usher end any way but the House of Usher sinking into the tarn.

[*] standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe/short-fiction