Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Review: Malorie (Bird Box #2) by Josh Malerman @JoshMalerman


Malorie

Bird Box #2

by Josh Malerman

Published: July 21, 2020

Publisher: Del Rey

GENRE: Horror, Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction

BLURB:

In the thrilling sequel to Bird Box, the inspiration for the record-breaking Netflix film that starred Sandra Bullock and “absolutely riveted” Stephen King, New York Times bestselling author Josh Malerman brings unseen horrors to life.

“This sequel is as tense and harrowing as the original, with a new depth that raises the stakes.”—Riley Sager, author of Lock Every Door

Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence.

There remains no explanation. No solution.

All Malorie can do is survive—and impart her fierce will to do so on her children. Don’t get lazy, she tells them. Don’t take off your blindfold. AND DON’T LOOK.

But then comes what feels like impossible news. And with it, the first time Malorie has allowed herself to hope.

Someone very dear to her, someone she believed dead, may be alive.

Malorie has already lost so much: her sister, a house full of people who meant everything, and any chance at an ordinary life. But getting her life back means returning to a world full of unknowable horrors—and risking the lives of her children again.

Because the creatures are not the only thing Malorie fears: There are the people who claim to have caught and experimented on the creatures. Murmerings of monstrous inventions and dangerous new ideas. And rumors that the creatures themselves have changed into something even more frightening.

Malorie has a harrowing choice to make: to live by the rules of survival that have served her so well, or to venture into the darkness and reach for hope once more.


My Review:

Malorie picks up around ten years later from where Bird Box left off. It opens with a bang and very intense. The creature/madness has gotten into the blind school where Malorie and her children have been living since they made the trip down the river. It opens with Malorie searching the school for her children. As she is making her way down the hall she meets up with the blind lady and realizes that she has gone mad.

Everyone has been having to wear a blind fold ever since the creatures came to keep the madness away. Now the creatures have evolved some how if the blind lady has been infected. Now a mere touch will cause the madness to seep into you and send you into a mad, horrible world. That is the only explanation Malorie’s mind can comprehend.

Malorie has taught her children from birth nearly to always wake up with their eyes closed to keep out the madness. Now she has to teach them to cover up from head to toe and not let the creatures touch them. Malorie, her daughter Olympia and her son Tom have escaped all the chaos and madness to a place of safety or as safe as they can be at the moment.

One day a man comes to their home doing a survey wanting to document the names of people that are still alive to hopefully help someone find their loved ones. Malorie doesn’t trust this man but she doesn’t trust anyone and hasn’t for a long time which has helped to keep her children alive. They finally speak with the man to learn what he wants. After explaining his reason for being there they ask him to leave his pamphlet on the porch and leave.

Against Malorie’s wishes Tom and Olympia read the pamphlet and find the names of the people that are still alive. The names of Malorie’s mother and father are on the paper saying they are still alive. After Malorie learns that her parents may still be alive she looks the man up that left the pamphlet to learn more about the names listed.

The man tells her about a train that travels in that direction. A blind train how can a blind train work? Malorie had lots of questions about this train. She just couldn’t see how a blind train would work. How would you know if there was anything on the tracks? How would you know if any of the tracks were missing or not?

Malorie spends days thinking about this train and her parents. Malorie wants to know real bad if her parents are alive but oh what is she to do? Will Malorie take the train to look for her parents? Will she take a chance and risk her children’s lives?

Malorie is a very intense read that starts out with action and chaos and never stops until the last page is read. Malorie is one of those novels that will stay with me for a very long time after closing. I have come to love this world of Malorie’s and would love to see more of this world about other people and how they dealt with the madness or how they fought it.

What about Gray? Was he mad? What kind of person was he before the madness over took the world? And then there is Dean. What about him and his family? So many stories. What about Tom and Olympia? What are their lives like after Malorie?

Malorie is every bit as intense and terrifying as the first book Bird Box. Once I picked it up there was no way I was going to lay it down until I had read the last page. Once Malorie is picked up it will pull you into its depths and you won’t be able to come up for air until the end is near.

I could see the whole book playing out in my head as if I was watching a movie or as if I was right there with them. I could almost feel the wind on my face and hear the creatures as they walked around if that is what you would call it. I can’t wait to see Malorie on the big screen like Bird Box or at least I hope to see it on the big screen one day.

Like Bird Box I highly recommend Malorie to everyone especially if you have read Bird Box. If you like intense, mysterious, suspenseful, horrifying, adrenaline pumping stories then you are going to love Malorie. One Click your copy of Malorie today! But I do recommend reading Bird Box first.

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