{"id":14212,"date":"2020-07-13T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=14212"},"modified":"2020-07-07T23:00:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T03:00:41","slug":"review-malorie-josh-malerman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-malorie-josh-malerman\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Malorie by Josh Malerman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Malorie<\/em> by Josh Malerman<\/a>
\nDel Rey (July 21, 2020)<\/strong>
\n304 pages; $19.29 hardcover; $9.99 e-book<\/strong>
\nReviewed by\u00a0Sadie \u201cMother Horror\u201d Hartmann<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From my review of Bird Box<\/em> in 2018:<\/span><\/p>\n

Our protagonist, Malorie, is young and a little naive. There is a global calamity going on and she seems very preoccupied with her own circumstances. As a reader, you are concerned with our protagonist’s perspective—can she navigate through this story safely for us? I wanted a more reliable, capable protagonist to be honest but this is a horror novel and I came prepared for the worst. And the worst did come\u2026<\/p>\n

…This was an engaging, edge of your seat read. I loved every hair-raising moment. A solid work of horror, suspense and apocalyptic storytelling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

In this sequel, Josh Malerman pens the evolution of the protagonist Malorie from his bestselling book (and one of my favorite horror novels) <\/span>Bird Box<\/span><\/i>. Malorie is an adult now. Her children are teenagers. They \u201clive by the blindfold.\u201d Considering the ending of <\/span>Bird Box<\/span><\/i>, this is a curious statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to protect reader discovery, this review must, at all costs, be light on plot details and lean in on my reading experience. I think the most important thing readers need to know is that yes, <\/span>Malorie<\/span><\/i> can be read as a standalone, but I wouldn\u2019t recommend it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps my personal favorite aspect of reading is joining a character on their journey towards self-discovery and evolution. In the genre of horror, this character growth is often a forced process as the characters are put through various trials and face many terrors.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Bird Box<\/span><\/i>, Malerman did an excellent job of portraying a young woman navigating through the catastrophe in a realistic way that many of us could relate to. She worries about her own self-preservation. She makes mistakes. She grows impatient and frustrated with her circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, in horror, the \u201cfinal girl\u201d is immediately brave or heroic in almost all situations and it makes the reader feel detached from the story. It\u2019s hard to identify with someone who can flawlessly execute “the right thing to do\u201d all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Bird Box<\/span><\/i>, Malorie was almost too real; too like me. I was scared about what could possibly happen to her and if she would be strong enough to survive. By the end of the book, she had undergone a huge transformation and the person she was, in the beginning, had been tested by fire. The woman that emerged was capable, competent and resourceful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malorie<\/span><\/i> is the sequel we desperately needed but didn\u2019t even know we wanted. When I heard Malerman was writing a sequel, I thought, <\/span>\u201cOf course Malorie has more to show us. There\u2019s so much more to her story.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Whereas <\/span>Bird Box<\/span><\/i> is one person\u2019s journey, encountering various people along the way, <\/span>Malorie<\/span><\/i> is the story of a nexus. A family. The addition of Malorie\u2019s children and the way they rub against each other\u2019s flaws and distinct personalities makes this story shine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Character-driven horror is my absolute favorite. I show up to my books expecting to fall in love so that I can be destroyed, and Josh Malerman delivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malorie<\/span><\/i> is a new favorite horror story and stands perfectly equal to its predecessor. Once again, Josh Malerman proves his place among my all-time favorite authors of horror fiction. Always unique. Insatiably original. An identifiable, almost magical quality to his storytelling that never disappoints.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malorie by Josh Malerman Del Rey (July 21, 2020) 304 pages; $19.29 hardcover; $9.99 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Sadie \u201cMother Horror\u201d Hartmann From my review of Bird Box in 2018: Our protagonist, Malorie, is young and a little naive. There is a global calamity going on and she seems very preoccupied with her own circumstances. As a … Continue Reading! “Review: Malorie by Josh Malerman”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[306,308,2007,1572,79,1545],"class_list":["post-14212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-bird-box","tag-josh-malerman","tag-malorie","tag-mother-horror","tag-reviews","tag-sadie-hartmann"],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Malorie by Josh Malerman - 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