I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine Narrator: Sunny Moraine
Published by Macmillan Audio, Tor Publishing Group on February 6, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Horror
Length: 4 hours
Pages: 176
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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The Last of Us meets Bird Box in Sunny Moraine's Your Shadow Half Remains, a post-apocalyptic tale where eye contact causes people to spiral into a deadly, violent rage.
ONE LOOK CAN KILL.
Riley has not seen a single human face in longer than she can reckon. No faces, no eyes. Not if you want to survive.
But when a new neighbor moves in down the road, Riley’s overwhelming need for human contact makes her throw caution to the wind. Somehow, in this world where other people can mean a gruesome, bloody death, Ellis makes her feel safe. As they grow closer, Riley’s grip on reality begins to slip and she can no longer fight her deepest desires.
All Riley wants to do is look.
“A refreshingly original take on dystopian fiction, Moraine's latest is as haunting as it is thought provoking.” —Booklist (STARRED review)
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
This was good! When I saw comparisons to The Bird Box, I was a bit worried since I was not a big fan of that book but this one worked well for me. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to live in the world these characters must navigate. I didn’t want to stop listening once I started and couldn’t wait to see how things would work out for Riley and Ellis.
The story is set in a world dealing with a pandemic that forces everyone to become isolated because if you look another person in the eye, you will go mad with a murderous rage. Somehow the world still functions and packages are delivered but you can not risk making eye contact with anyone. Riley has been along for a while but when Ellis moved close by she wonders if getting to know her new neighbor might be worth the risk. I liked that I was never entirely sure which characters should be trusted which left me questioning what was really going on.
I am always a little worried when an audiobook is narrated by the narrator but Sunny Moraine did such a great job with this book. They had a very pleasant voice that I found easy to listen to. I thought that they brought just the right amount of emotion to their reading to really bring the story to life. I am not sure that any other narrator could have done as good of a job with this story as the author did. I do believe that their performance added to my overall enjoyment and plan to recommend this book to others.
I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and Tor Publishing Group.
I can definitely understand being a bit nervous that the author was the audiobook narrator so so glad it worked out. I’m so glad this surpassed your expectations. This sounds like an interesting take on the whole pandemic isolation. I’ll have to look for it.
This definitely reminds me a lot of the premise of Bird Box, which I did actually like. I wonder how I’d do with this one. I am curious!
dang, that cover is kind of scary looking