Wayward
The experience of reading Bird Box was like watching a thrilling, post-apocalypse tv show. It was punchy, intense, emotional, and suspenseful with a cast of characters stuck in a house together to survive and not always reaching a unanimous consensus on how to do that. It EMBRACED the horrifying idea of not knowing whether there was something in the room with you, maybe right in front of you silent, watching, something AWFUL right there - maybe? - but not knowing for sure one way or another no matter how carefully you check, not being able to see it and knowing if you're wrong, opening your eyes is the worst decision you could ever make. I felt the chills of this horror CONSTANTLY through the book, and I was hooked so fast. I love the whole CONCEPT of some unknown thing that makes you insane. This really feels like it feeds from the myth of Cthulhu but rather than one enormous entity seen by the few, this makes that danger more everyday, everyWHERE which is honestly brilliant. There's a LOT I like about this book and only a couple of things that could have been improved upon.
Malorie... was an okay character, which is my biggest critique. She has jusssst enough gumption to do what she has to do, but she was very much an everyday woman, with no particular skills or hobbies or abilities. We didn't see a lot of her history or what shaped her into who she was pre-apocalypse either, so she felt lacking to me. Gray. Little personality. Even boring if the story hadn't been forcing her to survive. She did some admirable things because she HAD to, yes, but otherwise wasn't an innovative or radical thinker. A decent character but one that I didn't have strong feelings about in either direction.
My second big critique is that there was no diversity, and two of the three women in the house (while there were five men) were pregnant. I really wish the author had developed at least the other woman, Cheryl, more. Perhaps had her be more of an innovator or one of the two who left the house for supplies, rather than it being two of the men. Instead, she's mostly a background character that doesn't have a lot of screentime. This book could have been improved instantly by making the cast a little more diverse and even.
Where this book excelled was the story and horror. It's edge-of-your-seat intense that focuses on its strengths with bingeable plotting. I looked forward to reading this when I knew I would later that day, and if I were a faster reader, I may very well have binged the whole thing the day I started it, I was so captivated. It did an amazing job of making a generally realistic house full of strangers with varying levels of morality that work together because there's little other choice but who don't always agree and only trust each other so far. Again, it FELT like I was watching a tv series, and with post-apocalypse being one of my favorite themes for shows and movies, I loved that feeling and how well this author and book built it.
In summary–was this book perfect? No, but it was incredibly entertaining. If you're a fan of this type of setting and atmosphere for horror, you probably won't be disappointed by Bird Box. I enjoyed it so much I intend to pick up the sequel from CloudLibrary as my next read, and I'm definitely going to keep this author on my radar for future reads.
The experience of reading Bird Box was like watching a thrilling, post-apocalypse tv show. It was punchy, intense, emotional, and suspenseful with a cast of characters stuck in a house together to survive and not always reaching a unanimous consensus on how to do that. It EMBRACED the horrifying idea of not knowing whether there was something in the room with you, maybe right in front of you silent, watching, something AWFUL right there - maybe? - but not knowing for sure one way or another no matter how carefully you check, not being able to see it and knowing if you're wrong, opening your eyes is the worst decision you could ever make. I felt the chills of this horror CONSTANTLY through the book, and I was hooked so fast. I love the whole CONCEPT of some unknown thing that makes you insane. This really feels like it feeds from the myth of Cthulhu but rather than one enormous entity seen by the few, this makes that danger more everyday, everyWHERE which is honestly brilliant. There's a LOT I like about this book and only a couple of things that could have been improved upon.
Malorie... was an okay character, which is my biggest critique. She has jusssst enough gumption to do what she has to do, but she was very much an everyday woman, with no particular skills or hobbies or abilities. We didn't see a lot of her history or what shaped her into who she was pre-apocalypse either, so she felt lacking to me. Gray. Little personality. Even boring if the story hadn't been forcing her to survive. She did some admirable things because she HAD to, yes, but otherwise wasn't an innovative or radical thinker. A decent character but one that I didn't have strong feelings about in either direction.
My second big critique is that there was no diversity, and two of the three women in the house (while there were five men) were pregnant. I really wish the author had developed at least the other woman, Cheryl, more. Perhaps had her be more of an innovator or one of the two who left the house for supplies, rather than it being two of the men. Instead, she's mostly a background character that doesn't have a lot of screentime. This book could have been improved instantly by making the cast a little more diverse and even.
Where this book excelled was the story and horror. It's edge-of-your-seat intense that focuses on its strengths with bingeable plotting. I looked forward to reading this when I knew I would later that day, and if I were a faster reader, I may very well have binged the whole thing the day I started it, I was so captivated. It did an amazing job of making a generally realistic house full of strangers with varying levels of morality that work together because there's little other choice but who don't always agree and only trust each other so far. Again, it FELT like I was watching a tv series, and with post-apocalypse being one of my favorite themes for shows and movies, I loved that feeling and how well this author and book built it.
In summary–was this book perfect? No, but it was incredibly entertaining. If you're a fan of this type of setting and atmosphere for horror, you probably won't be disappointed by Bird Box. I enjoyed it so much I intend to pick up the sequel from CloudLibrary as my next read, and I'm definitely going to keep this author on my radar for future reads.