Malorie by Josh Malerman

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hachette Audio UK in exchange for an honest review.

SPOILERS FOR BIRDBOX AHEAD.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a Birdbox sequel. The first book ended so perfectly that, while I was excited for this book, I wasn't entirely sure it needed to exist. Malorie opens by undoing the positive ending of Birdbox rather abruptly which was jarring, but thankfully it was all uphill from there.

Malorie is interestingly named because really it's the story of her and her children. We initially pick up two years after where Birdbox ended, followed quickly by a ten year time skip. Olympia and Tom are now 16 year old teenagers with stronger opinions and thoughts of their own. Tom in particular is beginning to doubt his mother's view of the creatures and thinks there might be another way to live his life rather than in fear of them. When Malorie gets some news which causes them to consider venturing out from their home, Tom's new rebellious streak only continues to grow.

I was really surprised by how much I ended up loving this book. I genuinely think it improves upon the first as it expands the world, raises the stakes and crafts a far less predictable story (in my eyes). I had no idea where this story was going to go and it was exciting to see how certain things developed. The tension built throughout the story and I loved the new characters and new elements of the world we were introduced to. I only really had one criticism and that's that certain aspects of the ending felt a bit too contrived. There was one story element I was enjoying and it was a key part of Malorie's paranoia, but then this element gets pushed too far and I feel it was a little hard to swallow. It's a shame because it was the only thing that got in the way of me enjoying it really. I really enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook as well and I felt she added a lot to the story.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Malorie. I'm so happy that I got the chance to read a sequel to a book I really enjoyed and that it managed to expand upon and continue the story in such a satisfying way. This is definitely worth a read if you've been sitting on the fence about it and the audiobook is a great way to experience it.

Overall Rating:

.5