“In the end, maybe it’s disturbing how easy it was to adjust. How easy it is for the worst things imaginable to become normal.”

thank you to Netgalley and Tor books for gifting me an eARC of Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine, a horror novella inspired by the pandemic.

This book is for you, if you like:
💫 Unreliable narrators
💫 Character focused stories
💫 Mad women
💫 Explorations of human nature
💫 Unique narrative styles

In this novella, the main character, Riley, slowly descends into madness, as she seeks out her new neighbor despite the possibility of a fatal outcome. My favorite part of the story was the highly suspenseful exploration of relationships and the human need for connection!

The slow unraveling of Riley’s sanity also makes for a very distinct narrative structure. The narrative comprises largely of Riley’s inner monologue, shifting between her current life and her reflections on the early days of the pandemic. While I enjoyed the distinctiveness of the narrative, I struggled with its being fragmented almost to the point of incoherence at times.

Ultimately, while there’s a lot to love about this novella, and it packs a punch considering its length, a little too much was left up for interpretation for me to really connect with it.

TW: Gore, body horror, pandemic, death of a child, murder, mentions of cannibalism and suicide.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Throughout my reading of this novella, I was reminded of many things: Bird Box, 2020, The Happening, The Last of Us... All are good comparisons for some aspects, but this definitely had its own unique flavor, as well. I love a story with an unreliable narrator, and this certainly checked that box. It can be rather gory at times in its descriptions, so if that's not your thing, stay away. But if you want a quick story that starts our relatively normal and slowly devolves into a fever dream, where nothing is ever certain and the ending is left ambiguous? Pick this one up. And finally... can we hear some noise for that cover? Gorgeous, haunting, creepy, lovely. Amazing.

I started this kind of overlooking the horror tag, thinking it was going to be more dystopic than anything else, and boy was I wrong! I was glad I read this completely while travelling on trains that were not so empty that the loneliness could contribute to the sense of unease of this book but also not so full to make me claustrophobic and paranoid. I think reading this alone in my room would have been too much for me.

Trying not to spoil anything, this novella tricks you into following the narrative one way until it forces you to face that maybe you were a little too gullible. While this effect definitely worked for me, I also wished for things to blend into each other a bit more than they did and feel less rushed as we got towards the end. I definitely felt a sense of lacking something by the very last page, combined with a sense of frustration for the many unanswered questions (but that was absolutely the intention of the author, and I mention this as a positive aspect of this book - if good books leave you feeling something, then this was a good book).

DNF (for now) at 40% - I'm going to try this again in audiobook in the future. It's immersive and intense, but unfortunately I keep being drawn away from the story. I think the audiobook will suit me better.

I unfortunately didn't really gel with Your Shadow Half Remains. I enjoyed the narrative voice for the first three-quarters or so, and it felt like a solid, if less than action-packed, read. However, the final quarter left me feeling actively frustrated. I much preferred the quiet meditation on isolation this had started out as (admittedly contradicting the book's blurb somewhat), and watching Riley attempt to open up and allow herself to 'see" Ellis. Riley is so unreliable as a narrator (a characteristic I often quite enjoy) that the two characters feel hugely underdeveloped. The sudden change of pacing towards the end is jarring and, though this may be purposeful, left the conclusion feeling like a loose end. I appreciated Sunny Moraine's writing style however, so may pick up more works by them.

I'm not entirely sure why I even requested this book to begin with, given that upon re-examination of the description, it doesn't really fit with what books I typically read. I'd also completely forgotten that it was closer to a novella than to a novel and that may have changed how I read it as well, fully expecting a longer book.

I didn't really like this all that much. Very much unreliable narrator, which I usually end up enjoying, but this narrator was unreliable to the point that it confused and annoyed me trying to pick out what was real and what wasn't real. Too much was going on and yet not enough, given that it was a novella. I know that that means that the author wants to keep the story short and sweet but this was just entirely too short of a story to really get me feeling anything about any of the characters or situations that they found themselves in, though I was initially intrigued.

Fantastic dark story about the end of times. The Bird Box comp is definitely apt, and while I enjoyed that story too, I really loved the contained setting of Your Shadow Half Remains more. It's very claustrophobic and eerie and depicts well the feelingsof someone in isolation.

If looks could kill…
Why come up with a brand-new version of the apocalypse when you can extrapolate one from existing successful works and simply put your own spin on it?
And so, combining David Moody’s Hater series and John Malerman’s BirdBox series and introducing the twist of eye contact in the mix, this novella comes to live.
Mind you, the other books mentioned operate on a much larger scale with a full cast of characters, etc. This is a much more intimate, two-person play, with both of them tentatively staggering toward something like a romance, while one of them may or may not be losing her mind.
It is interesting to contemplate the world where eye contact will kill. It checks enough boxes to make the cut for what publishers (and presumably audiences, though who dictates and curates whose choices isn’t always clear) seem to want these days. The writing’s pretty good. The book can be read quickly in one sitting. And then more or less forgotten. Thanks Netgalley.

A beautifully written story that feels part Birdbox and part The Crazies. I am enjoying the fact that modern horror has started to embrace the dark an dreadful vibe of early horror stories.

One part poem and one part novel, Your Shadow Half Remains is a speculative fiction which mirrors the film Bird Box. Incredibly unwinding and strange, this book takes a unique look at a pandemic sweeping a nation...but this pandemic is different from the ones of our reality. While at times, Moraine's work feels incredibly confusing (for the sake of being so) I can't help but feel like I just read something special.

This book is a little bit difficult to review. I definitely enjoyed the first half, I was so intrigued by the post-apocalyptic world where one look can send people into violence. It’s a world where things still function but not nearly as well as before and I’ve never seen that done before. I also enjoyed the creepy moments when our character moves into a new house. However, the narrative really lost me halfway through. It got very surreal and I’m not sure if we were ever meant to know what’s actually going on. I wish there was a little bit more to the story because it felt extremely unsatisfying at the end.

Your Shadow Half Remains is a novella that reads very quickly and is exciting and terrifying to the point. In addition, the writing is smooth and vivid which , along with the well described characters, made it a perfect read to read on a rainy afternoon!

I’m not usually a horror girlie (scaredy-cat), but the premise of this story caught my attention. And I’m so glad I decided to read it; I haven’t stopped thinking about it since!

This is a character-driven pandemic story that explores how we normalize and adapt to strange & scary times and what the subsequent isolation does to our brains. It almost felt slice-of-life at times, and there’s a lot of introspection & commentary on the human condition in unprecedented times. I highlighted so much!

I’m so impressed with Moraine’s writing. It made me *feel* how mundane this strange, isolated existence is for Riley. It made the story feel fast-paced & eerie, which really amplified the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. It definitely takes on a fever-dream-decent-into-madness quality towards the end, which is built towards throughout the book.
If you like unreliable narrators & ambiguous endings, this may be for you!

I also want to mention that I believe our other character, Ellis, is ungendered throughout the book, which was really cool. Strong sapphic/queer vibes, always a plus!

For content warnings:
- Lots of gore & violence, especially through flashbacks to the early-days of this pandemic.
- There was animal death… which is a big no-no for me personally. That part was a little rough for me & I had to take a break, but it was a quick scene. I will probably skip over it if I do a re-read.
- Also some graphic murder, that was a bit hard to read.

Overall I actually really enjoyed this & I’ll be looking out for other books by this author!
If you’re into horror, you should definitely give this novella a go!

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the eARC!

Riley has not seen a single human face in longer than she can reckon. No faces, no eyes. Not if you want to survive.

An excellent queer horror novella. Very well done!

I had such high hopes for this book after seeing it be described as similar to Bird Box. I could absolutely see the parallels to Bird Box, but the story overall was incredibly boring and didn’t contain the tension and overall unease that Bird Box provides.

I feel like this book could have been a bit longer, which would have allowed it to have some more fleshed out themes and character development.

When they say The Last of Us meets Bird Box, they mean it. Your Shadow Half Remains is a fun, quick horror read. If you enjoy a good apocalyptic read I have no doubt you'll enjoy this one. It's not as action focused as you might think, but instead a creeping horror that is still just as captivating as it's predecessors in the genre.

In a dystopian world, looking another person in the face can drive someone insane and lead to a gruesome death. Riley has been alone for longer than she can remember, but when a new neighbor moves in down the road, all she wants to do is look at the stranger. As Riley and Ellis grow closer, Riley fights the urge as she loses her grip on reality.

I enjoyed this quick, horrifying, and exciting read. It gave me Bird Box vibes, but I daresay I enjoyed it more than Mallerman’s book (and definitely more than the screen adaptation).

It’s as much psychological exploration as twisted romance. Who among us would be fully sane without years of human contact? Riley’s unraveling is fascinating, and there is a cool twist or two that adds to the tone of the book

I was drawn to request this book due to the creepy premise - a worldwide "pandemic" of people going homicidal simply by looking anyone in the eyes. Moraine looks at what the fallout of such a devastating and inexplicable occurrence might be and examines it at a personal level.
Our protagonist lives in her grandparents' cabin by a lake, in increasing isolation with unreliable internet. Her world is upset by the appearance of a neighbor, and everything quickly changes until events are spiraling out of control.
Short and punchy, I couldn't fault the writing or its execution, but sometimes an author trying to be clever by being vague annoys me and this was the case here. The lack of a strong conclusion is a literary device I'm sure doesn't worry others, but it bugs the heck out of me.
Recommended if you want a horror novella with immaculate unsettling vibes. But not if you desire answers.

👁️ “Nothing matters. And we were all always already crazy, and sick, and nothing ever has.” 👁️

This novella was a wild ride. I don’t typically get scared reading horror but some parts of this had me looking at mirrors suspiciously in my own apartment 😅

Your Shadow Half Remains is a story about a woman who had lived alone for years due to an unexplained phenomenon that took the world by storm of people losing their minds and becoming murderous by looking in each others eyes. When a new neighbor arrives, Riley tries to learn how to interact with someone again. But when strange things start happening, Riley wonders if this new friend has sinister motives…or if she is one of the many losing their minds.

This was like a mix between Bird Box and The Last of Us. I thought this was a good novella, but it could have been even better as a novel with more building of what was causing the madness and more character backstory and details.

Thank you, NetGalley for this advanced copy of Your Shadow Half Remains in exchange for an honest review.
Horror levels: 4/5 (especially in the post-pandemic world)

This story combines the anxiety of 2020 with this murderous Bird Box-like virus that is not understood by the people, they don't know how the virus works or how or if it mutates, this uncertainty is terrifying and it keeps the population isolated to prevent the spread. In this story, we follow Riley and we are constantly on edge wondering if she is infected or not. I think this was a great read these years, it reminded me how we lived during COVID, with all the ever-changing information and misinformation about the virus and its spread.

On the bad side, I felt like the MC decisions were often predictive or repetitive.