I don’t normally read books in the horror genre but this book is on point! The concept, plot and main character is so different from the norm and I am here for it.
I could not stop reading this and read it in a few hours. You know it’s a good book when you are still thinking about the concept of the story a week later.
I instantly fell in love with Anthem and his empathetic personality.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone even if this is not your typical genre!

Imagine a monster that lurks in the shadows and waits to consume you. Thats the premise of this book, Anthem is our exilist who takes care of people when their monster/shiver is ready to attack. This dystopian horror will hve you hooked, the world building is fantastic, you can really feel the hopelessness of the characters situation. This is a unique fast paced read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Edward J. Cembal for an eARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Wow!! What a great read!! I could not put it down and when I did I was thinking about this book. Set in a dystopian/post apocalyptic time in the world with monsters “shivers”. I highly recommend and perfect for spooky season!!!

A future where survivors live on cricket meal for food is the least of their worries. The afflicted are exiled to the badlands with a cheery bon voyage and promises of a better life. One where they can be free and happy. Anthem is employed as The Exilist and it is his job to get that person and their Shiver/monster to the other side before it turns its attention beyond the host.
I wasnt expecting this book to trap me as much as it did. I still get the creeps when I think about the Shiver and how it devoured its host. Apart from the horror side of things the story highlighted how extreme situations bring out the best and worst in people. I loved it and felt the author did a fantastic job to create such a consuming horror tale.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the advance review version of this dystopian horror story .

Ughhhhh this…was so good…I’m speechless…The Shivers encapsulates the crushing weight of mental illness set in an unsettling dystopian world.

“The Monsters in Our Shadows” is a horror dystopian book by Edward J. Cembal. This book had a great premise, but for me there were a number of unanswered questions that I really wanted answered. This book took a while to get the main story rolling. I found the writing a bit repetitive and feel this could use another round (or two) of editing for consistency (is it raining or is it not?). While I think the world building was okay, I wish that this book had dove deeper into this world. Overall, this book was okay but it could have been a lot stronger.

Ravenous shivers are haunting the last of humanity. The Monsters in our Shadows delivers a dystopian world full of malevolence, threat and hopelessness. The plot is full of mystery and intrigue. The start is slow and it creeps up in pace to an epic showdown. I loved the underlying message about confronting our darkness. The shivers are vividly described and terrifying, they are also not the only monsters present. The main character is well-written, I liked his morals and inner dialogue. There are other characters but this is definitely his story and development. I think this book has a lot of offer readers, there’s science fiction elements, horror, gore, mystery and the paranormal. Since finishing it I keep thinking about it, the signs of a great read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I received this book as an ARC. This is not my typical read but I was happy to read a book by a Canadian author. I really enjoyed this book. The world building was well done- the descriptions allowed me to fully envision the world of this story.

I found myself feeling a little scared while reading, especially when I was reading alone in the dark. The monsters in the story were such a mystery and I enjoyed how we slowly began to learn more about them. I would be very interested to see how the author envisioned them to look.

Overall this book was a great read. The writing is done very well and the story was engaging throughout.

The Monsters in Our Shadows, by Edward J. Cembal, is a dystopian, paranormal horror novel set sometime in the not too distant future. This story is a creative plot about the extinction of humanity caused by predation of what people come to call “shivers.” Indeed, these creatures, or entities, do make one shiver in fear. Shivers are a mystery that people try to shun and avoid talking about. Some people are afflicted with shivers, and it is a bad stigma, as though the afflicted somehow deserve their fate.

The cover of this book may have affected my perception of this novel, because it looks like a Rorschach test. I felt that the plot contained symbolism for confronting mental fears, such as fear of the unknown, and finding a way forward when life gets depressing and scary. Incidentally, the afflicted people in this novel did not have identical shivers.

This story is a memorable one for me, even though I felt that the character development and background information were thinner than I typically like in a novel. Also, I thought that the pacing was a bit uneven and I was left with a few questions. Though this was out of my usual comfort zone, it was an interesting read for me. Thank you very much to Netgalley and Book Whisperer for the opportunity to review this creative novel.

Publication Day 9/16/2023
The Monsters in Our Shadows by Edward J. Cembal is the kind of dystopian horror novel that is nothing short of cinematic. The Shiver is an original and horrifying monster that afflicts those who live in the walled city of Atlas. “Humanity was on the edge of extinction. Death and horror were all that remained.” Most people have a Shiver. It is a monster that lies in the dark corners and waits in hunger until it can wait no more and consumes its host. The words used to describe the Shiver are so real. You can hear its mouth open and the wet fleshy sounds it makes as it comes closer and closer to the host.
Our main character, Atlas, is the Exilist. His job it to take the afflicted individual and their Shiver and place them outside of the walls before the host is consumed. This job is daunting and dangerous. It is emotionally and physically exhausting. However, generations inside the walls have passed with no one seeming to learn anything about how rid the community of this monster. Atlas wants to solve a bigger problem.
The community is led to believe that nothing good can happen outside the wall and their fearless leader, The Architect, is the only one who can save them. The citizens of Atlas have become dependent on a drug that is no longer available, which means that new plans need to be made. Y’all I could talk about this book all day. It is suffocating, scary and somehow engages all your senses and you are able to smell, hear and see what Atlas smells. This is a book that you will not forget.
I read all the way through to learn more about the author. Turns out this is set for a movie, and I can totally see why. I also learned that our author, Edward J. Cembal, suffers from Muscular Dystrophy. After reading some of the other reviews, I find it interesting how people can relate in different ways to The Shiver by the end of the book. This is a must read.

This isn’t the type of book that I would usually read, but something just told me this was going to be a great story. And boy was I right. This quickly and easily became the best book I have ever read. I mean, the monsters in our shadows? We all have them, right? And this book not only makes you think about them in a new light, but also teaches you to embrace them. I sympathized with Anthem the whole way through his journey, and shed tears with him along the way. I was on the edge of my seat rooting for him as things kept going wrong, holding my breath when surely you thought “eh, maybe he doesn’t make it”, clenching my jaw when “the truth came to light”, and left gasping and screaming the whole way through it all. This book will stay will me for years and I urge literally everyone to give it a try.

Set in a dystopian/post-apocalyptic world, you have a small civilization of people living in Atlas, where MMC Anthem lives a primarily solitary life working as an Exilist. Now, in this world you are likely to develop a “Shiver”. Shivers are terrifying monsters that live in your shadow, growing over time until they are ready to fully consume you - literally. Anthem’s job is to get to you before this happens so that when you are being consumed he can chuck you out of the city as nicely as possible and save everyone else from your Shiver as it will turn onto others once eaten its original host. Now, what happens when the city runs out of the drug that makes this whole process somewhat humane? Or when the Exilist’s own Shiver can no longer be ignored? Here is where Anthem leaves the safety of the city to enter the “Deadlands” to essentially try to save civilization and find a way to live with these monsters.

I watch a lot of post-apocalyptic movies/TV, but I don’t often read this type of story so this was a different experience for me and definitely hit the mark - it’s exciting to hear that it’s being made into a movie. There was some really creepy/graphic imagery in here that felt truly horrific (in a good way haha). I also really appreciated the deeper messages the author tackled with depression and accepting our darkness. Overall would recommend to horror lovers who enjoy those dystopian/post-apocalyptic landscapes. And, yayyy, Canadian author!

Thank you NetGalley for this read.

Just perfect for spooky season, I did like the perspective of this book and the mystical part of it.. Supernatural indeed, this is perfect for spooky season, I know I was definitely scared while I was reading this one

I jumped into this book not knowing much about the plot and came away hugely surprised. The world building was outstanding and the underlying themes that were expanded upon were valuable. If you’re looking for a gruesome yet heartening book than look no further!

I rated this book a 4.25 star.
“Maybe the meaning to life is to give life meaning.”

A tense, dark, and propulsive dystopian in the vein of The Last of Us and The Book of Koli, this novel surprised me!

The world-building is revealed through progression of the plot and, while some of the plot points are predictable in the general sense, there’s a lot of mystery to compel readers onward. I liked the lore around the Shivers and the progression of that thread in particular. While our characters weren’t as fleshed out as I’d hoped (I found Anthem’s downtrodden, hopeless stance a bit at odds with his Superman complex), I was rooting them nonetheless!

One of the things that has recently started annoying me in dystopian media is how everyone just accepts the threat. The pandemic has shown us that no matter what threat humanity stares down, there will be a subset of humans that just refuse to accept what’s staring them in the face. This book does address this and it’s just as infuriating in fiction as it is in real life. I hate that we need this theme for authenticity but here we are. 🙃

I’ve finished the book with a lot of questions… which feels intentional. While I’m not a huge fan of authors who drag out a story for the sake of a series, I enjoyed the time I spent with this book and would read a follow-up or another of Cembal’s novels! If you like dystopian games like The Last of Us or Horizon or enjoy M.R. Carey’s books, you may really enjoy this, check it out!

I’m deeply appreciative of Book Whisperer for making this title available on NetGalley - thank you!

As an avid reader of dystopian fiction, my expectations were high and sadly not quite met BUT I absolutely loved this book by Cembal. Seeing that it's now going to be a movie?! Stop it right now, I need that immediately. I'll be keeping a watch on this author, can't wait to read more!

Not as much horror as I thought there would be going in but the storyline and characters were great. It was a tad slow at time but overall I still liked it. The ending brought it all together for me!

This gives off the vibes of early 2000s paranormal action movies a lá Constantine. It's a pretty bleak read, more that than scary, unfortunately for my personal preference.

I cannot recommend this book enough. This is up there with top reads of the year for me.

Anthem lives as an Exilist in Atlas, a small walled off city surrounded by the Deadlands where nothing lives and nothing can survive. Everyone goes about their business with an approach of Ignorance is Bliss, ignoring the Monsters that seem to lurk in every shadow. The monsters who are out to eat the inhabitants of Atlas. He’s job is to show a final bit of mercy to people afflicted with a Monster and he is usually the last person to speak to a human before their death. Anthem wants to find out what the Monsters are up to and if they can be kept at bay.

Absolutely fantastic story. I was hooked from the first page and the book was so immersive. One of those you don’t want to put down cos you need to find out what happens next. Great storytelling, really atmospheric and dark. Cannot recommend enough. Read.This.Book!

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this book but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It does get a little slow at times but the descriptions are amazing. Pure nightmare fuel at times. I definitely recommend it!