Your Shadow Half Remains is a short horror novella. It has been compared to Bird Box, but I think that comparison doesn’t quite fit it. Keep in mind that I've never read the book, only seen the movie. Therefore, I'm basing that comparison off my experience with the movie. Where Bird Box felt more like a creature feature, this book is purely psychological.

In the book the main character, Riley lives in her grandparents home near a lake in practically the middle of nowhere. She’s lived there for quite some time. How long? We are never told. Even Riley herself doesn’t know. She can’t remember. Civilization is gone. She has one semi-working computer, no clocks, no television, and as of the first couple of chapters of this book, no cell phone because she tossed it in the lake.

At least ten years before the start of the book, some sort of pandemic occurred. If people make eye contact, at least one of them will go insane and both of them will wind up dead. So, people who survive the initial onslaught of this pandemic have to adjust their way of life. And, to do that, they cut themselves off from each other. There are no more portraits, no more face time, no more faces on tv, and little to no more human-to-human contact because all those things are dangerous and could get you killed. Fast forward back to the present, we have Riley who has lived along for who knows how long.

The book is told from a one person point of view, and that single solitary view is Riley’s, and Riley is unstable. Riley is the picture perfect textbook definition of an unreliable narrator. Everything she thinks, speaks, hears, or observes is questionable. But, that’s what happens when you live along for so long that you don’t know how long it’s been. Riley is settled into her routine of nothingness until one day someone named Ellis comes knocking and throws Riley’s life all out of whack.

Riley begins to think and feel things she hasn’t experienced since the start of the pandemic. She also begins to want things she hasn’t wanted in a while. This leads Riley to an extreme amount of discomfort. She begins to question everything slowly slipping further and further into perceived madness. I mean even she thinks she’s crazy. But, because she’s an unreliable narrator, how are we supposed to know if she is actually losing her mind or not? She could just think she’s losing her mind but not actually losing her mind. Do people know they are insane when they’re insane? Do they even know how insane they are?

This book is a tale about how a civilization changes through shared trauma. It’s about how that trauma becomes less and less jarring everyday until we are no longer shocked about that trauma as we continue to experience it. It is also about loneliness and moving away from human contact into more distant forms of communication like texting. It is also a study about anxiety and PTSD as well as hopeful recovery from both.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire for the advanced copy of this book. All reviews are my own. I leave them voluntarily.

This is a book about paranoia in the wake of a deadly virus. When eye contact can turn you into a violent, homicidal maniac, survivors like Riley have isolated themselves from the world. But when Ellis moves into the area, Riley finds herself drawn to her despite her growing fear of the new world they're living in. However, is Ellis a safe person to be around? Can Riley trust that neither of them have been infected without realizing it?

This was a dark book that didn't hold back. Seeing the world through Riley's eyes, all puns intended, the reader could clearly understand the way isolation and fear changes a person. A quick but incredible read, I highly recommend this novel if you enjoy dark fiction.

The first time I read the description for Your Shadow Half Remains, I knew I had to read it as soon as I could. I was so excited when I saw that I was approved for an eARC by TOR and NetGalley.

I read this book in a day and could hardly put it down. It took me on a journey- I started the book believing one thing to be true only to be doubting everything I thought by the end. And that ending!!! I got to the last page without realizing it, turned the page and saw the acknowledgements, and said “WHAT?!” I love books like that. This book is a novella but felt like a full book because of how fleshed out the plot is.

What an incredible and feverish story to crash through! The premise and our unreliable narrator were the perfect way to tell this flavor of unhinged woman at the end of the world. Really loved the stream of consciousness and character study in this!

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for gifting me an early copy. Below is my honest review.

This short novel is quite powerful. What happens to us when we can't look others in the face? When we lose all true connection and contact with people? How do we define ourselves when we can't even figure out if we're sane anymore? What happens when complete isolation is the new normal? Or, even more importantly, when someone decides to break that isolation without giving you a choice?

If you're a fan of Malerman's Bird Box or Saramago's Blindness (or their visual adaptations), this book will hit you hard. Just be prepared that you might not like what you see when you have to look at yourself as deeply as Riley does.

Definitely recommended for fans of psychological thrillers/suspense/almost horror.

3.5
rounding up!

"As it turns out, for no apparent reason, something can break in your world, and suddenly, all around you, people are dying bloody and screaming every fucking day.
It’s horrifying. Then it’s weird. Then it’s inconvenient.
Then it’s just every fucking day."

it's taken me so long to write a review because I can't decide which words I should use to describe the book. bizarre? definitely. delightful? also true. insane? well, Riley would certainly have an opinion on that.

we are plunked right in the thick of things, in the semi-boring part of an apocalyptic situation where everybody is kinda just ,,,, doing their best not to die. Riley is our mc. she's recently moved out to the countryside, to her grandparents' lovely cabin on the lake. don't ask about the bloodstains in the foyer or Riley's dead mom back in the city or Riley's nonexistent neighbours. everything is fine. Riley has internet still and can pay to get premium delivery so she at least has groceries!

she takes a lot of walks and looks at a lot of birds because that apocalypse I mentioned? it's transmitted through eye contact. specifically eye contact with another human being. this 'disease' or what have you causes people to act very, very aggressively once triggered, by which I mean they murder anyone around them that they can get their hands on and then kill themselves. it spread pretty quickly, wiping out entire family units and then neighbourhoods and then small cities.

so Riley moves out to the middle of nowhere, to minimize her chance of getting infected and going crazy. one day, as she's taking her little walk, she meets someone new. this is an electrifying scene; the audience has been told over and over again that being around people is bad, seeing people is bad, meeting new people is bad! but then here's Ellis, meandering around in the woods, greeting Riley like the two of them are old friends.

things get quickly ,,,, trippy. I loved the way Your Shadow Half Remains is written; it's so dreamy, the language slow and syrupy. everything feels over-saturated in a way I can't really articulate. chapters kind of alternate between memories, dreams and reality but the lines are so blurry that it's difficult to discern what's true and what's imagined.

overall, I liked this book. the language is lovely in a relaxing, unhinged way, and it did a great job of undermining any confidence you might have in Riley excruciatingly quickly. a quick read with a wild finish, I'll be recommending this book to horror fans who are open to something a little ,,, different.


rep - agender (no pronouns used) love interest
thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc ✨

This book is perfection - complete and utter perfection.

While I am both an avid reader and a fan of horror movies, it is only in this month - December 2023 - that I decided to give horror books a try. This is the fourth horror novel I have ever read, and I am completely and utterly in love.

You naturally have influences from the comp titles - the Last of Us and BirdBox - but Your Shadow Half Remains is a hauntingly beautiful piece of fiction that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was both rooting for the romance and distrusting of the love interest. I was scrambling to piece together pieces of information right beside Riley, and even when it was all said and done, my mind is still swirling with questions.

It has stuck with me, and I believe it will continue to do so for a long time yet.

I have added this to my re-read list, because I am going to need to re-read it over and over again.

This book is a nightmare.

The world is in utter chaos. It started a little while ago... when you look into people's eyes, you both go mad. Riley seems to have lost everything, living on her own, no family, disconnected from the rest of the world.

But when a stranger shows up, the slight peace she has built is shattered, and we start to see what real madness may look like.

Horror seems at its best in short format... where you are driven brutally from act to act before you can catch your breath, and Moraine gets full marks for using this fact to write an utterly gripping tale of post-apocalyptic woe.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine at any moment when you look into someone’s eyes, you could do descend into a haze of violence and attempt to kill anyone around you, and if there is no one else left, you kill yourself. How would you cope? Would you decide to end your own life before the inevitable or live a life of near complete solitude?
Riley lost track of how long she’s been alone when a man moves into her deserted neighborhood. Shortly after his arrival, weird things happen around Rileys home. Despite her suspicions, she can’t help but be drawn to his presence. And even though it could lead to a fate worse than death, all she wants to do is look.
This short book was well-paced, and kept me on my toes. There was a lot of mention of gore but not in an overly descriptive way. I won’t say too much because it’s the kind of book you don’t want to over-contextualize before hand. I was a little unsatisfied with the ending but that could just be a me thing.

It took me awhile to get to reviewing this book, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I’m still not really sure. I can’t explain much without giving a lot of way; I think it’s best to go into this book blind and just….go with it. It sits with you for a while after you read it. I suppose that means I liked it; if I didn’t, it wouldn’t stick around. Definitely try it; it’s a short read so it’s worth the time!

Riley hasn’t seen another human face in longer than she remembers. No faces, no eyes. Not if you want to survive.

When a new neighbor moves down the street, Riley seeks out their comfort. Ellis makes her feels safe. As they grow closer, Riley’s grip on reality begins to slip and she can no longer fight her deepest desires.

This dystopian novel was thought provoking and interesting. It would be so odd to not be able to look people in the eyes. Even though this is something I struggle with myself, it would still be odd not to be able to. And if you do, the person dies, that’s just wild. Riley’s character was multifaceted and complex. It is often hard to give a character adequate depth and distinction in a short novella, but it was done well here. This entire book has so much tension and such an eerie feeling to it, that I didn’t want to put it down. I simply devoured this one, and at this length, it was easy to do in a single sitting. The ending was left rather ambiguous, so you are left to come up with your own interpretation. Sometimes I like this, and in this case it worked.

If you are looking for a complex story with an unreliable narrator, then check this one out.

Thank you so much to Tor NIghtfire for sending me a copy of this highly anticipated novel, and also netgalley for the e-arc.

Also, love the cover!

One of the most intriguing pillars of horror fiction that initially brought me to the genre is the idea that fear within the setting of isolation often leads to madness or insanity. This idea was first introduced to me in high school when our required reading included Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Raven. If you’re not familiar with that work, the eerie cadence of Poe’s words details a man living alone, haunted, as represented by the arrival of a raven at his door. In this same vein of isolated terror, Sunny Moraine examines the deeper facets of humanity in the face of a “pandemic” that results in the complete elimination of gazing upon another’s countenance.

Moraine details current society as bleak and utterly violent. Should one human look at another’s face, endless brutality ensues until both parties are deceased. Shards of mirrors scatter the floor, reflective surfaces have been covered, and photographs burned in the name of preserving what is left of humanity in this desolate landscape. There are lots of unanswered questions about this particular “virus,” if that’s even what it actually is. Isolation seems to be the only way to survive despite this working against every fundamental rule for a successful continuation of the human race. Your Shadow Half Remains follows one girl, Riley, as she attempts to continue living in the midst of so much uncertainty, violence, and utter chaos. While she has a system that works for her living in a remote house, things drastically change upon the arrival of a new neighbor, Ellis.

The focal point of this story revolves around the idea of trust on numerous levels such as the trust we all have for any human being existing alongside us in society, trust in those we care for the most, and above all, the trust instilled in our own sense of perception. When any of these levels are attacked, our sense of vulnerability skyrockets as made apparent by Riley when she meets Ellis. While she yearns for human interaction (however limited it may be), she must make a clinical decision of whether or not to trust a total stranger. Ellis may present himself in a genuine manner, but given the state of the world, how can she know if what he says is true? If he will always announce his movements to prevent accidental gazes? This balance of trust and human connection escalates an already overwhelming sense of suspense and terror given that one wrong move equates to certain death.

Speaking of suspense, Moraine sprinkles weird happenings throughout our time with Riley that call into question, well, everything. While the book is written in third person, Riley’s perspective is the only one that’s shared. I found myself thinking of Donna Tartt’s character Richard from her acclaimed novel The Secret History who is known to be one of the most unreliable characters in all of fiction. With each chapter, the sense of distrust of Riley grows. She starts seeing things that may or may not be there, it seems like someone may have been in her home, and the nightmares start. Without much sanity to begin with in a world such as this, it feels as though Riley is spiraling into her own form of madness. This descent is the perfect vehicle for the horror that thrives in this book.

On uncertain ground, objects and instances that are already terrifying only seem to expand in their unnerving capabilities. More than one scene had me genuinely spooked and fearful of what may be watching me despite my lack of watching them. So much about Riley’s story plays on the human fears of our senses. With sight stripped, other senses take center stage, creating new opportunities for fear to thrive. There’s an overwhelming feeling of the true primal nature of humans when they are reduced to madness and isolation, a true look at how quickly a person can devolve. What’s more frightening than that?

Clocking in at just under 160 pages, Your Shadow Half Remains incites the most primitive of fears and calls into question the meaning of humanity in the face of solitude. The conclusion is one that left me staring at the wall for a while contemplating the most basic questions of what it means to be human. While there’s some room for interpretation, my understanding of this book is one that stresses the need for community and love and to not take these practices for granted. Being able to include so many ideas and concepts in such a short span is no small feat; with each word, Moraine constructs a world filled with dread and isolation only to reveal the true need for connection. Shining in the darkest of lights, Your Shadow Half Remains needs to be on your radar for horror fiction in 2024.

<i>Your Shadow Half Remains</i> is going to sound familiar to anyone who has read Josh Malerman's <i>Bird Box</i>, but don't let its similarity fool you: Moraine's novella takes a high concept premise and uses it as a way to explore meaningful and powerful conversations about intimacy, desire, loneliness, and agency in a way I have not ever seen done so skillfully. Whereas I felt that Malerman's text was missing the human emotional element necessary to make it a piece of capital-L Literature, Moraine's novella thrives in its taut, timely, and anxiety-ridden examination of human intimacy.

The novella just does everything I want a book to do: it takes a neatly-packed speculative concept and then interrogates it to discover what it says about our human condition. The book presents feelings of isolation and intimacy with shredded nerves. It's an allegory for an alienated society desperately in need of human connection, but suffers too greatly from a disease that makes that connection impossible (or, at least, highly difficult). There's some killer social commentary in here, and an anxiety-fueled plot that keeps pages turning.

<i>Your Shadow Half Remains</i> is yet more evidence that horror really is <i>the</i> genre for tackling complex human issues, and all the evidence I need to put Moraine at the top of my authors to watch for future projects. It's easily a most-anticipated release for me in 2024, and I cannot wait to see what Moraine has in store next.

This book is described as The Last of Us meets Bird Box and I think it was such a great description. The story is about Riley who has been living alone for two year in the midst of a pandemic where if you look at someone in their eyes, you go mad. She is craving human interaction and soon meets a new neighbor, Ellis. I love the eerie feeling that is felt throughout this story. Although some parts were hard to follow, I did enjoy that everything is not necessarily answered. It leaves a lot open to the reader.

Thanks Tor Nightfire for sending me a copy and Net Galley for an ebook!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, and Sunny Moraine for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I rated this book 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

Riley is living in a post-pandemic world, where if you make eye contact with any other human being, you become "infected" with rage and become a violent killer. Isolation is the new way of life if you want to survive. It's been so long since Riley has had contact with another human being that when a new neighbor moves in down the road, Riley starts to question her own sanity, and whether or not she can trust this new person.

Most of the creepiness and tension definitely comes from the isolation aspect and the thoughts that Riley is having. There is also a lot of unresolved questions regarding this rage-type sickness; which to me, not knowing is what makes things even more terrifying. The pacing of the story definitely picked up during the last quarter of the book. It was a quick read, with short chapters. I didn't want to put this down and was able to finish it in a day.

If you enjoyed The Bird Box by Josh Malerman, zombies (or variations of zombies), unreliable narrators, and a post-apocalyptic setting, then this book is for you and you're in for a treat!

Thank you @tornightfire for the #gifted copy of this book!

This book was awesome! It was horror, dystopian-ish, apocalyptic and I loved it all! The story starts out where you don’t really fully understand the back story of why Riley, this poor girl is living on her own and has not seen another human in quite some time. The reason is it seems like some sort of virus has swept through and made everyone evil and insane. Don’t look people in the eyes or you too will end up the same way! Freaky right?! However, a new neighbor, Ellis, moves in and she realizes she is craving human contact. Ellis seems to be normal and not one of the people affected by the disease and pandemic that has made everyone go mad. Soon however reality lines blur and Riley tries to understand if she herself knows just what is true or if she herself had gone mad.

Being that this is a novella I finished this one in one sitting. Mainly because I just needed to know what was happening to Riley. This book is bone chilling, frightening, eerie and quite frankly made me want to lock my doors. 🤣 I loved this creepy trip down this post apocalyptic world where you mustn’t trust anyone or look anyone in their face. The author did such a wonderful job making you feel the loneliness and need for human interaction! Loved this book and can’t wait to see what Sunny comes up with next!

Can we also talk about how creepy and amazing this cover is?! It’s perfect! Love it!

I enjoyed the atmosphere and detail in this book, but maybe due to the length I found it to just be slightly lacking. The descriptions in this were incredible though, I really felt like I could see what the author was talking about. I am not usually fond of unreliable narrators, so this is mostly just a personal preference but I would have appreciated a bit more clarity at the end.

this book gave me the chills... i couldn't put it down tho! it was so creepy but also kind of cozy as well

thank you netgalley for the e-arc!

This was very scary! I'm not sure if it was the length or the plot, but I felt like this was trying to say something very deep and never quite got there? There was just a little something missing, but particularly at the beginning I was very into this. I would read more from this author.

There is nothing I love more than an unreliable narrator and Your Shadow Half Remains delivers on that concept completely. Our main character seems to be handling her isolation well, isolation brought on by a Bird Box style unexplained murder virus, but each page further we get into Riley's story the more confused and confusing her situation becomes. Overall, I enjoyed this book but fair warning to others, do not go into expecting answers or coherence because that is not going to happen.