Review: Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

“You really love her, don’t you?”
Love is too small a word for what I feel. How do I explain that before Kat, nothing was real?…
“Yes,” I tell Busara. “I love her. Kat’s my whole world.”

The company says Otherworld is amazing — like nothing you’ve ever seen before. They say it’s addictive — that you’ll want to stay forever. They promise Otherworld will make all your dreams come true.

Simon thought Otherworld was a game. Turns out he knew nothing. Otherworld is the next phase of reality. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted.

And it’s about to change humanity forever.

Welcome to the Otherworld. No one could have seen it coming.

The first quarter of this book is pretty dry. But the rest (and especially the parts where Simon is in Otherworld) is pretty darn good. I found that it was almost like I had a VR set on when I was reading parts. Segel and Miller do a great job of creating a world for their readers to really be in. I really did not like Simon’s personality at first, I thought the authors were trying too hard with him in the beginning and I didn’t connect with him. This caused me to not be interested in his overall mission throughout a good portion of the book. They did redeem him towards the end, but I had a hard time getting over my first impression of him. It was a quick read and there was points where I truly did not want to put it down. I think teen boys will eat this novel up and I will read the second one in Fall 2018.

Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

“It’s better to face madness with a plan than to sit still and let it take you in pieces.”

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat–blindfolded–with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

You won’t even believe how scary good Josh Malerman is at making you… well, er… scared! I devoured this book. Josh does an excellent job at keeping you wanting more. This book features chapters that alternate from the past to the present, and I am such a sucker for this style! Most of my favs feature it, and Malerman did not let me down. I mean honestly, I would read some while on my lunch break at work, and then have to come back to my office and put the blinds down on my office window. It freaked me out that much. I was a little nervous at first that the author would try so hard to write a well-worded story, that the premise as a whole would get lost, but he knocks it out of the park. When I wasn’t reading it, I would find myself looking forward to the time I would get to read and find out what happens next. I found that I enjoyed the variety of characters. You can glimpse the complexity of Malorie through her inner thoughts. And in turn, you bond with her as a character. I would LOVE IT if Josh wrote more books from different points of views set in this world. (Uh, Don anyone?!?) I really appreciate this read, because it reminds me of why I love reading thriller/horror novels! Now, on to the movie!