It’s been a century since “the great consumption.” Humanity has been devoured to the edge of extinction by the ever-ravenous Shivers – terrifying, shapeless creatures that latch onto their hosts, tormenting them over time before consuming them all at once. The last of civilization lives in the crumbling city of Atlas, where they subsist on processed insects and await their inevitable fate. Anthem is the city Exilist, tasked with trapping the Shivers and banishing them to the malevolent Deadlands outside the city walls. But Anthem is ailing and destined to soon fall victim to his own Shiver, a fate he’s reluctantly accepted. As Anthem begins to withdraw from his world, a threat he’s unprepared for comes hurtling home. If he is to save anyone, he will have to travel into the Deadlands in search of a remedy to tame these creatures. But no Atlas dweller has ever made it back alive, and Anthem must confront his own darkness before humankind is forever lost to the monsters in our shadows.
Was this existence just an unwillingness to accept the end? A dying community's death rattle?
The Monsters in our Shadows is a post-apocalyptic world where people are haunted and eaten alive by their own personal demons, and once finished with their choice person, eventually turn on every living thing in sight. It's Anthem's job to take these people out from within the city's walls to protect the population which is not afflicted. It's a dangerous job and there is no cure to rid oneself of their parasitic monster. Once your Shiver shows up, you're time is limited. At face value and taken literally, it's a creepy story and I was startled and grossed out at several scenes. The book does a good job at capturing terror and hope all at the same time. Taken metaphorically, I think it's an interesting concept that traumatic events in our lives can devour us or--when shared-- even make us stronger as a group. Tragedy can bond people together, and I think often times, the strongest people are those who are able to overcome the struggles they face. There's also a message that you can't really ignore the bad things; sometimes hiding the pain does more damage. I really enjoyed Anthem and how he was compassionate and seemed to be the only person actively looking for a way to save people from such a grisly death as awaited them. He was a fighter and I loved his relationship with his daughter and how she really was the driving force that kept him going, but she also wasn't the only reason. Anthem is just genuinely a good guy, albeit quite cynical at times. (How could he not be, though?)
I'm saying that it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to be haunted by something horrifying. You can survive it.
The writing is pretty great and believable and I think if you're a fan of creepy monsters and dystopian societies, this might absolutely be up your alley. One thing that I found bothersome was parts of the dialogue that just sometimes didn't feel authentic. Like how Melody, Anthem's daughter is often baby-fied. That's not much of a negative though because it didn't ever distract me enough that I lost my flow of reading. It's just a minor thing which could even be chalked up to personal taste. Ultimately, I'm really happy that Netgalley provided me with an ARC to read and review. This is an easy four star review from me and I can't wait to see more from this author. Thanks again, Netgalley.
Maybe it's okay not to know. Maybe the meaning to life is to give life meaning.
