Reviews

Inspection by Josh Malerman

Only show reviews with written explanations

leokennis's review

Go to review page

Too much introspection and too little plot, tension and world building

lilypilly's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

interesting premise, but sadly execution was lacking. if only the last 80 pages were fleshed out this would’ve been an incredible book. sadly, i feel like the ending was rushed and as such, felt anticlimactic, the last chapter didn’t offer anything in the way of a conclusion and i stead left the readers questioning everything (and not in a good way). K was the redeeming character of the story, even the way she had been sneaking around for a year. J pissed me off to know end, even though he was indoctrinated i didn’t care, try harder. a disappointment after such an excellent read of Bird Box, won’t read again, however would recommend to those who are wanting something tense and unusual

reg_litbytes's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This book gave me chills.
It felt like 1984 + lord of the flies + a way better executed maze runner.
If you like a fast paced read, don't bother with this book.

For perspective, 1984 and Lord of the Flies were slow reads for me (and this book is no different) but both were a very fun slow read. Maze Runner was a book I really loved the concept of. The actual read though? I HATED it. I gave it a second chance with it's sequel and gave up and never looking back.
Now with that information in hand, if you've read all those 3 books I've mentioned, you would understand what I'm trying to mean.

So I dove into this book not reading what it's suppose to be about. I got this some few months ago when it was on sale and only knew about the author because of the Netflix hype over Bird Box and recommendations over at BnT. Basically I was clueless when I started this book and after this, I've decided to do this more often. Just go into a book blind.

As I mentioned earlier, this a slow read especially on the 1st half where it does get a bit dragging at times but there was enough interest there that kept me going and then new characters were introduced that I wasn't expecting that just propelled me to keep going and I couldn't put the book down anymore from there. Unfortunately I can see how some people will give up before even reaching that point and some might not even find the new characters in the middle enough to keep them going, in the same way that people will find 1984 or Lord of the Flies a chore to read. I completely understand that and know that this book isn't for everyone.

This book bounces around timelines quite a bit which I find just a tiny bit disorienting at first but things was put into perspective as I kept going and things just made sense after. Some of these flashbacks were in letter form which I find refreshing. It was like reading records of the event and gave it a sense of proof that it really happened. It added a sense of realism to it.

I really like how this book shows consequences to information - both on over exposure and not enough exposure to information and how children can easily be manipulated, how formative years are very important, how EQ is just as important as IQ, and how you can't keep children innocent forever.

Towards the end, things get brutal. The children in this story is raised to be more mature than their age and of course when things got bloody, it got bloody.
It doesn't have a definitive end, very open ended resolution to the story actually where we're left to figuring out what happens next to whoever is left and I like it that way.