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venneh's review
2.0
After a certain point, what hurts so much about reading Earworm is that you can see glimpses of the book this could've been, had an editor taken even a glance at it for more than five minutes. Earworm's biggest problem is that there is a very specific voice that keeps plopping into the narrative that would really like you to know how cool he is because he's seen this film, and this is just exactly like that! Instead we get this cringey shorthand that appears every few pages with references that not only completely miss the point of the original scene, it actively derails any scene taking place, and makes the reader cringe so badly that I started wondering if I was having an out of body experience at several points throughout. There's a solid alien parasite story here, the problem is that you hate the main character so much that you start rooting for the brain disease to please act quicker and save you from this godforsaken hellscape. The rape jokes stopped being funny in the 90s. But hey now, we're all stars, go put this down and pick up literally anything else in your life, it will have more redeeming value than this Ready Player One wannabe ass book. Really, the best thing I can compare it to is any American remake of a European horror film that completely misses the point and is utterly insufferable as they gleefully and willfully leave the point several states back.
hviareadsbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I have learned two things about myself reading this book.
1. I do not like body horror. At all. Even the smallest amount.
2. I don't like erotic horror.
Unfortunately, this book has both. DNF'ed halfway through. The writing was decent, but this book wasn't for me.
1. I do not like body horror. At all. Even the smallest amount.
2. I don't like erotic horror.
Unfortunately, this book has both. DNF'ed halfway through. The writing was decent, but this book wasn't for me.
horror_reads's review against another edition
5.0
This is a wildly entertaining, funny, and dark novella about a man and his alien parasite who lives in his brain.
Our protagonist has been dealt a bad hand in life. He's separated from his wife and daughter, he works in pest control, and he's found out that he has a very rare brain disease that will leave him in pain and agony until he dies (which could only be days to weeks away).
Through a series of events, he "meets" Bogart, an alien creature who enters through his ear and bonds with his brain. And Bogart tells him there's going to be a race of big nasty aliens who will wipe out the human race.
Yes, this sounds like a "b" sci-fi movie but it's really a great story that serves its dark narrative with a tremendous helping of humor and heart along the way. The relationship between our protagonist and Bogart is shaky at first but it becomes apparent that Bogart might be his only true friend when it's all said and done.
It's easy to root for the protagonist here. He's a sympathetic character whose life has taken a severe downturn. His observations and insights are ones a lot of people will recognize and he does this with a sense of self depreciation and willingness to place the blame on himself when necessary.
This is the sort of horror weirdness I love and have a fondness for and I highly recommend this novella if you're looking for something sharp, funny, and different.
I received a copy of this book with no consideration. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.
Our protagonist has been dealt a bad hand in life. He's separated from his wife and daughter, he works in pest control, and he's found out that he has a very rare brain disease that will leave him in pain and agony until he dies (which could only be days to weeks away).
Through a series of events, he "meets" Bogart, an alien creature who enters through his ear and bonds with his brain. And Bogart tells him there's going to be a race of big nasty aliens who will wipe out the human race.
Yes, this sounds like a "b" sci-fi movie but it's really a great story that serves its dark narrative with a tremendous helping of humor and heart along the way. The relationship between our protagonist and Bogart is shaky at first but it becomes apparent that Bogart might be his only true friend when it's all said and done.
It's easy to root for the protagonist here. He's a sympathetic character whose life has taken a severe downturn. His observations and insights are ones a lot of people will recognize and he does this with a sense of self depreciation and willingness to place the blame on himself when necessary.
This is the sort of horror weirdness I love and have a fondness for and I highly recommend this novella if you're looking for something sharp, funny, and different.
I received a copy of this book with no consideration. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.
eggcatsreads's review against another edition
3.0
A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Blood Bound Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
An interesting concept with the idea that all of human history and beliefs are actually one single entity that is attempting to take over the world. A very cosmic horror tale where you can't trust anyone, and need to watch your back from everyone.
The concept for this novel was fascinating, and I think overall the plot was well-done. Unfortunately, I did not like our main male character, nor did I like how every chapter randomly ended with a stanza from a song with no warning.
I understand this novel is called “earworm” but I don’t think this gimmick was necessary, as we already have multiple chapters where our main character is already spending the entire chapter with a song in his head. Also, many times it was hard to tell where the chapter ended and the song began, and it greatly disrupted the flow of my reading. There was also an irritating part where our main character gets the song “You Got a Friend in Me” stuck in his head, and instead of just a line or two we get a whole random paragraph of the entire song. Unnecessary.
Ripley was not a character I particularly liked, which isn’t necessary for me to like a book. However, many times it felt like the author was begging me to like him based on how “good” of a person he “really” was. There were multiple instances where Ripley would mentally go “I’m a feminist” or “I’m not sexist” or xyz before describing a woman in the most blatant sexist offensive terms ever. And to be honest, this wouldn’t have bothered me if it wasn’t POINTED OUT to me as a way of self-acknowledgement from him that he just HAS to describe this woman in this way, really, it’s nothing to do with sexism. Personally, I’d have rather he just be sexist than to read “I’m a feminist, so this isn’t being sexist, but *describes a woman in unnecessarily rude terms* but it’s okay, I’m married to a woman and thought another woman was attractive. It’s just a personal gripe of mine, but I feel I’d rather he be a flawed character with some sexist characteristics rather than a sexist character who keeps insisting he’s not “because he’s a feminist.”
In the same tune, I also didn’t like Bogart for many similar reasons. There’s an entire conversation between the two about him having sex with Ripley’s wife in VERY unflattering terms, and I was just like “really? Is this what I’m reading right now?” Also, he very much ruined a soft moment between him and Ripley where Bogart is trying to help Ripley’s self-esteem by going full “but no-homo” on him. Overall, I felt the two characters were kind of surface level with many jokes and exchanges that fell flat.
Complaints aside, the overall plot was short and sweet enough to give us a glimpse into this world with these parasites, and how humanity can try to defeat them. This was very much a cosmic horror novel, and it accomplishes its goal fairly well. If you were looking for a short cosmic horror novel and are fine with some cringy internal dialogue then I think this novel would work for you.
An interesting concept with the idea that all of human history and beliefs are actually one single entity that is attempting to take over the world. A very cosmic horror tale where you can't trust anyone, and need to watch your back from everyone.
The concept for this novel was fascinating, and I think overall the plot was well-done. Unfortunately, I did not like our main male character, nor did I like how every chapter randomly ended with a stanza from a song with no warning.
I understand this novel is called “earworm” but I don’t think this gimmick was necessary, as we already have multiple chapters where our main character is already spending the entire chapter with a song in his head. Also, many times it was hard to tell where the chapter ended and the song began, and it greatly disrupted the flow of my reading. There was also an irritating part where our main character gets the song “You Got a Friend in Me” stuck in his head, and instead of just a line or two we get a whole random paragraph of the entire song. Unnecessary.
Ripley was not a character I particularly liked, which isn’t necessary for me to like a book. However, many times it felt like the author was begging me to like him based on how “good” of a person he “really” was. There were multiple instances where Ripley would mentally go “I’m a feminist” or “I’m not sexist” or xyz before describing a woman in the most blatant sexist offensive terms ever. And to be honest, this wouldn’t have bothered me if it wasn’t POINTED OUT to me as a way of self-acknowledgement from him that he just HAS to describe this woman in this way, really, it’s nothing to do with sexism. Personally, I’d have rather he just be sexist than to read “I’m a feminist, so this isn’t being sexist, but *describes a woman in unnecessarily rude terms* but it’s okay, I’m married to a woman and thought another woman was attractive. It’s just a personal gripe of mine, but I feel I’d rather he be a flawed character with some sexist characteristics rather than a sexist character who keeps insisting he’s not “because he’s a feminist.”
In the same tune, I also didn’t like Bogart for many similar reasons. There’s an entire conversation between the two about him having sex with Ripley’s wife in VERY unflattering terms, and I was just like “really? Is this what I’m reading right now?” Also, he very much ruined a soft moment between him and Ripley where Bogart is trying to help Ripley’s self-esteem by going full “but no-homo” on him. Overall, I felt the two characters were kind of surface level with many jokes and exchanges that fell flat.
Complaints aside, the overall plot was short and sweet enough to give us a glimpse into this world with these parasites, and how humanity can try to defeat them. This was very much a cosmic horror novel, and it accomplishes its goal fairly well. If you were looking for a short cosmic horror novel and are fine with some cringy internal dialogue then I think this novel would work for you.
thisislauraw's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was a fast-paced novella with a fun concept. I didn’t find it too well executed, unfortunately. The idea of a war between the elder and younger of the strange earworm beings is pretty epic, but the story felt quite small scale.
After a good start that intrigued me, I found it slowed down and started to lose me for a while. Fortunately, it did pick up again, with only a couple of slower moments.
Honestly, I skipped most of the poorly written ‘garlic’ article the MC reads. I assume the writing style was that bad on purpose, to show the type of online conspiracy theorist writing it, but unfortunately I found it overly long and irritating.
The description of chicken farming was also difficult to read, for different reasons, and I don’t think it was necessary to the story.
I liked the use of the earworm songs as storytelling devices and clues about what was to come, but wasn’t too keen on the song lyrics at the end of each chapter. These seemed to bleed into the text and I was often halfway into the lyrics before realising the chapter was over and it wasn’t part of the story.
This was an interesting read, something I can imagine fans of 80s horror (think Brain Damage, or The Deadly Spawn) enjoying. It was a fun way to pass a couple of hours.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.
arthur_ant18's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
blatdriver's review against another edition
5.0
WOW This book is something special. I loved it!
It is heart-warming, funny and a bit gross in spots, the writing is smooth and very easy to read, so much so It felt more like a close friend just telling you a story, the characters are likeable and well developed, with lots of relatable pop culture references that I loved.
It has a very similar feel to Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, or if you prefer a movie comparison, Stand By Me from 1986.
I highly recommend this book, It's brilliant and it deserves to be known.
It is heart-warming, funny and a bit gross in spots, the writing is smooth and very easy to read, so much so It felt more like a close friend just telling you a story, the characters are likeable and well developed, with lots of relatable pop culture references that I loved.
It has a very similar feel to Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, or if you prefer a movie comparison, Stand By Me from 1986.
I highly recommend this book, It's brilliant and it deserves to be known.
xombieky's review against another edition
5.0
What a fun, bizarro, what the hell is happening read! I LOVED the humour in this book, I laughed out loud multiple times. I also love the bizarro genre so it had me invested even though I sometimes lost track of what in the world was going on.
Overall, fantastic and fun read!
Overall, fantastic and fun read!