A review by thisislauraw
Earworm by Aaron Thomas Milstead

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.