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A review by eggcatsreads
Earworm by Aaron Thomas Milstead
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.