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The Worm and His Kings
- Narrated by: Allyson Voller
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
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The Worm and His Kings
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Summary
New York City, 1990: When you slip through the cracks, no one is there to catch you. Monique learns that the hard way after her girlfriend Donna vanishes without a trace. Only after the disappearances of several other impoverished women does Monique hear the rumors.
A taloned monster stalks the city’s underground and snatches victims into the dark. Donna isn’t missing. She was taken. To save the woman she loves, Monique must descend deeper than the known underground, into a subterranean world of enigmatic cultists and shadowy creatures. But what she finds looms beyond her wildest fears - a darkness that stretches from the dawn of time and across the stars.
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What listeners say about The Worm and His Kings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Saffron Roberts
- 16-09-21
Perfect for fans of the cosmic macabre
This book has it all. Creature-features, body-horror, cosmic horror, cult horror, urban-fantasy and most importantly, it is queer AF. Piper's an expert at messing with her readers' perception of reality - trust me, you really are going down the wormhole with this one - and she is the queen of unexpected endings.
The writing itself is as stunning and reflective as always; I connected with it in so many ways. This is a story about identity, about refusing to chip yourself away in order to fit the role other's demand you to play for their own narrative. And a larger theme, I think, was about embracing the human soul and condition in all it's messiness, rather than trying to sterilize it.
All this was embodied in a beautiful main character, who I was cheering on from chapter one, and an array of other complex characters who all contributed to this being such an addictive read. Highly recommended to all fans of the cosmic macabre!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sheridan Le Fanu
- 25-01-22
Outstanding and topical
Absolutely loved this original novella which packs a lot into relatively few pages. A brilliant alternative world filled with monsters and cultists and expertly described. The book features queer/gay relationships but has broad appeal since the relationships are dealt with in appropriate context of the cosmic horror.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-09-21
Cosmic Horror Done Right
I'm so tired of authors thinking they can staple tentacles on hack plots and call it cosmic horror. This gets it, the author gets it. Monique deserves poptarts and a hug.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Michael Benton
- 11-05-23
Solid Cosmic Horror
Solid story with a reworking of standard genre tropes. Is it rude to point out that worms are male and female? Great protagonist.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Z Allen
- 28-01-23
Not bad, ending not to my taste.
Though I was disappointed I hesitate to grade it too harshly, as it is still top 5 cosmic horror books I have ever read/ listened to and I’m at 27 now so it’s not too shabby.
Overall Much better than the hack job done by other supposed “critically acclaimed” cosmic horror writers like Cronning (Laird Barron) who stuff their books with meaningless fluff. But not nearly as good as the fisherman (John langan) or revival (Stephen king) .
The cannon should have been fleshed out more and the ending was a little too neat for my tastes in a cosmic horror.
But the details and personality was really developed in the characters and the representation was good too.
Honestly felt like it should have been a multi part book or it could have been much longer , bc like I mentioned earlier, the cannon needed a little more fleshing out and while the ending could have been good I felt like it needed more background buildup to make it truly satisfying.
7/10
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-12-22
Worth It
Well written. Just enough. Contemporary cosmic horror done right. I am eager for more from this author.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Spencer
- 13-10-21
The ending seals the deal
Let's begin with the ending. There's so much horror out there that builds up to a powerful climax, then whizzes everything down its leg with the end, whether it's a diabolis-ex-machina, a desperate "twist" that doesn't hold up to scrutiny, a whimper or a head-scratcher.
Hailey Piper unquestionably nailed the landing. The conclusion is emotionally satisfying, narratively justified, and brings all the themes of the work to a beautiful fulfillment. That counts for a lot in my book.
Now ask me how much I enjoyed the book as a whole. It was good and well-crafted. I love the elements of ambiguity, the cosmic scale, the mythology of a pre-human civilization. Most importantly, while it's dark and desperate, there's just enough light of hope that the narrative doesn't get eaten by the Gru of Indifference. Hailey knows precisely how much lifeline to give you.
If I find fault with the book, it's probably the pacing. For me at least, it dragged in spots. I was alternating this with another book, and I found that one, despite being longer and more languid, held my attention better.
Subjectively, personally speaking, I think the book was good but I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I probably won't reread this one, although I don't regret reading it or buying it. But I try to be objective enough to recognize my own subjectivity, and for other people this will hit the perfect spot and become a well-worn favorite.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kmacgrady
- 19-08-21
A delightful cosmic horror story!
There’s so much atmosphere and world building in this novella I couldn’t stop listening! It’s fast paced and entertaining the entire way through.
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