The Conqueror Worms (edition 2006)

Mai avrei pensato che un piccolo libricino Urania potesse piacermi cosi tanto!!! un horror apocalittico veramente particolare, personaggi semplici ma interessanti suspence a mille e descrizioni credibili pur essendo un Fiction...
wooowww!!! ( )

Mai avrei pensato che un piccolo libricino Urania potesse piacermi cosi tanto!!! un horror apocalittico veramente particolare, personaggi semplici ma interessanti suspence a mille e descrizioni credibili pur essendo un Fiction...
wooowww!!! ( )

I am a big fan of Brian Keene's work and I think that this is my favorite.I did not at first really like this book but as I read the second part I really got into the story. I loved Kevin's part of the story with the mermaid and Cthulhu like elder god. I hope that Keene continues to write more in his Labyrinth Mythos, I am running out of his books. ( )

This is the perfect book to read during the winter when the weather is dreary and rainy. It gives an extra sense of potential or power to the events in the book.

The story starts off kind of simple: for some reason it starts raining everywhere at once and has been doing so for over forty days. Most of civilization as we know it has been destroyed under floods as the water level across the globe has risen. Then it gets a little crazier as giant worms, sirens and a giant squid/kraken creature appear along with people who worship them.

Up until the monsters started appearing, I was thinking of it as sort of a mother nature gets revenge or global warming beware type of novel. Once the monsters arrived, it become more of a Lovecraft story; one of the characters even pointed this out. As I've pointed out before, I'm not crazy about Lovecraft but all told I still really liked the book; it was almost two novellas combined into one as two different sets of characters tell their own story before combining together into a single adventure. I would like to see more of the world, especially from earlier in their reality. We join in somewhere around day thirty or so. It would be great to see things in the first seven days or so. Fortunately Keene has a collection coming out to cover exactly this. Due out in July 2008 from Delirium Books, EARTHWORM GODS: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE EARTH is a collection of short stories based in the same world. It is also one more book that will be on my "to buy" list. ( )

I have nothing but the highest praise for Earthworm Gods. This story captured my imagination, as well as most of my waking hours the last two days, as I poured through this thing. Pardon the pun, but I was hooked. A little history from Brian Keene found in the Afterword of this story. If you're confused, like I was, about why there is a story called Earthworm Gods AND The Conquerer Worms. According to Keene, the story was originally published in hardcover in 2005 from Delirium Books as Earthworm Gods and quickly sold out. Dorchester was publishing Keene's paperbacks at the time and, for whatever reason, decided to change the name to The Conquerer Worms. So that's why there is all this confusion for when you're trying to buy this book. They are the one and the same folks and I think Keene has a voodoo doll that looks like the numb nuts at Dorchester that decided that this clusterf@#k of an idea was a good one and sticks pins in it daily. So now Deadite Press is making the Authors Preferred version of Earthworm Gods (with the correct name) and Keene endorses this whole-heartedly. And he should. This is just a wonderful story.

Keene mines H.G. Wells War of the Worlds, H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, his grandfather and his best friend as main characters and his own nicotine addiction to form the backbone of this tale. Such personal experiences make for realistic characters and a feeling of familiarity that permeates through the story. The tale is laid out in three parts. The first introduces us to Teddy and his friend Carl, who are in their eighties. They live on a rural mountain in West Virginia where it has rained non-stop for over a month. The world is now underwater and the only places left are the very highest peaks of the earth. No lights, electricity, communications, radio, tv, cell phones, etc. Just rain, rain and more rain. Their world is starting to wash away and an ominous white fuzz is beginning to grow on living things, deer, trees, etc. Worms start piling up on Teddy's carport and the ground is beginning to rumble as a fishy, ammonia odor is evident in the air and around large "sink holes" that begin appearing. Then all hell beaks loose.

Part 2 takes us to the coast where another group of survivors are clinging to life in the top of a Baltimore skyscraper while the world is flooded around them. Attempting to survive, they try to keep away from a crazy group of "satanists" that are performing bizarre rituals on the top of a building off in the distance. Their rituals prove to be more than they appear and not only does Keene pull out his inner-Lovecraft, he also delves into his back catalog of The Rising and City of the Dead. Good stuff.

Part 3 is a marriage of the characters from parts 1 and 2 and thrusts the reader in a rain-soaked climax. Words can't express how much I enjoyed this book. For the last two days, every free moment of mine was consumed by Earthworm Gods. Keene gets my highest praises for this one. I can't wait to jump into Earthworm Gods II. My Kindle app is downloading it as we speak. ( )