The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Conqueror Worms
Book Review: The Worm Surely Turns
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife was lucky enough to get an advance reader copy of this book. I had enjoyed The Rising and City of the Dead, also by Brian Keene, and eagerly devoured The Conqueror Worms. The story is told in a style that seemed fresh compared to Brian's other writings. Not that I don't like his writing style, but this seemed different somehow. I truly felt that I was reading an account by the narrator of the novel, instead of hearing Brian narrate it in my head. The story was tight, but does have the tendency to raise more questions than it answers. I'll surely be purchasing this novel when it is released so I don't have to worry about re-reading the advance copy till it falls apart.Book Review: This is only 60% new material which is great, the other 40% has been done before
Summary: 2 Stars
I loved this story idea with the old man and his friend on top of a mountain watching the world flood out. Even better when the worms start to arrive. It gets even darker when the mysterious fungus starts to creep into the corners of the story. The build up is great for the first 60% of the book. That is until the helicopter crash, then the main character meets some old characters from another story. Then Conqueror Worms turns into a short story that I already read, "The Garden Where My Rains Grows" from Mr. Keene's Fear of Gravity short story compilation. Hence the remaining 40% that I already read gets a thumbs down. Don't get me wrong, I liked "The Garden Where My Rains Grows" as a stand-alone short story. I just didn't think it belonged here. Or to be more honest, I felt cheated out of 40% of the novel because I already read this short story! I just think Keene was being lazy by including it verbatim into this novel. Yes, both stories are linked with the non-stop rain but I think they work better as separate stories within the same apocalypse. To be honest, I would have given this novel four stars if it would have stayed true to itself and been a unique story onto itself. I don't understand why Keene felt the need to combine the stories. But this felt like getting a greatest hits album from some 70s rock band that also includes new bonus tracks. You really like the new music and you wish there was more, but the real headache is that the old stuff (as good as it is) just gets in your way of enjoying the new stuff. So as a result, the new songs end up kind of sucking as well. I am a big fan of Brian Keene, so don't get me wrong. But he has done better work. Try Dead Sea, The Rising, Fear of Gravity, and City of the Dead. Only read this if you have not read "The Garden Where My Rains Grows", otherwise you won't like it as much.Book Review: This one is worm food...
Summary: 2 Stars
This was my first time reading Brian Keene, and I was excited! I wanted to like this story, giant worms eating everything in their path, end of the world and nature's victory over human power...Unfortunately I felt deceived by the title and about what really happened in the book - where are the worms? They were mere filler barely getting any attention, I felt like this was a worm version of Where is Waldo, tough to spot with many pages that did not belong there.
It started off interesting, I was glued to the first ninety pages when I met Teddy and Carl but then pretty fast the story took on a whole different turn and it was no longer about worms. One third into the story I felt trapped in the twilight zone with no way out, skimming pages in order to simply finish the bloody book - mermaids, Satanists, mythological sea monsters, human sacrifices, yikes...a big mess of a tale within a tale that frustrated and actually bored me, I no longer cared who lived and who died, no one was interesting and worst of all instead of answers I was given more questions. The dialogue was choppy and the main character sounded the same as the other main character in the middle tale - told ya it's a confusing book. I can't remember the last time I had such a miserable time with a book, bleh.
I can honestly say that after reading the book I can appreciate the low star reviews, those who liked it - wow, you have guts of iron, I did not take this tale well at all and my mind can appreciate the bizarre. In fact I was angry after reading it because the entire middle did not belong in the book, it ruined the great premise that would have been very enjoyable if it stuck to the plot.
I wanted to read about the worms, not another story hidden in this book with some worm filler in beginning and the very end. Even for a library rental this was a weak prize since there are better books out there. Sadly I won't be recommending this to anyone I know, unless I don't like them much...
- Kasia S.
Book Review: Unexpected
Summary: 4 Stars
I really wasn't sure about this book when I picked it up. After reading The Rising and City of the Dead, I decided to pick up the rest of Keane's work. Though this one had a bad cover as well as inaccurate(the world is flooded), I started reading. Like Keane's other novels, this one doesn't have a slow build, it is right into the action with the first page. I like his writing style, but sometimes I feel cheated and want more. If Stephen King had written this one, it would be at least twice as long and the flooding wouldn't even have started until 200 pages in. But the quick pacing and non-stop action does have the advantage of always keeping you interested in the story. This post apocalyptic story has the world flooding from a torrent of non stop rain. The story is mostly told from the first person point of view of an old man in the Appalachian Mountains, though the middle of the book does switch to another survivor. I actually liked that part better, but both are strong. The story incorporates Biblical references as well as Cthulhu myth. There is even a nod to Ob from the Dead books. All in all it was a nice quick read and I enjoyed it greatly.Book Review: Water, water every where...Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea...
Summary: 4 Stars
Brian Keene's follow-up to his one-two punch to the gut that are The Rising and City of Dead is another apocalyptic yarn. A story that posits the question of what would happen if suddenly, without warning or much ado, it just started raining all over the world and it didn't stop. Keene's The Conqueror Worm does just that as he puts the reader right in the thick of things as the world slowly, but surely drowns under the unnatural torrent that's continued unabated for over forty days.
Where in his two previous major novels, Keene used a new twist on the zombie apocalypse scenario, in the Conqueror Worm he goes abit more Biblical with a heavy touch of Lovecraft in creating the post-apocalyptic world where octogenarian protagonists Teddy Garrett and Carl Seaton will have to learn to cope and survive. Soon, Teddy and Carl are joined by Kevin and Sarah who survived the crash of their helicopter due to the insane actions of another survivor, Earl Harper. Just like his two previous zombie novels, Keene starts CW with the apocalyptic event already under way and close to its fruition. Keene deftly interweaves brief passages from Teddy's own memories of scenes that led up to the current events. Keene doesn't overdo the details, but gives enough description of how the incessant torrent of rain quickly floods and drowns all coastal cities and islands. The first part of the book pretty much has Teddy, in his own words, describing for the reader just how things have worst during the 40+ days of nonstop rain. There's a matter-of-factness to Teddy's narrative as someone who has lived a long life and who doesn't fear that the world may be ending, but that he may die alone and under nicotine withdrawal.
The novel takes a sudden about face once Kevin and Sarah show up. It starts off the second part of the novel where we're told through Kevin's point of view just where he and Sarah came from and their own trials and tribulations in coping with the encroaching and expanding ocean. This part of the novel introduces the Lovecraft aspect of the story and tries to give a reasoning to what has caused the world to slowly drown around civilization. It's surely the faster paced of the two storytellers in the books. Where Teddy's narrative was gradual and slowly building up to the nightmare waiting for the survivors beneath the soil, Kevin's narrative is faster with more of a sense of manic to the surroundings. It's also where the supernatural finally breaks through the logic and reason that Teddy tried to hold onto in the first part of the book. As enjoyable a read as Kevin's story turned out, I thought it broke abit too much from the pace begun by Terry in the beginning of the novel. Kevin's story could easily have been told briefly and effectively without having to dedicate almost one-half the novel's lenght to its telling. Better yet, it could've made for another novel, but that's a fans wish and opinion in hope Keene re-visits the world of the Conqueror Worms.
The novel soon shifts back to Teddy's story and from there on its a fast-paced charge to a Lovecraftian ending that should satisfy any horror fans. This climactic sequence brings forth both the matter-factly sensibilities of Teddy's narrative and Kevin's supernatural themes into one and Keene pulls it off dramatically. I could easily see this novel being adapted as a film much easier than Keene's previous zombie novels. His characters of Teddy, Carl and Kevin were more fully developed and the plot itself, though silly when one breaks it down to its basic components, has a sense of doom to it that gives it some realism. Keene has slowly become the master of the apocalyptic genre and The Conqueror Worms just cements that fact. The ending of the novel is slightly vague as Keene seems to like his novels to be, but it does offer a tiny bit of hope. Hope for his readers and fans that his visit in this drowned-out world wasn't a one-time thing.