Tunneling Your Way Through Cold Cosmic Decay: Review of "The Worm and His Kings"

I have a new favorite horror author who has me in a proper frenzy - a Hailey Piper frenzy. Within the last month I have read three novellas by her (Benny Rose, the Cannibal King; The Worm and His Kings; The Possession of Natalie Glasgow) and can't get enough of her writing, she's that good. Even though I didn't always like her choice of stories, that's not the case with The Worm and His Kings, which I would say is the best horror book I have read this year so far - this book blew-my-mind!

We follow the story of Monique, who lives in the tunnels under New York City after she and her girlfriend Donna lost their jobs and became homeless. But that’s not the biggest of Monique’s troubles; Donna disappears without a trace too. Word is under the streets that there is a taloned and absolutely huge creature called “Grey Hill” lurking underground snatching women and Monique is convinced that Donna was taken by this monster. But it turns out Grey Hill is nothing but a symptom of cold cosmic decay… Monique sets off to bring her girl back, but encounters the cult of The Worm, a cult beyond her and our wildest dreams.

It’s truly impressive how Piper piles different layers of horror, beginning from real life ills worming her way to horrors of absolute magnificent scopes, bending minds and times. Piper again proves she can rock a MONUMENTAL ending, something she really has a knack for, in my opinion. I absolutely love the writing and I’m so glad that it came to its own in an extraordinary story such as The Worm. There are sentences, phrases in this book so beautiful you will want to turn back and read over and over if you appreciate poetic sort of writing. And don’t let that scare you, she does it with such ease, such authenticity that it only feels natural. I admit that flowery writing can be sometimes off-putting or pretentious; Piper’s writing is nothing but awe-inspiring. There is bitterness here but there is also humor; cruelty but also justice. 

 

I have had the opportunity to join in on a Q&A with Hailey Piper on goodreads and was even more impressed by the answers I got to my questions. Talking about cosmic horror, I usually think that there is at least some kind of influence by Lovecraft or some other author from his entourage. Here I was guessing it might be a nod to Haiogh-Yai, aka the Outsider, and was surprised that I was mistaken. I even thought the overall atmosphere and mood in the tunnels underneath the city reminded a little bit of the underground tunnel scenes in Perdido Street Station by Miéville.

I was wrong though, Piper didn't only create the mythology surrounding the notorious Worm basically from scratch, self-professedly her only sources of inspiration were science and philosophy too. And the best part is that she didn't rule out a possible expansion of the Worm's universe, which would be plain awesome, because I would love to read the individual stories of the Kings.

I hate it when literary magazines or blurbs tell you "If you're going to read only one horror book this year, then make it this one", because why would I want to read only one horror book a year? Still, I get the meaning behind that and am so completely smitten with this book that I will give you exactly that same advice! Read it.