Books and songs to get to know Worms
(not books featuring worms. a few do, but besides the point)
Thought I'd share my favorite books. They're all SFF except The Great Swindle, which is historical (post WW1). They're also in order from left to right.
I'm sorry about the incestuous books
A few pitches under the cut !
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez ; gay asian kinda-weird fantasy
It's a love story, your nona says. Your uncle doesn't agree (homophobe pos). It's the story of two warriors (Jun and Keema) who find each other entangled into a grand plot which consists of bringing the Moon (literally. but it's an old woman) to the sea. also there are mind reading turtles. I can't really say more but this is the best book I've ever read. It's weird, the narration is incredibly strange (2nd + 3rd person POV + italics which are dead souls talking like the chorus of a greek drama).
It's also gay as fuck in the best way possible, and it's VERY very poetic and beautiful.
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes ; queer new weird kinda-baroque kinda-late-19th-early-20th "fantasy"
Eugh. Ugh. *takes poison damage* ugh. Agh. Egh.
Ok so this one is very hard to pitch for onimous reasons but... YES. so good.
I'll say it's about parenting, metamorphosis, art (music and painting) etc.. a lot of things. The main characters are a guy (named Guy) working his ass off to keep his sister (Tyro) out of debts, he hunts a giant worm with his best friend Dawn; a perfumer & kinda-daughter (Aster) to the city's Marshal who meets with a sexy gentleman; the Marshal (Maximian) of the city who wonder who tf this gentleman is; this gentleman (Mallory) who is on a mission™️.
It's def my favorite book.
It's like "what if the book gaslighted you but in fact it did not and YOU did this to yourself. also why are all the men in this incels and why are they still likeable characters"
Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb ; queer (well) epic fantasy
So, this one is not the first so I'll probably don't pitch what happens but it freaking destroyed my soul and I cried on the floor for 3hours when I put it down. "My dream" or whatever
I liked it because we see a new culture, and the camp intrigues were really cool and funny. And then the climax ? I am not the same person.
Harrow & Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir; queer/lesbian kinda-mildly-incestuous weird space science fantasy. lesbian space necromancers that's it that's the plot
The main character in this is schyzophrenic and lobotomized and interracts with actual ghosts and is depressive and feels the onimous eyes of the evil lesbian who wants her so bad and vomits a lot.
Again. Not the first books so very hard to say. Harrow the Ninth is like "what if you picked a book to be gaslighted so hard and still enjoyed it" (it's like works of vermin but WORSE). I loved it because the main character is just AMAZING and I absolutely love how reading it makes you reframe the first book. Like, Gideon the Ninth is "What if you read a book from the pov of someone who has no fucking clue how the world works" and then you LEARN how the world works. It's so good.
Anyway, Ianthe Tridentarius. Agh. Egh. Ugh. My queen. And Nona the Ninth GADHFJFH well need I say more. I'm unwell about those two books.
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin; toxic people incestuous epic medieval fantasy
This book is so precious to me. If you liked Jaime, Cersei and Brienne in the other books, this one is ughh sooo gooooodddddd. Goodbye world. I love it so much.
The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaître; historical post WW1
What if people made bad decisions: the book
How can I describe this one... It's about two soldiers who become con artists. It's about post WW1 France society, about familial issues & love, about what it means to be disfigured and gay in this period of time (one of the two main characters is gay, disfigured by WW1, in great pain, and is also an artist, it's important to the plot). It's about disguise, art, etc... How you can't return to society.
It's SO grim like the humor is very dark (reminds me of works of vermin in a few ways haha) but it's also kinda wholesome in a few ways. It's really really really good and haunting.
Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb; epic fantasy but somehow this one is a slice of life
Well, the slice of life of this one. Delicious. I never liked Fitz more than in this book even if I still wanted to hit him with a fucking brick. There is a relationship I love so, so much in this. More precious to me than Fitz & the Fool in fact.
I love this book to PIECES. the last part is so terrible and onimous. the horrors.
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett; queer/bi biopunk murder mystery x fantasy
What if someone wrote a fantasy murder mystery but eh perhaps not medieval fantasy, what if this was ottoman x roman x chinese empire with huge ass terrifying Sea creatures and also people have grafts and enhance themselves with the blood of those creatures, and what if people died because plants unfurled within them or...
This book is AWESOME. Din is an excellent main character, he's dyslexic and it's important, he's the detective's assistant, he's biologicaly enhanced to remember everything, he canonically has a huge dick, he's competent and polite until he's not, he's a meow meow, what more to ask.
Ana is the detective and she craves for the blindfold and the drugs. She's like your wine aunt tbh.
It's a series !
Leech by Hiron Ennes; queer sff post-apocalyptic gothic horror x murder mystery
It's so clever, that's all I can say really. It's about a hivemind parasite who acts as humanity's doctor, and one of its hosts die weirdly so it sends another one to investigate. It's about parasite vs parasite, bodily autonomy... Just like in their Works of Vermin (what are the works ? Who is the vermin ?), you have to ask yourself what the title means. Who is the Leech ?
The last part of the book is a WILD ride. Bold narrative decisions, some I think the author didn't fully pull off, but that's okay. Really surprised me.
For my ROTE fans : this book has a worse character than Kyle Haven and Hest Finbock
Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang; competency porn dark academia x science fantasy kinda-20th
Do you want to read about a flawed woman working her ass off to stick it to her male misogynists coworkers ? Do you want to read about her life crumbling apart ? Yes ? This is the book for you.
It's very on the nose regarding how it passes its message but it's so consistent (the colonial and neocolonial economy critique) it's actually cool (unlike Babel, which I didn't like.)
I'm still thinking about the ending, I loved so much, it's unreal.
Still thinking about the second tower line. Took me out
The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein; incestuous kinda-queer-kinda-not pseudo-historical (arthurian)
[idk for the song]
Hey so perhaps don't read this one it's fucked in the head.
But if you do... I loved it because of the POV and how it's handled. It's a main character (I) talking to his abusive mother (You). It's also a kinda beautiful story about the cycle of abuse and how you can or cannot break out of it.
