Even the Worm Will Turn

The Worm and His Kings #2

by Hailey Piper

Four years after the events of The Worm and His Kings, Donna Ashton ekes out a life far removed from her troubled past, only to be abducted one December night by a monster in man’s skin.
Held prisoner by operatives of a clandestine research facility and drugged into a sickened state, each day brings questioning and punishment. Escape should be possible when Donna faces only mortal hands this time, but the more she sees, the worse her mind splinters with horrific understanding.
This facility has punched a hole in space and time. Within it lie secrets mankind should never know of a darkness beyond the universe, the legacy of the almighty Worm, and revelations behind Donna’s ordeal four years ago which now might get her killed.

Genres: Horror, Queer, Fiction, Lovecraftian, LGBT, Lesbian, Audiobook

162 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2023

About the author

Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Game in Yellow, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings, No Gods for Drowning, Cranberry Cove, and other books of dark fiction.
She is also the author of over 100 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and various other publications, and of articles appearing in Writer's Digest, Tor Nightfire, CrimeReads, and Library Journal. Find her at www.haileypiper.com.

Reviews

[Thomas Wagner | SFF180 · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3½. Includes some spoilers for The Worm and His Kings.]

Even the Worm Will Turn is the sequel to a book that felt like it could not possibly have a sequel. But I suppose it takes a writer like Hailey Piper to end a story with the apparent destruction of all time and space, and then say “the hell with it” and write a sequel anyway. Opening in 1994, four years after the events in The Worm and His Kings, this story reintroduces us to Donna Ashton, the sole survivor of the encounter with the Worm in the cavernous realm deep beneath the streets of Manhattan.

Donna (or Dee), once a lawyer before Reagan-era prejudices got her sacked from her firm for being gay, has been picking up the pieces of her life. She’s clerking at a small firm and has an on-again, off-again girlfriend. But when Donna finds herself abducted by a shadowy organization called Engine — run by Azara McCann, a hard-tempered woman who wears red suits and claims to be the daughter of one of the cultists who abducted Donna four years ago — Donna is forced to relive the ordeal all over again. Most traumatically, she’s confronted by unresolved grief over the loss of her girlfriend Monique Lane, who ventured underground to rescue her, only to disappear into Dark Time in the final battle with the Worm.

Like most middle books in trilogies, Even the Worm Will Turn can’t fully replicate the mind-bending experience readers got from The Worm and His Kings. But its story is powerful in its own way. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, Piper is very good at defining what I call the threshold moment. This is the scene in any horror tale where the character steps over that line (either literal or metaphorical) where they leave the relative safety of everyday life and venture into realms of terror and the unknown. It may be as simple as walking down a flight of stairs or taking a wrong turn. One moment in this book that stands out to me, because it is so wonderfully mundane, is the way Piper has Dee buy a blueberry muffin as her last totally normal act before venturing into the underground. I have always loved the idea of daily life going on all around us, while just around a nearby corner, or maybe one floor down a lonely stairwell, unfathomable horrors lie in wait.

But this story has a much more striking threshold moment, and it is one that I will not spoil, though sadly I am absolutely certain every other review of this book you’re going to see will. (Continued...)

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picking up four years after the tumultuous events of The Worm and His Kings, Hailey Piper returns us to the character of Donna Ashton, still trying to escape her past. Having fled the underground ruins beneath Empire Music Hall, she now finds herself hunted and captured by a mysterious group seeking to unlock the secrets of the cosmic deity known as the Worm, and forced to confront what happened to her former lover, Monique, as well as her own past traumas as a former King to the Worm.

Whereas The Worm and His Kings was filtered through a queer lens, centering issues of homophobia and transphobia throughout its narrative, Even the Worm Will Turn is more focused with division and carries out this theme in remarkable topsy-turvy fashion.

My full review for Even the Worm Will Turn can be found on my Substack at High Fever Books Reviews!

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

The follow up to the cataclysmic cosmic horror masterpiece, The Worm and His Kings, this sequel focuses on Donna Ashton, the lawyer/bitch girlfriend of Monique's who sacrifices her to the Worm. As you can tell, I am not a fall of Donna's. And so, that dislike may have tainted my reading of this book, which I did not find as compelling or tightly wrought as the first book.

And how in hell does one write a follow up to a book that ended with the destruction of space and time? Well, Piper sure tackles this head on, and gives us a mind-boggling ending that only she could write. I should never have doubted her talents.

The next book in the trilogy gives us the perspective of the final person in this trilogy, the Gray Maiden. All I can say is, bring it on! Ooh!

[Alia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one is one of those books to munch in for a while.

I was not displeased by the pov being Donna. It adds a lot to the story and it gives Donna more depth. I agree that she isn't a likeable character, for me, it was more of a frustrating character, just fricking sad and it had the effect of feeling Monique´s story, even more tragic.

The "two short turns to being homeless" and how drastically life can change in a minute, with a seemingly small choice (having a home, love, being trans, trauma, turning left or right), is quite a brilliant. Idw, these little details fascinate me, like how sneaky is Piper loading a lot of stuff within each theme.

Awesome stuff.

[Cassie Daley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED The Worm & His Kings, so when I heard there would be a sequel, I was so excited! This picks up shortly after the first book ends, and I really love when sequels are a direct continuation like this -- it bothers me a bit when the sequel goes off completely on a character we didn't even know in Book 1; I struggle with the story because the stuff & people I loved from the first book are now different. That wasn't the case here, with our main character being the secondary "main" character from TWAHK - which is excellent, because I didn't feel finished with Donna, Monique, and the Worm, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to get back into this Lovecraftian world that Piper has built.

[Jeff Wait · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible continuation of the first book. The characters were further developed and explored, and the philosophy in this book blew me away. Another masterpiece from Hailey Piper!

[Mike]

More cosmic horror goodness from Piper.

This book takes place four years after the events of The Worm and His Kings. Here, the sole survivor of the previous book(unnamed to avoid spoilers) is just living a normal life, until she is chased by a mysterious man who takes her back into the underground world of Old Gods and alternate timelines.

I highly recommend this series for fans of cosmic horror.

Also want to give a shot out to Off Limits Press. Between the books in this series and Ric LaRocca's Things Have Gotten Worse Since We last Spoke, I'm really impressed with their output.

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even the Worm Will Turn takes the universe-sized ideas first presented in its predecessor and simultaneously expands like the big bang and flips the notions on their head. Piper plays with time, creation, and existentialism like keys on the piano, flickering between melody and harmony (though the notes of a song cannot all be played at once). A worthy continuation that branches off in new and unexpected ways while remaining true to the atmosphere of the first book.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well... No, I'm sorry, can't go to four stars with this. The switch from cultists to (mad) science could have worked, but all I got was woo, and this just made my hackles rise. The writing seemed hurried - with explosions of brilliance, but still. Misspellings didn't help. And somehow Donna / Dee didn't quite have the tragic chops of Monique and the Pangaean refugees.
Still, I'm going to get Volume 3 and see how the story concludes. Only... with lessened expectations.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous and hypnotic follow up to THE WORM AND HIS KINGS. Dark, aching with humanity and all the pain that goes along with it, and like the song that pierces the universe, Piper's storytelling opens a path within us that makes the substances of time and the lurking of deities seem just out of reach. I can't wait to see how this ties up.

[Scott Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible book. Compared to the first entry, it isn't the same exciting neo-dungeon crawl, and the ending felt recycled and lesser. Still, it's brimming with freaky cosmic ideas that feel larger than life but still consequential to the characters and their actions. Pangaean trans-scendence is in. Happy pride!

[Miss Syreena]

Hailey Piper is so weird and it's wonderful! I'll definitely need to revisit this one again because the enormity of cosmic horror can be hard for me to follow.
Tarot Card: The World

[Ctgt · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would lop off my right arm to see this series on film. These books illustrate how horror can be used to explore identity, discrimination, survival, humanity, and existence as a whole. Hailey Piper is a god damned gem.

[Dane Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, at first, I wasn't so sure about this entry. I thought it might be hard to follow someone who was an insane world ending cult leader in the previous installment on their journey after they caused the death (sort of) of the love of their life. The lore building I loved. The different takes on time, the two Donna's, and the cool twists and turns kept it as quality as the first. This series continues to be my current favorite Cosmic Horror. Looking forward to the next in a few months!

[Ben Amos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even the Worm Will Turn is a follow-up in Hailey Piper's cosmic horror trilogy of The Worm and His Kings, this time following Donna several years after the cataclysmic first entry. What I will say, above anything else, is I appreciate how unique a take this novel (and the series) is on cosmic horror, relying not simply on tentacle monsters and fish people but focusing on the thematic heart of the genre, with unfathomable powers working beyond human comprehension, as people fight to understand and master it. Part of me isn't the biggest fan that the 'cosmic horror' of the Worm seems to be not-so indifferent to the people, but that's more my own personal preference on the genre, with all the mythology and concepts surrounding The Worm, as well the spoiler related ideas/concepts explored in the novel (such as 'split-decisions' to put it simply) to be quite well done. The weakest part of the novel I found was the characters, which to me anyway were a bit difficult to attach to and care for, with the villains especially feeling quite weak I felt (one just seems evil and extremely malicious to Donna for no particular reason, and the other had a rather lacklustre motivation and unimpressive demeanour I found for one who is supposed to be in charge of all this). With that being said, the story moves at a pretty good pace, and the ending left me intrigued for what's coming next.

I'm looking forward to checking it out, and can say this is worth checking out if you enjoyed the first one.

3/5, a fine time.

[Ryan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hailey Piper has an amazing ability to take the biggest ideas and not just make them believable, but make them almost regular parts of the human experience. Even the Worm Will Turn plays with otherworldly gods, branching timelines, and the very eradication of the very idea of human existence, but these topics never feel as heavy, because she grounds them in characters we can get behind. Though I didn't get feel quite as enamored with Donna as I did with Monique in the previous novel in the series, she was still a lived in, relatable person, even as the all Hell breaks loose in the latter parts of the novel. The human menace felt frightening, as did the unknown, otherworldly threats, and when they both came tumbling down on our heroine, it actually left me wondering if anyone would survive, as Piper has shown that her protagonist don't always make it across the finish line. It also sets up perfectly for a grand finale to come, an essential element of any second part of a trilogy, while never feeling like filler. Piper's Worm trilogy continues to impress, and I wait with baited breath to finally discovery how this grand saga concludes.

[iam · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I finished The Worm and his Kings I was baffled how there could possibly be a sequel, given its ending.
Even the Worm Will Turn makes that pretty clear, obviously - it plays 4 years after the first book and follows Donna, who is finally no longer struggling after the consequences of Monique's actions.
That is, until someone starts following her at night. Someone who knows way too much about her past.

This series is great at its depiction of cosmic horror, but it is quite hard to follow in audiobook format. Part of that makes sense - a big part of eldritch horror is, after all, supposed to be about it being beyond human comprehension. Still, a bit more clarity would have been appreciated, but part of that is also down to me, not the book's fault.

Even though this plays way after The Worm and his Kings, this answered some of the questions I had about Monique and Donna's relationship - not conclusively, as I am still not 100% convinced somehow, but I am mostly mollified.

[Em H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was super excited to hear that The Worm and His Kings would be continued--and this didn't disappoint! It picks up four years after the ending of the first book, following Donna this time. I loved her as a character and thought that the pacing was of this was so well done. It basically hits the ground running from the first chapter.

As with the first book, I do feel like I'll get more out of this upon reread, which is always exciting. Can't wait for the next book! I'm really interested to see where the story goes and how it concludes.

[Rodrigo Calejon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, I love Hailey Piper’s work. The second book in this trilogy delivers a brilliant narrative that continues an intelligent and original saga about many great themes, but mostly for me self-love, self-awareness and choices (and where they take us). New points of view and plots make it interesting like the first novel, while presenting new discussions to make you think, feel and, above all else, enjoy this amazing ride.

[ThatBookMoth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 years after the events of “The Worm and His Kings” Donna tries to slip back into her old normal life, until she’s grabbed by a organization that is trying to pick up where the cult left off.
As cosmic horror goes this is top tier. It dives a bit into what Donna was going through in “The Worm and His Kings” while Monique strives to save her. As well as Donna accepting her place in the cosmic working of things.

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even the Worm Will Turn turns the mundane into a powerful unknown, tying a new perspective into the book’s world. Although the plot is somewhat twisty and hazy-feeling, the writing is always clear and evocative. Despite my worries, Donna is a strong protagonist counterpart to Monique, and her adventure walking around the edges of the past is compelling.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it. Didn’t blow me away. Like the first one I still feel it’s almost there, on the cusp of something, but something’s missing. A smidge more explanatory exposition. A tad more character development. A hint more description of locations. The barest, subtlest bit more of a “why.” But the concepts are very cool - it’s non-Lovecraftian cosmic horror and that’s always neat.

[Josh Buyarski · Rating 5 out of 5]

We knew so little about Donna in the W&HK it was nice to get her perspective after the first book.

This is how you continue a cosmic horror story!!!

The break in timelines, due to singular choices and their consequences are just chef’s kiss!

[Alexis Coryicroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I was behooved to know this book would follow Donna (whom I hate from the first book obviously) but oh this had so many wonderful twists and turns, and I do feel as if the horror was stronger, more gorey in an enrapturing way.

These books are carving a space for themselves in my brain.

[Jassmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that I was ready for wild after the first one, but somehow this felt even wilder. I think this type (cosmic) horror probably isn't entirely my thing, but I enjoyed myself quite a lot.

Will try for proper review later.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Piper's writing is pristine as always, I didn't find this sequel to be nearly as compelling as its predecessor. I still want to read the final book in the trilogy and learn the story of the Gray Maiden.

[Wyrd Witch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review on Signal Horizon.

[Norman Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hailey Piper is the best writer working today when it comes to cosmic horror (I think that's the genre, if not, it's whatever genre this is). I'm continually blown away by everything she writes.

[Nathan Berndt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent sequel, Piper once more leads you down a road of dark starlight, and into Time itself. 5/5 Kings.