'Earthworm Gods II: Deluge' – Brian Keene (Deadite Press)

It's Monday so you know what time it is... ;o) After reading 'Earthworm Gods' last week (you can read the review Here if you haven't already), my next Brian Keene read very much chose itself and that's where I've been for a chunk of this weekend.

I'll be honest with you. I've got a bit of a soft spot for 'Earthworm Gods II' as it was one of a number of Keene's books that I loaded onto my Kindle after I split up with my wife and had to move out. Those books got me through a number of lonely nights, still do, and I'll always be grateful for Brian for writing them, they really helped. That said then, I'll try my hardest not to be too effusive in my praise but if you've come here looking for an objective review then you might want to come back tomorrow instead. Enough of that though, it's still raining out there and the water is rising...

In Brian Keene's cult-classic, Earthworm Gods, global super-storms decimated the planet, eradicating most of mankind. In the midst of this ecological nightmare, the remnants of humanity fought against a supernatural menace in a war that ranged from the rooftops of submerged cities to the mountaintop islands jutting from the sea.

Now, the battle continues. As the last of the mountains sink beneath the waves, the survivors make a desperate final stand. But the worms aren't the only enemy they face. The world-wide ocean is host to a legion of monsters, each more terrifying than the last, and mankind is vastly outnumbered by these new horrors. Adrift at sea and struggling to stay alive, the surviving members of the human race cling to a thin strand of hope. But their possible salvation may be worse than their looming extinction...

Ok, hands up if you thought that the end of 'Earthworm Gods' signalled better times were on the way for our world... That's what I thought when I first read it and it doesn't take Keene long at all to disabuse us of that notion. The worms may have gone, thanks to Teddy Garnett, but the rain is still falling and there's not a lot of land left to do anything on except hide from what the white fuzz has done to anyone who touched it... The world is past the point of no return and that means 'EarthWorm Gods II' heads in a very different direction to its predecessor. While 'Earthworm Gods' asked its lead to effectively come out of retirement and fight evil (like a really old Ash Williams...), 'Deluge' asks its cast, and it's readers, how they will choose to spend those last few hours before the world finally gives up. Do you keep fighting (and what are you fighting for?) or do you just lie back and check out? It's questions like these that make horror such a 'go to' genre for me, Keene's not afraid to ask these questions and certainly not afraid to give you the answer that the story needs.

It's a question that Keene doesn't give his cast a lot of time to answer; there are plenty of things under the water looking to eat and the white fuzz will literally break you down. Choices have to made quickly then and this is where Keene comes into his own once more; giving us ordinary people faced with extraordinary choices and leaving them to sink or swim (sorry, I had to). The horror of the situation is evident on each page and just when you think you've got the hang of it, Keene will spring something else on you that's even worse (and that means someone you like is about to die...) If the cast's heads are spinning with everything that's going on, it's only fair that ours spin a little bit as well.

It's the quiet heroism on every page that really makes this story shine though (and I'm looking at you Sarah as well as you Simon, even if you didn't think you were a hero). And that's what I needed back when I first read 'Earthworm Gods II', a little reminder that no matter how shit things get, there's always a way through.

So, definitely not an objective post then but hopefully I've explained just why this book is a special one for me. It goes without saying that you need to read 'Earthworm Gods' first but once you have, I think you've got a bit of a treat in store.