Yes, I enjoyed it. But what did I just read? A short horror tale with music thrown in for good measure. I struggled in a few places but mostly it kept my attention. I had a hard time rating it because of its flaws, but in the end, I was entertained so I gave it a 3. I am sure the brainier readers would hate it, but if you are looking for something a little different that will not make you think too much, you might also enjoy it. ( )

A weird-ass novella about a band that is potentially bringing about the end of the world, and the music blogger who is along for the ride. Trippy and weird AF, with an out-of-left-field plot twist ending, and I'm not sure how I feel about this. ( )

I had that one moment right there where I could have just stepped off the roller coaster. I should have stayed to make sure William was going to be all right. I should have clued in that if these people were planning on running from the police, then the last thing I should do is go with them on the lam. I should have recognized how much antipathy was baked into what they were doing.

But then she said, “Airee’s gonna let you be the first to hear the next track.”

Jesus. Jesus fucking Jesus. I was so entirely owned I couldn’t stand myself, but I got up, threw my shitty hospital coffee in the trash, and followed her out to the van.

This is super fun.

It is not the super fun I signed on for when I picked this out of all the other Tor books I was looking at, because I thought the blogger was more of an investigator and that kind of thing really appeals to me. (Specifically, bloggers investigating shit. Yes I have very niche interests sometimes.) I would have like more actual mysteriousness over bald faced WTF-ness, but that is just me as a reader. (The reliability of our narrator never comes into question in spite of his music before all else aesthetic, which is a rather interesting approach to this whole thing.) My one legitimate small complaint is if you're going to do the full immersion point of view thing where your narrator understandably doesn't relay any personal details, but you ARE going to assign personal details, you need to let me know that "I" am a man ASAP, so that I'm not disappointed when "I" turn out to be a man halfway through the book. But that's a mistake Italo Calvino made too, so Mr. Moore is in good company.

And it really is super fun. The writing is smooth like water and goes down delicious. Funny snark is made. Things are wrecked. Bodies are thrown. Art destroys the world. I am happy. You will be too.

And if you end up thinking, as I did, that you might like more from this author, be happy that Tor has contracted two novels, the first of which is currently titled [b:Battle of the Linguist Mages|54431070|Battle of the Linguist Mages|Scotto Moore|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|84955365] and will be out in 2022.

(Personal to Pop Sugar: *sticks my tongue out at you* (A book that has the same title as a song) ( )

Another impulse library selection. Even though I remain very picky about horror, apparently I just can't resist Tor novellas any more.

But maybe I should have.

I was intrigued by the premise -- a band appears out of seemingly nowhere, releasing songs on the internet that have mysterious power over those who listen to them. When a music blogger tracks them down he finds Airee, the spiky lead singer who clearly has an agenda that isn't just "land a big contract," but of course isn't sharing what that agenda is.

Here's the thing. I wanted to root for these girls. I wanted them to have discovered some secret witchy powers and take over the world, but when the first giant tentacled beast shows up I was pretty sure that wasn't the direction we were headed. Then there's the secret occult master and some John Dee references and I just didn't care about anything or anyone anymore.

Had I known this would end up being cosmic horror I would have just skipped it. But I still have some fondness for the early promise of what this book could have been... ( )