This was gross and weird and horrific, and I wanted it to be grosser and weirder and worse. I enjoyed (not quite the right word) reading this, because I felt the author was so successful in setting up a dreadful, disgusting atmosphere, that I was prepared for the story to be more graphic and horrifying kept us longer in the disturbing moments.
Rumfitt also succeeds in representing the terror of transphobia on a variety of scales, and the ways that things that seem to be very online have very real ramifications. There was sadness and devastation laced throughout the fear here.
I'm very excited to read Rumfitt's debut after this, because I'm quite into the worms she's pulling out of her brain!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-ARC!

this was so gory and gross… i loved it!
ok but in all honesty i read gory stuff a lot but this was a lot. i had to stop a couple times or just skim those parts because it was just too much. besides that though, i loved the writing styles and the plot was captivating!

thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC!

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Brainwyrms
Alison Rumfitt
4.01
107 ratings59 reviews

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From Alison Rumfitt, the author of Tell Me I’m Worthless — “a triumph of transgressive queer horror” (Publishers Weekly) — comes Brainwyrms, a searing body horror novel of obsession, violence and pleasure.

When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As the media descends like vultures, Frankie tries to cope with the carnage: binge-drinking, fucking strangers, pushing away her friends. Then she meets Vanya. Mysterious, beautiful, terrifying Vanya.

The two hit it off immediately, but as their relationship intensifies, so too does Frankie’s feeling that Vanya is hiding something from her. When Vanya’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, Frankie starts digging, and unearths a sinister, depraved conspiracy, the roots of which go deeper than she ever imagined. Shocking, grotesque, and downright filthy, Brainwyrms confronts the creeping reality of political terrorism while exploring the depths of love, pain and identity.

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Genres
Horror
Queer
Fiction
LGBT
Adult
Transgender
Thriller

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304 pages, Paperback

Expected publication October 5, 2023


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About the author
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Alison Rumfitt
6 books568 followers

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Alison Rumfitt is a woman in trouble.

She lives and works in Brighton, and writes deeply personal, transgressive horror.
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Ratings & Reviews
My Review
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Ghoul Von Horror
789 reviews · 214 followers
September 30, 2023
‼This is Extreme Horror‼‼

TW: use of c-word, language, mention of rape, graphic sex scenes, watersports, eating disorder, scat, molestation, grooming, incest, sexual kinks, r-word, gaslighting, suicide

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As the media descends like vultures, Frankie tries to cope with the carnage: binge-drinking, fucking strangers, pushing away her friends. Then she meets Vanya. Mysterious, beautiful, terrifying Vanya.The two hit it off immediately, but as their relationship intensifies, so too does Frankie’s feeling that Vanya is hiding something from her. When Vanya’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, Frankie starts digging, and unearths a sinister, depraved conspiracy, the roots of which go deeper than she ever imagined.
Release Date: October 5th, 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 304
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

What I Liked:
1. Great cover
2. Some of the kinks made me laugh
3. That orgy scene

What I Didn't Like:
1. Writing style
2. Very political
3. A lot of parts just rambled about nonsense
4. Midway if feels so repetitive

Overall Thoughts:
There is a LOT of kinky stuff in this book.

This book was intense and someone else commented that they couldn't believe a major publisher published this - I agree. I'm shocked. This is like something that should be on Amazon Kindle Unlimited.

Omg I think I just threw up... The worms and oral sex. Omg. Omg. Omg.

Omg omg omg they put fox shit inside themselves.

You reach a certain point in this book about the halfway mark where it just feels like you're kind of repeating the same stuff over and over again. There's no real story going on other than this person getting broken up with, another person that is obsessed with parasites living inside them, and there's a bombing. I wish there was more story to this book besides the over the top kink addition going on throughout.

There is so much insane stuff going on in this book that the peeing on someone seemed about the most normal thing that was happening. There was guy who eats shit. A pregnancy kink. And so so much more.

I did like how things tied up for the ending and it was Vanya's mother was the bomber.

Omg that weird incest worm scene that Frankie was dragged into.

Final Thoughts:
So this book is intense. There is so much sex that is outside the scope of what people call normal.

This book started out so good but I grew kind of bored from the obsession it felt to be over the top. In that way it reminded me a lot of John Water’s Pink Flamingos. You should check that movie out, some serious obscene things happen in it.

I did not care for the writing style. It never felt as though it flowed and at certain points it felt choppy and would just go on white rambling.

I did give it 3 stars because there were things that happened in this book that I found shocking and I thought added to the story and the characters.

After the orgy scene I raised it to 5 stars. Insane! Insane!

Recommend For:
• Eric LaRocca
• Extreme Horror

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Tor Publishing for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Parasites, body horror, political commentary? I'm listening.

Brainwyrms is going to be a tough review for me to write because I think this book will be very polarizing. But as I say that, I am giving it 3 stars. I actually very much enjoyed how depraved, gross, and unflinching this book was when it came to pushing the boundaries of extreme horror. If extreme horror is something you don't like, then this book isn't for you. A lot of interesting themes were covered in this, all through a trans lens, that felt very true to the current sate of affairs in the world.

But surprisingly, the gross-out horror was the best aspect of this book for me. The bones were good, so to speak, but I think there was a little too much being tackled along with a narrative structure that could not support the topics being touched on.

This very much reads like a fever dream, but the plot is so loose that everything gets lost in the cracks. I think this could have used a stronger focus on one topic and then a plot could have been constructed that supported it while also giving the reader a framework by which to interpret the messages better. I think the avant garde style narrative will appeal to some people, but it didn't land for me and I was left wanting a more impactful plot. The last five to ten percent gave us a peek at what would have been a great plot throughout the book, but instead was just thrown in as a shocking way to end the story.

At the end of the day, I won't be handing out this book as a recommendation to just anyone, as the contents are shocking, disturbing, and truly beyond what is being traditionally published today in horror. But I can recommend this to anyone that enjoys extreme horror and those that enjoy a very non-linear, unique story telling style that focuses more on the smaller events rather than the overarching plot.

This one is definitely one of those cases where you'll either hate it or love it; I can see where the writing style and/or content might entice or repulse readers. The pacing and use of multiple disjointed POV was brilliant; part 1 grabs your interest, you start putting the pieces together at part 2, and part 3 is a trainwreck you can't look away from. I even enjoyed the more experimental parts, even if I didn't understand them fully. The fantasy children's author reveal made me cackle out loud, and it's definitely like Yellowface where your enjoyment of the commentary depends on how you feel about its real-life subject. Just as I thought we covered all the TW possible, the story adds another, so it is definitely not for many readers. It's horrible, disgusting, and I want more.

This story was all over the place. Disgusting at times, funny other times. I normally enjoy that, but there were a few times where I felt it lost focus. The craziness makes up for it though.
This won't be for everyone. Give it a chance.

I have no idea what to say about this book. I mean was it amazingly written with a fascinating plot? Certainly! Was it completely repulsive and disturbing and had me feeling sick the last two days? Also yes.

I feel like I'm equally impressed and terrified by Alison Rumfitt's brain. There was a certain part of the book where I had to skip reading the most graphic parts because it was making me feel nauseous and I had no idea how she managed to write it without feeling sick.

Of course, aside from the graphic body horror of it all, there are plenty of amazing things about this book. The struggles of living in Britain as a trans person, the way internalized self-hate will systematically destroy every aspect of your life and the way untreated trauma leads to complete destruction. I just wanted to take both of these characters and send them off to therapy.

If you consider reading this book be aware that it comes with probably every imaginable trigger warning and you'll need a strong constitution to get through some parts of this book. It certainly isn't a forgettable read.

This is unfortunately a dnf for me. I just can’t get into the writing style. I find it a little too strange for me. I know that this book will have an audience but it’s not me unfortunately. I did give it until 35 percent but it just wasn’t for me.

DNF'd at 35%. I don't think this book was for me. I read a lot of outlandish stuff, but this wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Of course, the time I get approved through Netgalley for one of my favorite publishers, I get one I don't really like. The authors writing is interesting, and I do believe there is some merit in what's being spoken about. I just don't think some of it is necessary unless it's trying to be ironic in how people perceive people who believe in a certain type of agenda. This kind of made me think of Insvisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik, but I got through that book. Anyway, I didn't give it a rating because I believe this book was meant for someone...just not me.

I've read quite a few books under the extreme horror genre. Gross and gore is usually pretty neutral to me, don't love it or hate it. I didn't particularly enjoy this book. The writing style was not my favorite and some parts felt gross just to be gross and didn't add to the story. I unfortunately chose not to finish the book at 50%

Thanks to Tor and Netgally for the chance to review this arc!

This non-linear, queer, uncompromising body-horror novel is somehow vulnerable and gentle. Not to the reader, but to its characters, who may experience horror and trauma but never feel judged, never anything other than a survivor doing the best they can in a broken world. Are their gnarly scenes of kink and filth that will turn some off? Yeah, of course. Is there violence and trauma, physical and emotional, that doesn’t happen off-screen? Definitely. But none of these extreme or shock elements feel like they are done just for the sake of disturbing the reader. There is a story to be told that required this level of violent intimacy, and this is a broken mirror trying to reflect the pieces of that story.

I thought the central characters were great. They felt painfully, tragically real. The dialogue, both inner and outer, felt genuine and compelling. The writing style itself was strong, combining meta-narrative with non-linear story telling and flashbacks to keep the reader in a constant state of movement, never confident the ground under your feet wouldn’t slither away when you weren’t looking. It wasn’t so disorienting that it didn’t make sense, the narrative thrust was clear, but it was enough to push you away from the safety of normalcy. The world itself was our world, with just some of the veneer scraped off, which is perhaps the most frightening part of this story. I do think there could have been of the world written out, though. The “Sinister, depraved conspiracy” that is mentioned in the book summary could have had some more meat on its bones. There is a lot left ambiguous, and while that does let the narrative keep one foot more solidly in our real world, I felt there could have been more set-up and specifics given to this element of the story. The overall themes and socio-political commentary, however, are clear. The narrative ambiguity doesn’t get in the way of that, and I appreciated the amount this story forces the reader to consider such huge topics through a lens stained with blood and other assorted bodily fluids. Some of the commentary could have been refined, maybe, but at the same time the oppression these characters face is so overwhelming and pervasive that maybe nothing should be refined, maybe there needs to be this miasma, a noxious cloud suffocating every page, staining every drop of ink, and reminding you that there isn’t a single, clear fight to be fought for equality and freedom and autonomy and justice and human decency, the forces of ignorance and oppression are constantly creating new, more insidious ways to infect, abuse and oppress all those who don’t fit a predetermined mold. As a reader of narrative I would have liked some things to be better explained or fleshed out, and maybe some of the commentary to be more pointed. As someone who enjoys exploring how art is a unique form of commentary and reflection that shouldn’t be expected to follow into existing models I appreciated the open-endedness and ambiguity. So if you need things clearly plotted out and explained in detail you might be underwhelmed, but if you don’t come in expecting that and instead try to feel what is being offered then you might find this story scratching under the surface of your skin long after you put it down.

(Rounded up from 3.5)

I want to thank the author, the publisher Tor Nightfire, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Edge-of-your-comfort-zone body horror combined with trenchant state-of-the-nation analysis -- and this time, Rumfitt even has a little fun with it. TELL ME I'M WORTHLESS was many things (horrifying, exceptional, gripping) but it was not particularly *fun* or even funny. BRAINWYRMS takes its B-movie concept and lets it fly, and Rumfitt gets more playful with form as well. It's a messier novel, as probably befits the topic at hand. It will absolutely turn your stomach, but there's good reason for it -- and Rumfitt's messy, vibrantly alive characters are worth sticking through it for.

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Huh! That sure was a book! I think the highlight of it is how much it captures the feeling of hate reading something online— falling deeper and deeper into a hole that makes you itch, makes you feel ill, and you can't turn away from it. It captures that experience of seeing people so entrenched in a specific hole, and the gut churning response to that. But I think the book also tried to do too much— the stylistic experiments were interesting, if direction less, and didn't feel as if they added much to the plot/had much intent to them at points.

It's very much a book that is going to be called "of an era" in the future— a volatile period piece capturing the churn of radicalization online, and I'm glad that it exists, especially as a piece of media so inflamed by emotion, but at points I was reminded of Sean Tatol's article on Negative Criticism, specifically the bit that goes "The problem is not political art... but rather with the way that treating activist slogans as sufficient criteria for good art—and any artist who peddles those slogans as an adequately accomplished artist—dismantles the function of art: the struggle toward expression, to eloquently articulate qualities that are beautiful, emotive or otherwise engaging."

The political landscape it paints is a fever dream version of the one that we live in, but simply including pastiches of famous authors who are unmasked as terms and saying that they are plagued with literal brainworms does not take the book to the next level that I wanted it to go. It sets up a fascinating world and intricacies of feeling, but at the same time is played by a terminal Onlineness that means everything has to come with a wink and a nod, in a way that continuously broke my desire to engage with it. It's an interesting piece and one that I'm going to be continually poking at and thinking over, but I'm still left lackluster on it in places.

I'm typically a fan of this kind of horror but I find myself unable to fully enjoy this author in both books I have read. They just come off as gross for the neck of it and hope someone finds some kind of meaning in it.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in return for a fair review. Sorry for reading it in one sitting.

Weird, lyrical, unhinged, whip-smart, extremely painful. This book is difficult to describe, but that's a compliment; it's complex and refuses to compromise, while still having highly engaging and readable prose. Most experimental / poetic novels are a little too obtuse for me, but Rumfitt's eye for prose and person always sits well.

In the end, I think I liked it less than Tell Me I'm Worthless, though I don't really think that's the book's fault. While it begins with (helpful!) content warnings, it doesn't really go into enough detail for me (I'm fine with books not having content warnings, for the record, but this book's CWs were a bit vague). In the end, it dwelled on subjects I personally find incredibly gross. Not morally suspect, not bad, not wrong, just, for me, subjectively, gross. And that will inevitably make me like a book less, no matter how well it's written.

And Brainwyrms is incredibly, startlingly well written. It's at least as good as Tell Me I'm Worthless, perhaps better in how it expands its scope and aims. The book has a lot more to say on a wide range of issues, but still hits the topic home. If you disliked the unsubtlety and long rambly prose style of TMIW, though, this book is similar. Personally, I find that a success; I love Rumfitt's work and her style.

For those interested, the content warnings that I felt would have personally helped me with this book: [watersports, scat, bugs / parasites, parasitic infection].

I felt as though the author was trying to make this books as gross as possible for shock value not for plot reasons. Things in this book were happening just to happen. The plot became less and less relevant as the chapters went on. In addition I felt as though there wasn't a real ending. However Brainwyrms did keep me interested long enough to finish it.

Synopsis; When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As the media descends like vultures, Frankie tries to cope with the carnage: binge-drinking, sleeping with strangers, pushing away her friends. Then, she meets Vanya. Mysterious, beautiful, terrifying Vanya.

The two hit it off immediately, but as their relationship intensifies, so too does Frankie’s feeling that Vanya is hiding something from her. When Vanya’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, Frankie starts digging, and unearths a sinister, depraved conspiracy, the roots of which go deeper than she ever imagined.

Shocking, grotesque, and downright filthy, Brainwyrms confronts the creeping reality of political terrorism while exploring the depths of love, pain, and identity.

My Thoughts: I never know how to properly explain Alison’s books. This is one you will either love or hate. It was disgusting. I loved it.

When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s place of work, she struggles to recover from the trauma. To cope, she hooks up with strangers she meets. This is how she meets Vanya, a beautiful and mysterious stranger with grotesque and disturbing secrets of their own.

It took me a day or so to digest this book, but I think I’m ready now. I am a medical laboratory scientist as my career, so I can say that I’ve seen pretty me everything that comes off or out of the human body. Very little surprises or grosses me out. This book was downright filthy.

I thought through how I could review this book, but I think I have a thesaurus worth of synonyms for gross just rattling around in my brain. After reading Nick Cutter’s Troop, I’ve been dying to find a book about parasites that makes me feel sick. Oh this made me feel sick alright- check mark on that box.

Saying all that, I loved this book, it felt like a fever dream and I absolutely couldn’t put it down. Even when Alison Rumfitt herself addressed me, the reader, to do so, I honestly couldn’t put it down. The build up for the big reveal was such a wild ride! I don’t think this is a book I will EVER forget reading. Please don’t pick this book up if you have a weak stomach!

Seriously, if you’re looking for an erotic horror with a HEAVY on the horror that’s surreal, disgusting, provoking, nasty, ITCHY. Something that’ll make you feel like you can’t ever be clean again, this spectacular piece of art comes out on October 10th.

I honestly don't know what to make of Brainwyrms, not even 24 hours after finishing it, but maybe that's the point of Brainwyrms? Question mark?

Let me try to say at least a few things, though. Tell Me I'm Worthless is a book that still lives in my mind, but even though Brainwyrms got the same rating, I don't think it will stay with me for that long. It felt a little reductive and a little bit like a repetition of what I'd already read from Allison Rumfitt. There was... nothing new to discover in terms of themes, or maybe it just went over my head.

Why are you giving four stars then, friend?

Because even though I'd already pretty much read the same exploration of the same topics before, it's still something worth exploring and discussing. Brainwyrms is just as uncomfortable to read, just as poignant, and just as rude about it. It is much more disgusting, though, to the point where I questioned whether it was only for shock value or not, and there were places in which I questioned whether we've slipped into self published extreme horror (not derogatory - I like it).

It just overall left me with a lot of questions in terms of its extreme nature.

HOWEVER, like I said, the occasional stream of consciousness in combination with the overall structure overrides any possible qualms I might have. Many people will only look at the gross surface, but Brainwyrms f*cks with a lot more than gore. It's bold, uncomfortable, and ultimately I think it achieves what it set out to do. Has a lot to say about violence and how obsessed we are with it as a society + antisemitism, transphobia, racism, SA, etc.

I think this is my first time diving into extreme horror. Not sure how I feel about it but the commentary throughout was thought-provoking.