So once again here I am with a WIlliam Pauley III audiobook and once again I absolutely loved it. Although this one was a little bit of a slower paced listen than his other ones. Still though this is why I keep coming back to him and his writing, because I truly enjoy the craziness of his stories and the fact that his characters are sometimes so off the wall that it just makes me laugh.
Highly recommend.

Not my cup of tea, but other readers might enjoy it. I just couldn’t get into it. However, the plot does sound interesting it just wasn’t for me.

ASHOK BURN RIGHT HAND OF MEN TO NEPTUNE REBIRTH IN BLUE FIRE

this was... weird. no, but really - w e i r d. i mean, the genre i s called weird scifi so I guess I should've expected that, but still. it was a wild ride full of insects, kinda-scientifically-justified-but-paranormal occurences, contract killers, mad scientists and drugs. oh, and I almost forgot to mention the philosophical disputes and social problems/visions of future thrown in quite randomly here and there.

so, as I said - weird. strange. bizarre. but... also good? there was something extremely captivating about the plot and, more than anything else, about the w e i r d n e s s itself. it felt like watching a conspiracy theory video that youtube recommended to you at 2 am and entering a never ending spiral of going deeper and deeper, exploring what seems like a whole new world, strange but weirdly fascinating. this was basically the embodiment of the non-existent chaotic chaotic alignment as a book.

however, I feel like the book was just too... random for me. it was as if the author had a few seemingly unconnected ideas and instead of bothering to try and find (or make) the connections decided to just smash them all together and make it into a book. which is... a concept and a choice I guess, it's just not entirely my thing. it caused a lot of plotlines to be left unfinished and the "reflective" parts to feel either artificial and pretentious or lacking a conclusion.

in the end, I really enjoyed "Hearers..." and the chaos certainly was a part of the experience, but I feel like it also prevented the boom from reaching its full potential. so, 3 stars it is (which is the basic positive rating on my scale).

thank you NetGalley for providing the audiobook to me in exchange for a review!

I'm sorry but this book is really not for me. I couldn't finish it. I couldn't create a connection with the characters.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. This was so good, and pretty trippy. Crang was such an interesting character.

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE EVEN A SLIGHT FEAR OF BUGS

Well this was certainly… something. A lot of big brain ideas spouted by characters who I don’t think are supposed to be that smart. There were two storylines that overlapped at certain points but for the most part it felt like two different books. Also, there were so many questions raised that never got answered.

It wasn’t at all what I was expecting from reading the description. Definitely wasn’t expecting a plot point to be a brain melting drug made from the carcasses of bugs 🥴

You might like this if you like very weird science fiction/horror but it ultimately did not end up being for me.

I had originally requested an audio arc of this from NetGalley before I discovered how weird my brain is about audiobooks so I read the finished kindle version. Thanks to NetGalley for the audio arc!

This was definitely an interesting and unique read. This will be my 3rd book by the author. Thank you for the ARC copy.

Hearers of the Constant Hum by William Pauley III may be one of my favs so far... who am I kidding, Pauley is brilliant and I love all his stuff! Pauley has the ability to weave the diabolical and macabre into beautiful prose and next-level storytelling. The ideas and thoughts that plague the page are nothing short of genius.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This was a dnf for me. Just not my genre of books. The narrator was good but I just could not get into the storyline.

There were so many aspects of the story that I really loved, and I know I will think of this book for a really long time. I think hearing it and getting to enjoy the narrator's different voices when different characters would appear. I am rating it 4 stars, but I truly believe my score is closer to 3.5 or 3.75. I found myself incredibly enjoying when the Crunk brothers would appear, their arguments and anecdotes, provided very nice comedic relief in between the body horror and insects. If you are craving a book that captures the horrors and downfalls of humanity with flawed, but truly human characters, I recommend you check this book out.

I found this book had gripped me at the very beginning. Who are these strange people that hear insects talking? Why is this girl using these two idiots to provide her with the ingredients she needs for her drug? But it lost me so quickly.

But it sadly felt it was never resolved. Why is Billy hearing these voices and what does this all mean anymore? What is the meaning of life? I wanted to like the idea. It was so cool to me.

This book did open with a strong religious scene though and fact that we really are oblivious to everything going on around us. The constant hum we hear is our tv, cell phone, air conditioner but we never take the time to explore what’s outside and enjoying what short lives we have.

(Also audiobook wise I didn’t feel as invested and had to speed it up some of the time because the narrator would talk so slow)

This is what good Sci-fi /fantasy fiction is all about. Adult mayhem, dark humour and madness; and a story grounded in a possible today and possible tomorrow, that poses so many questions about ‘Mankind’s psyche’. I listened to this book after some of William Pauley III’s other books. Not in the published order. So I can say you can listen to them in any order, but listening to this I now know where some of the characters and story from his other books came from. So maybe if this is your first deep dive into the author’s brain twisting anarchic fun, just remember there is much more available. Thank you to Doom Fiction and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to review this book.
I’m so glad I got to enjoy this book via audio. I specifically enjoyed the characterization and voices from the narrators. Job well done.
As far as the book itself I enjoyed the weird ick feelings this book gave us. How the author described the slow transformation from human to insect form. I also enjoy how the MFC ended up being the “Queen bee” in a sense.
I do, however, feel that the book left many holes and unanswered questions for the reader, so for that I gave it an over all 3 star rating

William Pauley III does not disappoint, everything he write is brilliant and unique!
I loved this book so much, it was such an interesting concept, fun, weird and has a powerful message behind the story. I enjoyed every second reading it and would highly recommend to everyone!

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for providing me an AudioARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I guess I am going to listen to all of this writers books in audio. Connor's narration is top notch and I really enjoy them.

Ok so this book is not like the others I have read. It was not written badly, it just felt disjointed and had a heck of a lot of main characters, including the Brothers Crunk, whose story I have read and enjoyed.

In here we have Bill. He has been able to hear a phrase (the same phrase) over and over again since he was a child, which is said by bugs. No one believed him about it but it was driving him to madness and eventually made him lose parts of his body. How that worked, I have no idea.

He goes through a heck of a lot, there is a cabal of evil scientists, a drug dealing woman who believes in the end that she is the queen of bugs, and of course the Brothers Crunk.

I really did like the decision at the end by the Brothers.

I did not like Bill's ending. He was totally an unreliable narrator to begin with and I was left with more questions than answers with the books ending.

I did see the reviews mentioning that it was to be expected, which may be good for others, but I am just sitting here wanting to know what really happened.

A really interesting concept but I just couldn't get into it and the ending left me feeling frustrated.

If you have an issue with bugs
Or anything with bugs that is negative
Do not read this book

The basic of it is certain people involved to be able to communicate with bugs
There’s a lot of chapters that go back-and-forth
There’s a lot of detail, nothing overly scientific

I would say this in a way is like a future that could happen
not sure why we would need to talk to bugs though
I could see this being handy for a researcher or a scientist, studying entomology

It took me a little while to get into this. It was weird and confusing; I had so many questions throughout. I almost DNFd it a couple times but stuck with it. I'm glad I stuck with it because I was entertained throughout.

In the end, I found I enjoyed it. It's not a favourite and not one i'm likely to want to reread.

This just wasn't for me. I found this book way to repetitive and ambiguous without any real ending or answers. Maybe this is just me but I felt that it was just weird for the sake of being weird and mostly just boring character monologues. I do think this was a good premise and could be a good fiction, and I have seen this has many good reviews however this book was just not for me sadly.

The second book that I listened in audiobook format from this author, the person reading is the same as the person reading the first one I listened to(the tower), if I am not mistaken, and I do like the way Mr Brannigan reads and gives life to the characters, he reads in a way that makes me feel entangled in the story way more than what is healthy for me hahah…

About the story, the author has a very disturbing mind (in a good way), the story in this book, made my skin prickle… I hate cockroaches and I had to listen to this audiobook during day light and I swear I was seeing shadow moving all around me… I thought this book would continue the story from the tower, because of the tittle “hearers of the constant hum, but it goes much more deep, I don’t really like to give spoilers, but this book feels much more complete, in here we follow 2 brothers, a girl who want the 2 brothers to help her get a special ingredient and a guy that is not exactly human, and hear me out! their lives will not be the same by the end… and more I wont say, but I really recommend for you to get this audiobook, you’ll get entangled in the story ^__^

Thank you NetGalley and Doom Fiction for the free AAC and this is my honest opinion.