Wildbow

J.C. McCrae

Worm

orwyn

This took me a long time to read, but WOW it was sooooo worth it. Wildbow's universe is so well built and original, and has inflicted so many emotions upon me over the time I dedicated to getting through the book. Hopefully, he will one day see fit to release it in a proper ebook form.

elif sinem

An absolute rollercoaster of a series... in terms of just about everything. You start for the premise and you stay for the characters. Imp is absolute godtier, so is Contessa. The action was consistently hard to read, I think that removed a lot of my excitement and made some parts a slog.

Christ.

An endeavor like that merits a proper review. I'll do it once finals are over with.

I would highly suggest all of you read this series. It'll take a good amount of productivity away from you because it's 1,500,000+ words long, but it's definitely worth it.

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Alright. What to say.

Worm is an adult novel told in installments on the Worm webserial page. It's the story of young adult Taylor Hebert's coming-of-age, set in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world hurtling towards a second doom, is wrapped up in a superhero story that takes the standard cliches, exsanguinates them, uses the blood to water its crops, and then spits on their graves, which is then wrapped up in a staggeringly vast cast of complex characters with their own shimmering mosaic of motivations, storylines, and personalities.

In Taylor's world, there are "parahumans" (as the website might suggest) who live alongside regular humans. They appear with varying frequency, and the powers seem to be genetic. There's a group of "good guys" and other "villains," though 1) the lines between the two are totally inconsequential because of what Worm does to make you question morality everywhere, and 2) 80% of the parahumans are villains. 

Anyway. Worm is 1mil+ words divvied up into various arcs which are then further divvied up into various chapters. 

I think one of the most masterful aspects of Wildbow's writing is that pacing. In 1,500,000 words, there is not a single dry moment. In both the interludes and the regular storyline. Seriously. There's a really nice crescendo effect as things slowly worsen for everyone, more antagonists are introduced on both sides, etc, and there are nice lapses of tension without there being a sort of "monster-of-the-week" dynamic that Taylor faces.

Oh, and Taylor is not one of the "good guys".

The characters were written really well, and there's a really diverse cast that Wildbow works with. It's like watching a chessboard from high up, except there are 5 different colors of chesspieces and they start at various intervals along the board. Bloodbath. Each of the chesspieces has their own backstory and unique quirks that make them really fun to read about, and with the scale of the writing, there's a lot of room that Wildbow has to carve everyone out.

READ THIS. DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR.

tanvi deshpande

Jenna Kathleen

DNF at around page 600.

I know it has a huge following and I can understand why, but it's just too long. Up until when I stopped (end of Tangle), I was enjoying it and liked the concept, but it's just way too long to spend time on for something I don't absolutely love.

Worm

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