Question Worm sequel

A sequel to Worm is staring on Saturday! There's a bridge arc that you can find here


If you're unfamiliar with Worm, it's a web serial with a little under 1.7 million words about a young supervillain who would really much rather have been a hero. It's also more or less what you would get if you let Elrod, Domoviye, and Rose Bunny have creative control over a superhero universe. Suffering, sadism, and body horror abound!

Arcanist Lupus wrote: It's also more or less what you would get if you let Elrod, Domoviye, and Rose Bunny have creative control over a superhero universe. Suffering, sadism, and body horror abound!

I think I'll be huddled over in my corner for a while, trying to picture that before the meds kick in.

I found myself struggling with the series, and I believe I stopped shortly into Arc 15.



Should I give the original a second chance?

so... I'm sadistic...?

I think it is more your well-integrated use of gore as a serious plot and character element. Used for shock factor at first, but then approached realistically for impact on others, including sympathy.

Not cruelty so much as...fatalism?

aww... I liked Sadistic better.

Katssun wrote: I found myself struggling with the series, and I believe I stopped shortly into Arc 15.

Warning: Spoiler! [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Once the Villain Sues showed up, I just got really burned out by the antagonists having constant clarivoyaince and plot armor that solved their issues at every turn.

It really felt like Wildbow stopped caring about his main characters (or the previously well developed opposition) and fell in love with the Slaughterhouse Nine. I really enjoyed it before they showed up, but they just killed it for me.

It took all the tension out of it.

Should I give the original a second chance?

I would, the ending is great.
But I agree with you about the antagonists, they're too lucky. I actually learned from reading it, that's why even though I'm sometimes (frequently) sadistic, the villains are always human. I frequently had to put that story aside just because the angst got a bit too overwhelming, I don't want people doing that to me.

Thank you Arcanist. I would have missed this otherwise.

Katssun: It's worth persevering with.

There are times when it is over the top, but it's still worth reading.

Compare the chapters from the beginning, with the ones near the end, and you can see how Wildbow's writing skill improved.

Worth reading just for that.

Some of the techniques that Wildbow used, such as the dense obliqueness, meant that you really had to be an active reader, in terms of filling in the gaps for yourself.

And some of the "Grand Visions", of the Devisor/Gadgeteer equivalents in the Worm-verse, were extremely chewy.

That skill level carried over into Pact. The differences between the start of Pact, and the start of Worm stood out.

It'll be good to see how Wildbow is planning on following up on the original.

Oddly enough, Pact never grabbed me. I don't know why. I might eventually try it again. Or Twig instead. But I devoured Worm, even though I usually prefer more optimistic stories.

Katssun wrote: I found myself struggling with the series, and I believe I stopped shortly into Arc 15.

Warning: Spoiler! [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Once the Villain Sues showed up, I just got really burned out by the antagonists having constant clarivoyaince and plot armor that solved their issues at every turn.

It really felt like Wildbow stopped caring about his main characters (or the previously well developed opposition) and fell in love with the Slaughterhouse Nine. I really enjoyed it before they showed up, but they just killed it for me.

It took all the tension out of it.

Should I give the original a second chance?

I'll join all the others saying that not letting 'these guys' (share your opinion about them, though) stop you from reading this story to the end. Especially because the story is going in really interesting places after this arc.

And, well, that's a bit out of topic, but who here also reads Worm fanfics, and if yes, what are your recommendations? Personal favorite is an AU called Intrepid by an author called Cerulean.

Hardric wrote: And, well, that's a bit out of topic, but who here also reads Worm fanfics, and if yes, what are your recommendations? Personal favorite is an AU called Intrepid by an author called Cerulean.

{slaps forehead thrice}

Of course there are Worm-verse fanfics.

You don't build a narrative meta-verse like that, and not get them.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Oddly enough, Pact never grabbed me. I don't know why. I might eventually try it again. Or Twig instead. But I devoured Worm, even though I usually prefer more optimistic stories.

I was more or less the same. I made it to where the MC meets Conquest, and then found myself reading that chapter over and over trying to actually get into it.
Worm, however, I read in the course of like, a week, and loved it.

I SERIOUSLY suggest giving it another go Katssun. My only complaint about Worm after the (Not really a spoiler, but I'm putting it in a bubble) The later arcs definitely make up for any problems you have with what you perceive as villain sues. (I don't consider them such. Villainy on their level liberates people to the degree they can do the things they've done.

Arc 23, particularly 23-4 ( "Oh shit, she conned us into DnD!" ) remains one of my favourite pieces of writing.

Mister D wrote:

Hardric wrote: And, well, that's a bit out of topic, but who here also reads Worm fanfics, and if yes, what are your recommendations? Personal favorite is an AU called Intrepid by an author called Cerulean.

{slaps forehead thrice}

Of course there are Worm-verse fanfics.

You don't build a narrative meta-verse like that, and not get them.

And not a few ones. You know the web community Spacebattles? Their Creative Writing section has an entire subforum dedicated to Worm fanfics. and there are lots of them. And a subreddit dedicated to the topic of Worm fanfic too. Now, quality is not constant (fanfics), but you can finds ones well worth the read, like the one I pointed out.

Oh hell yes. I haven't read Pact or Twig yet (I meant to and just never got around to it), but I will definitely be setting aside time for this one.

What I like the most about Worm is that the protagonist is actually smart. As in, we see her doing smart things. Not doing things that we simply know require smarts, like studying advanced math or building cool gadgets; with Taylor, we see her doing things that are smart. She encounters problems, she finds solutions to those problems, and they are interesting, clever solutions. And that's what I enjoy reading about most: clever people doing clever things.

True. That was one reason I kept going back, despite some of the villains.
And it's why at the end I was in damn near tears.

Woohoo Worm sequel!

I dropped worm for a long time a bit after she became a hero but recently reread the whole thing so I could see the ending.

I saw someone mention fanfiction for Worm here and it brought back memories or the idea I had while reading the story the first time through. Almost everything up to the Echidna Arc stays the same. The two big differences being Skitter stays blind and the undersiders give up all but Skitter and Tattletale's territory at the start of the SH9 arc.

She ends up living with her dad and going to school instead of pretending to work on the construction sites. Then after hours she 'hangs out with her friends' by being the top villainess of the city.

After that it completely diverged from the story and had a happy(ish) ending.

Hardric wrote: And, well, that's a bit out of topic, but who here also reads Worm fanfics, and if yes, what are your recommendations? Personal favorite is an AU called Intrepid by an author called Cerulean.

If crossovers count, I've just read " Taylor and the Unseelie Court " by "nicron_23" (real name not given).

Taylor meets a fairy, Leanan, from the Winter Court and ends up being her apprentice. Leanan reads much like a dark counterpart of Fey from Whateley Gen 1. With a personality more like that of Sara in "The second Book of Jobe". Deliciously evil, even if it is mostly in dialogue and less in outright action.