Curious Anamaximder he/him Posted December 7, 2015 Posted December 7, 2015 So I having been reading the SUPER LONG science fiction story Worm on the web. Any other fans of Worm? Thoughts? I am only on Arc 8, Sentinel though. No spoilers. 1
Landis963 he/him Posted December 7, 2015 Posted December 7, 2015 I liked it, personally, although Taylor's... not the most palatable of protagonists. One can see how she earns her title of "villain." Anti-villain, to be sure, but villain nonetheless.
Observer Posted December 9, 2015 Posted December 9, 2015 Worm was fantastic. I found it to be an extremely interesting look into the world of superpowers, and I absolutely adore the way it rewards cleverness. I usually don't much care for the superhero genre, because it tends to devolve into two people smashing powers against each other until somebody wins, so Worm's treatment of the Superpower Lottery was a very pleasant surprise. Obviously it has its ups and downs, it's kind of part of the territory with a web serial, but Wildbow gets better as he goes. After you finish, I highly recommend Twig as well. Re: Taylor Actually I found her to be one of the best parts of the story. Taylor is far from perfect. But watching her grow and learn for such a long time, coming to terms with things she's done and doing her best to do what's right made me cheer for her anyways. "Doing the wrong things for the right reasons" is the unofficial theme of Worm, and it really shows, especially when some tough decisions come along. I suppose it's up to the reader to decide whether or not the characters make the right choices in those situations, but one way or another, Worm is something I'm very glad to have stumbled upon.
Landis963 he/him Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 Re: Taylor Actually I found her to be one of the best parts of the story. Taylor is far from perfect. But watching her grow and learn for such a long time, coming to terms with things she's done and doing her best to do what's right made me cheer for her anyways. "Doing the wrong things for the right reasons" is the unofficial theme of Worm, and it really shows, especially when some tough decisions come along. I suppose it's up to the reader to decide whether or not the characters make the right choices in those situations, but one way or another, Worm is something I'm very glad to have stumbled upon. She's definitely fascinating, but after a while, I just couldn't cheer for her like I could for Chevalier, Imp, or Golem. I still found her story entertaining to watch, but I couldn't help but notice the fact that she didn't learn a blessed thing from any of her misadventures. I think the last time I really cheered for her victory was her takedown of Topsy. And even then it was "Lookit the smooth operator!" rather than "Yeah, kick his hind end, Taylor!"
Curious Anamaximder he/him Posted December 23, 2015 Author Posted December 23, 2015 On Arc 18 now. The plot has thickened.
DSC01 he/him Posted December 25, 2015 Posted December 25, 2015 I had never heard of the story before setting this thread. Checked it out on a whim, and now I'm on Arc 12. It's a LOT like Wild Cards. I wouldn't say it's a ripoff (though I think since people probably would), but it is incredibly similar, both superficially and thematically. I was going to say it's like a YA Wild Cards, but with the intensely disturbing Slaughterhouse Nine stuff happening, I don't think the "YA" applies anymore. Wild Cards is still generally way more messed up, but this is still quite the dark story.
Curious Anamaximder he/him Posted December 26, 2015 Author Posted December 26, 2015 Who the heck is Sleeper? The PRT classifies him/her as a Class S threat.
Landis963 he/him Posted December 29, 2015 Posted December 29, 2015 Who the heck is Sleeper? The PRT classifies him/her as a Class S threat. A parahuman with unknown powers. He's being saved for the sequel, sorry to disappoint.
DSC01 he/him Posted January 1, 2016 Posted January 1, 2016 Just finished. That was really good, I must say.
Observer Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 I recommend checking out Pact next. It's not for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a few sections to wind up. If you don't like it, then Twig, Wildbow's current serial, is where I'd point you next.
Landis963 he/him Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 I recommend checking out Pact next. It's not for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a few sections to wind up. If you don't like it, then Twig, Wildbow's current serial, is where I'd point you next. I would disagree. Definitely jump to Twig. Much more compelling all around, IMO. Wildbow's definitely improved.
Observer Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 (edited) I agree wholeheartedly that Twig is a better story than Pact. But Pact was still a good read, and it's worth spending a few chapters on it to see if it's your cup of tea. No reason to skip out on something just because it's not the best they've written. That'd be like jumping Elantris for Way of Kings Edited January 2, 2016 by Observer
Landis963 he/him Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 I agree wholeheartedly that Twig is a better story than Pact. But Pact was still a good read, and it's worth spending a few chapters on it to see if it's your cup of tea. No reason to skip out on something just because it's not the best they've written. That'd be like jumping Elantris for Way of Kings True, but Elantris is one of the better places to initiate a Cosmere-aware newbie, so there's a disincentive to skip it. With all of Wildbow's works disconnected from each other, Pact doesn't have that support structure. Also there are several reasons why I dislike it in and of itself, but they're all spoilers.
DSC01 he/him Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 Twig is still ongoing, right? I was thinking I'd read Pact, just because it's finished. I'm not yet invested in Wildbow to the extent that I want to torture myself by getting into a serial where I have to wait for installments to come out.
Curious Anamaximder he/him Posted January 3, 2016 Author Posted January 3, 2016 When is the sequel happening!!! Aggghhhhh!!!!
Landis963 he/him Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 When is the sequel happening!!! Aggghhhhh!!!! After Twig's done at the earliest. He might also jump to Face or Peer. Those are a thriller taking place 20 minutes into the future and a fantasy story, respectively, that he focus-tested right after Worm was done. It should be mentioned that Twig and Pact were also part of that same focus-test (although Twig was called "Boil" and had a different protag).
DSC01 he/him Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 Man, Pact is ridiculously bleak. I got myself into it, so now I have to finish it, but dude...
STINK he/him Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 After Twig's done at the earliest. He might also jump to Face or Peer. Those are a thriller taking place 20 minutes into the future and a fantasy story, respectively, that he focus-tested right after Worm was done. It should be mentioned that Twig and Pact were also part of that same focus-test (although Twig was called "Boil" and had a different protag). On the Worm/Wildbow subreddit (it's actual name is 'parahumans') most people think it'll be Twig, then the editing of Worm followed by Worm 2.
Landis963 he/him Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 Man, Pact is ridiculously bleak. I got myself into it, so now I have to finish it, but dude... And that would be reason 1 why I don't like it.
DSC01 he/him Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 I finally finished Pact, just now. It's almost put me off of reading Twig. I don't know about you guys, but I get a really weird vibe from Wildbow's stuff. Like, why is there all of this horrific, gore-porn violence, but sex is shied away from really hard? I even sensed it in Worm, but it's much more pronounced in Pact. It's not like other authors who avoid sex scenes because they don't want to have that kind of content in their books; rather, it comes off as pathological, like the author has some real issues about sex. He certainly doesn't have a problem with other adult content. If Pact was adapted into a movie, you'd probably have to tone the gore down by at least 50% just to get an R rating. There's stuff that makes The Human Centipede look like the Mickey Mouse Club. It's not that I think there need to be sex scenes in any book with adult content, but there are elements of the story that would be better developed if the author didn't seem so scared of them. I have to say, I liked Worm way better than Pact. I'm really not a fan of horror in general, and that is essentially what Pact is. I read an argument that the difference between horror and urban fantasy lies in the competence of the protagonist. So I guess you could say that Pact is really urban fantasy, but it certainly does a poor job of justifying where that competence is coming from (though I guess the exceedingly vague magic system lets the author get away with fudging just about anything into the story, if it serves). Worm definitely has its horrific moments--the Slaughterhouse Nine, Nilbog, Echidna, etc--but it doesn't overtake the story. I guess that I do have to at least admit that Wildbow has a way with stories. I did finish it, after all. However, the compulsion to read just a little bit more and see what happens next that carried me through Worm was lacking for most of Pact. It was there in some parts of it (in particular, the Toronto part), and I guess that's why I stuck it out, even though I was really tired of the whole thing for what seemed like most of the story. 1
Landis963 he/him Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 Reason 2 why I don't like Pact: it taints Wildbow's other stuff by association. Trust me, Twig's got some of the magic back. Sy (the viewpoint character and 1 of 5 deuteragonists) is a joy to read, unlike the previous protagonists, who were angsty, reckless, hot messes, the both of them. Trust me, give it an arc's try. Even if you're grossed out by the cat-snake. 1
DSC01 he/him Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 Yeah, I'll still give it a shot. I'm not going to get into it right away, though, since it looks like it's about half done right now. I'll give it some time and read some of the many other books I have on my list.
Zathoth Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 Im still somewhere on 6.2 and havent read it in forever... now that people mention how dark the other stories are though I kind of want to read them... I like dark and violent.
Curious Anamaximder he/him Posted January 14, 2016 Author Posted January 14, 2016 Im still somewhere on 6.2 and havent read it in forever... now that people mention how dark the other stories are though I kind of want to read them... I like dark and violent. I mean you are part of the Dark Alley. Questions: Hero, villain or rogue? Powers? Name?
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