Worm

The webnovel that started it all!

With all the webnovels I've read, I never read through Worm even though it is probably the novel that started or made popular the genre of webnovels. It's weird because I love superhero stories so it should have been a no brainer that I would devour this. However to the me 8-10 years ago who decided not to read Worm, it was because I couldn't get over the fact the main character's superpower was controlling bugs...which I thought was lame. It's interesting how my brain chemistry has changed over time and when I found myself thinking of it all these years later, I realized I don't care about that anymore. I've grown up!

Worm was a great read, with a lot of interesting super powers, and facets of the world that are slowly unveiled. Taylor is a fascinating protagonist, with her anti-hero mentality, and probably has joined the ranks of my all times favs. Even though the power to control bugs doesn't seem compelling at first (looking at you me of yesteryear) she finds innovative ways to use it and be a compelling presence throughout the story among both heroes and villains. The story basically starts off with a fight and escalates the scale and stakes of the conflict with every passing arc, culminating in an explosive dynamic finish, but there are moments to breathe sprinkled throughout where the character work shines through. I do think there are parts that drag, and characters and plot lines that could have been handled better, but I think it's pretty forgivable for the author's first work, and also considering the webnovel format basically didn't exist prior to this. The ending was epic and resolved satisfactorily, not quite as good as A Practical Guide to Evil, but somewhere close. I think I will be reading through all of Wildbows other works and of course the Worm sequel at some point.