Caveat: Worm is really dark. The characters are clever, the protagonist makes the most out of a superpower that seems mediocre at first glance, and there are enough twists and turns that I would look at the clock and realize that I’d been reading for six hours. (Worm is really long, so if you’re the sort of person who has to keep reading fiction be warned that it will eat a week or two.)
But, despite those positives, terrible things happen to everyone always. I found it similar to Game of Thrones in that it was engaging but depressing, and unlike GoT where new characters are introduced, dance about, and then die, in Worm there’s a clear protagonist who, as far as I can tell, always wins eventually. I also found the superhero fight sequences less engaging as time went on- but they can be skimmed with little loss.
Caveat: Worm is really dark. The characters are clever, the protagonist makes the most out of a superpower that seems mediocre at first glance, and there are enough twists and turns that I would look at the clock and realize that I’d been reading for six hours. (Worm is really long, so if you’re the sort of person who has to keep reading fiction be warned that it will eat a week or two.)
But, despite those positives, terrible things happen to everyone always. I found it similar to Game of Thrones in that it was engaging but depressing, and unlike GoT where new characters are introduced, dance about, and then die, in Worm there’s a clear protagonist who, as far as I can tell, always wins eventually. I also found the superhero fight sequences less engaging as time went on- but they can be skimmed with little loss.
Worm had some moments that hit me really hard emotionally.
“V ybfg genpx. V sbetbg ubj gb punatr ure onpx.”
“Znef! Vg’f gbb fbba! V jnag gb xvyy gurz! V jnag gb xvyy gurz nyy!”
“Hagvy jryy nsgre gur fha tbrf bhg, gurl guvax”
“Gur bayl jnl jr’q nyy npuvrir nalguvat erfrzoyvat crnpr.”
The fight scenes do get tedious though, by the end I was mostly fast-forwarding them.