An antisocial (though not by choice) teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor Hebert (later to be named Skitter) goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life. For months, her sole salvation from the bullying and social torment that fills her life is the hope of being a hero. She hopes to finally 'show them', prove her tormentors wrong and emerge a true hero one to be pointed at as a Paragon of goodness and strength. Instead, her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one, thrusting her into the midst of the local ‘cape’ ( a term for any super-person, or person with powers) scene’s politics, unwritten rules, and ambiguous morals. As she risks life and limb, Taylor faces the dilemma of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons.
The story, titled Worm, has taken the form of a serial, published in large chapters that, over the course of the story's run, have culminated in sevral novel's worth of words. Worm started in June 2011, updating twice a week, and finished in late November, 2013. It totals roughly 1,750,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels).
The actual work is divided into a number of story arcs, each containing five to sixteen individual chapters. Interludes (side stories) are inserted between each story arc to showcase events from different perspectives or provide some background information that the reader wouldn’t get from Taylor’s point of view. From the standpoint of a writer, I wouldn't normally advise doing this sort of thing, the perspective switches have no explanation. It simply switches from Taylor's First-person narration in one chapter, and is suddenly someone else's in another. However, this was done in such a beautiful way in this story that I can't complain. The author uses the perspective switches to bring sympathy to sociopathic villains (never an easy task), as well as really drive home the severity of situations that the reader wouldn't be able to fully comprehend from Taylor's Sole viewpoint.
Readers should be cautioned that Worm is fairly dark as fiction goes, and it gets far darker as the story progresses. Morality isn’t black and white, Taylor and her acquaintances aren’t invincible, the heroes aren’t winning the war between right and wrong, and superpowers haven’t necessarily affected society for the better. Just the opposite on every count, really. Even on a more fundamental level, Taylor’s day to day life is unhappy, with her clinging to the end of her rope from the story’s outset. There’s graphic language, descriptions of violence and sex does happen (albeit offscreen). It would be easier to note the trigger warnings that don’t apply than all the ones that do;most atrocities that you can imagine not only havehappened in the Wormverse, but do so in excess.
This isn't your Grandpa's Golden Age Superhero Comic. In fact, unlike many pieces of 'superhero fiction' (of which there is an unsurprisingly large genre) the powers and abilities shown in Worm are almost all of the surprisingly brutal variety. Even Taylor, who's power to control insects seems harmless enough at first, bends it to nauseatingly brutal ends. Think about it, insects can get into most places, and many of them are poisonous. How dangerous would someone be if they could harness that, retain the natral horror of Insect's, but with a human's cold logic and malignant, forcing the insects to go exactly where they wanted. Anywhwere.
Think about it.
Think about it.
Yeah.
All in all, this probably isn’t a story for the sensitive or the young. Personally, I would give it an NC-17 rating, but it's such a fantastic story that I'd hate to restrict it to one age group, or from a certain age group, horror or otherwise.
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