Worm is a web serial about superheroes. It was written piece-by-piece between 2011-2013, with a chapter being uploaded twice a week, like clockwork, to a blog at parahumans.wordpress.com. It added up to a rate of about one conventional book per month. I’ve come to learn it’s possibly one of the most well-known and highly-reviewed pieces of fiction on the internet, even though I hadn’t heard of it at all until a friend’s recommendation.

An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life. Her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one, thrusting her into the midst of the local ‘cape’ 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.
– Worm | A Complete Web Serial

My overall verdict on Worm is that it’s very, very good. I love how much depth is given to the portrayal of society. You see the politics of a world that’s becoming increasingly out of control, and how normal society has and hasn’t adapted to the existence of people with powers. There are a great variety of cape factions, with just as many different alignments. There are themes of government vs anarchy, and how morals both guide us and hold us back, which are both explored in nuanced ways. The cape politics in a country somewhat mirrors its own nation’s politics, in interesting ways.

I was obsessed with the compelling and slowly-unravelling mystery of where powers come from. 30 years ago, people starting getting powers, seemingly at random, during traumatic events. Why? What are the factors in who gets them? Where do powers get their energy, and their intelligence e.g. to avoid harming the user? These are all subjects of scientific study, though most are still unanswered. The frontiers of knowledge are spread between isolated groups and capes with particular quirks, like medical geniuses or those who can “see” powers “directly”. You slowly piece together what’s going on as certain characters and powers start to interact with each other.

There are some really inventive powers, and capes use them just as inventively. Taylor’s power is to control insects—most people, when I’ve mentioned this, assume it must be useless, but it’s actually very powerful, letting her effortlessly control millions of bugs individually, use their senses, swarm her opponents’ skin/eyes/noses, spell out messages for her allies, etc. Capes generally use their powers very effectively, and they really try to win. Similarly, I love how Worm explores the power of more subtle abilities—yes, there are the Supermans and Captain Marvels of the world, but there are also people who can live in two timelines at once, or predict the future well enough to alter the course of history with one sentence.

I also really like that it’s called Worm. It’s an interesting framing for Taylor’s story as a whole. I can’t really say more without spoilers.

Things I didn’t like: Taylor. I couldn’t figure her out. Her emotions seem muted and miswired, which makes sense for various reasons (including the trauma which lead to her powers), but it made her hard to connect with. She’s cruel to her poor father, a downtrodden, equally-broken man, but shows a strange vestigial attachment to him that make their interactions awkward and emotionless. Even so, she’s written very consistently, and after 20+ books’ worth of getting to know her, I suppose I see her more as something like a troubled and flawed friend. To be honest, many of the characters aren’t great people and only a few, like Tattletale and Regent, are very fun; they mostly make up for it.

The pace is quite stretched out in places; hard to avoid when the story is as long as it is and was written as a serial. The author admits in his final notes that there are a few sections which could be cut and reconfigured. I agree.

Finally, one thing Worm tries to do is take common tropes of superhero fiction and build believable rationale for them. It’s mostly very successful at this, but there are some things which stretch my belief, most prominently the huge taboo/truce against revealing a cape’s secret identity. I just don’t believe that any prominent cape could exist without being instantly doxxed by e.g. their voice.

If you want to read Worm, which I recommend, it’s all available for free on the blog, or you can download a fan-made epub here.