Worm

So I guess I accidentally reread Worm?

I feel like that in and of itself is as massive an endorsement as I can give it. Almost 7 thousand pages versus my massive backlog of thing I need to read, and I couldn't stop myself.

Worm has something incredibly special going for it.

It's not the writing style, which is overly utilitarian and painfully direct.

It's not the story, which while it DOES have some incredible high points isn't the thing that gives Worm its spark.

It's the worldbuilding and characters that make Worm my ‘favorite' book.

The worldbuilding is incredible, Worm is REQUIRED reading for anyone interested in creating a superhero universe or writing in the genre.

The characters are where Worm breaks through to something transcendental for me. Taylor is my favorite character in any piece of fiction ever, full stop. Her journey, her struggles, her moral battles and mistakes, they're all are so painfully relatable. Her tentative first steps into friendship (LISA <3<3<3!! BRIAN! ALEC! RACHEEEELLL!!! T_T T_T ) and the greater world, the way every two steps in her growth triggers an unanticipated backwards step, her battle for agency in a world that wants to strip her of it, it all culminates in something so bittersweet and painful, beautiful and cruel, fulfilling and draining. Worm fucks me up, and I love it.