By Kai Hsu

Genres: Science Fiction, Superpower, Horror, Mystery
Age Range: 15 - 30
Summary: 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.
Just a brief mention: I tacked on the Horror genre for this story. For good reason. So if you think you can handle it, then let’s continue.
If you couldn’t tell by now, I like reading superpower novels. This story, however, is the superpower story to end all superpower stories, and for good reason. Seriously. The best word I can think of to describe Worm is ‘realistic’. Each and every established character (and there are hundreds) have their own personality, their own history, their own reasons for becoming the person they are, and are slowly introduced to you in the 1.6 million words of the entire web serial. You don’t have to worry about keeping track of all the characters, since not all of them are fully fleshed out, which only makes it more realistic, because only the characters whom the protagonist hangs around often really do. The others get hinted at and not outright described, but as an audience, we’re given enough information to infer their history. Even the system of superpowers, which often are explained in most superhero novels as a mysterious ethereal event that just happens without explanation, is a thoroughly explained event. Superpowers aren’t homogenized into just simple ones like telekinesis or flight. Instead, they’re complex and well thought-out. For example, the main narrator’s power is to multitask and manipulate insects, in addition to sensing through them within a two block range. Throughout Worm, McCrae really illustrates a realistic world where superpowers exist- and they aren’t always for the better. The world has its own realistic slang and words which really do make sense if you dream of an Earth with superpowers on it. There are character developments, character regressions, and tragedies all alike. The moralities of heroes and villains are extremely blurred, but differ depending on the perspectives of each respective side. The story gets told from the perspective of a single character; however, there are dozens of characters revolving around the protagonist who have their histories fleshed out, and realistic personalities. If you are going to read Worm though, be warned: it is very, very, very dark, although admittedly it has a very good plot. The story sort of spirals into the abyss and it only gets darker from there, and you can’t even be mad at the author for writing it, because those dark events, whether it be through characterization or personality, had always been foreshadowed before it even happened.
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