I'll preface this by card-tabling that Worm is one of my favorite things ever. I found your review interesting, though I didn't agree with much. Your review explains effectively to me why you...
I'll preface this by card-tabling that Worm is one of my favorite things ever.
I found your review interesting, though I didn't agree with much. Your review explains effectively to me why you didn't like it, so I'd say it's a well written review, in that way amongst others (it reads well and is thought provoking).
It does sound as though the story was ill suited to your tastes in many ways, and I could understand someone who shared your sensibilities coming away with a similar review.
I'd want to touch on two specific criticisms more closely. I'll use two separate comments to delineate the two potentially disparate lines of discussion (should one develop).
The Amy Dallon Dilema I'm not sure panacea is in any sense a uniquely bad villain, in some sense representing a negative view of lesbianism. Heartbreaker, and his son - the very central character...
Exemplary
The Amy Dallon Dilema
I'm not sure panacea is in any sense a uniquely bad villain, in some sense representing a negative view of lesbianism. Heartbreaker, and his son - the very central character - regent, are both highly sexually deviant (read: criminal) straight main characters.
The things bonesaw or greyboy do are - to me - vastly worse than what any of these 3 characters do. Sexual violence doesn't for me inhabit a separate plane to other forms of violence, where it's somehow inherently worse. I think it'd be a glaring and jarring omission to ignore this category when other forms of torture feature constantly throughout.
Fair point. I guess Amy’s crimes hit harder for me because they don’t sound as far fetched as Bonesaw and Grey Boy’s, which are sort of inconceivable because of their superhero nature, whereas at...
Fair point. I guess Amy’s crimes hit harder for me because they don’t sound as far fetched as Bonesaw and Grey Boy’s, which are sort of inconceivable because of their superhero nature, whereas at its core Amy’s thing is just an abusive relationship, and therefore can hit much closer to home, but I see and understand your point.
Is White Default? The Creed Consideration I come at this as a mixed race fella - with a Jamaican mom - who grew up in an unusually white town for its size (200,000ish) in the UK. She's halfsies,...
Is White Default? The Creed Consideration
I come at this as a mixed race fella - with a Jamaican mom - who grew up in an unusually white town for its size (200,000ish) in the UK. She's halfsies, rendering me a quarter, just to provide the shape of my perspective.
For a white pov character surrounded by mostly white folks - which I think is Taylor's experience - white is the default.
There's the classic joke of identifying someone not white across a room and breaking your back to avoid saying "Sam's the darker one". "The dude, stumpy lil legs, short hair, no not him, next to him, holding the guiness." Well meaning but <amused eyeroll>.
If race isn't mentioned in Taylor's inner monologue about a character, I'm guessing they're white, and I'm not sure that's problematic. I believe that's how her inner monologue would work, and I don't believe it makes her racist?
My reading of the story finds it very egalitarian in its treatment of different races within the explicit text, and I don't see an issue in this aspect either, personally.
It's not something I've paid particular attention to, nor something that jumped out at me. I may have missed some nuance that did exist, but I've read worm a lot and never seen these issues as described.
Worm was cooling its heels in my audiobook/podcast queue for ages purely because of its size. When I eventually started, I had forgotten where I'd picked up the recommendation and what I was to...
Worm was cooling its heels in my audiobook/podcast queue for ages purely because of its size. When I eventually started, I had forgotten where I'd picked up the recommendation and what I was to expect. I was initially disappointed to discover it was very clearly a YA superhero story. However, I reminded myself that my typical audio fare is mostly TTRPG podcasts, and perhaps I shouldn't be the one casting stones. I forged on.
Your assessment is fair. I'd recommend it to Marvel fans and more broadly to the nerd fandom crowd. I had fun with it, but I didn't take it too serious. The serial nature of the chapters lead to a lot of episodes ending in a dire cliffhanger, with the next episode resolving the issue immediately via deus ex machina... But we're talking superheroes, so... That's fine.
I've finally gotten around to reading Worm, which was recommended to me many times, but I just have too many issues with the work to let it get away with 1.6 million words without me commenting on...
I've finally gotten around to reading Worm, which was recommended to me many times, but I just have too many issues with the work to let it get away with 1.6 million words without me commenting on it. I'd also like to know what you thought if you've read it, and if/how/why you agree/disagree with my review.
I did not read Worm. Way too dark and grim for me. But I am very happy it exists, because the Worm fanfiction universe is massive and it has some of the best ever works of literature I've ever...
I did not read Worm. Way too dark and grim for me. But I am very happy it exists, because the Worm fanfiction universe is massive and it has some of the best ever works of literature I've ever read.
Edit: I should say, I clicked on the link... and I noped out 5 seconds later. The very bright background and text color combination is very harsh on the eyes. The site also didn't load right the first time, so the formatting wasn't, which wasn't ideal. So I did not read the review either
That’s the default, yes. It passes WCAG accessibility standards for contrast, but I guess there’s always reader mode in the browser if that doesn’t work for you.
That’s the default, yes. It passes WCAG accessibility standards for contrast, but I guess there’s always reader mode in the browser if that doesn’t work for you.
I'll preface this by card-tabling that Worm is one of my favorite things ever.
I found your review interesting, though I didn't agree with much. Your review explains effectively to me why you didn't like it, so I'd say it's a well written review, in that way amongst others (it reads well and is thought provoking).
It does sound as though the story was ill suited to your tastes in many ways, and I could understand someone who shared your sensibilities coming away with a similar review.
I'd want to touch on two specific criticisms more closely. I'll use two separate comments to delineate the two potentially disparate lines of discussion (should one develop).
The Amy Dallon Dilema
I'm not sure panacea is in any sense a uniquely bad villain, in some sense representing a negative view of lesbianism. Heartbreaker, and his son - the very central character - regent, are both highly sexually deviant (read: criminal) straight main characters.
The things bonesaw or greyboy do are - to me - vastly worse than what any of these 3 characters do. Sexual violence doesn't for me inhabit a separate plane to other forms of violence, where it's somehow inherently worse. I think it'd be a glaring and jarring omission to ignore this category when other forms of torture feature constantly throughout.
Fair point. I guess Amy’s crimes hit harder for me because they don’t sound as far fetched as Bonesaw and Grey Boy’s, which are sort of inconceivable because of their superhero nature, whereas at its core Amy’s thing is just an abusive relationship, and therefore can hit much closer to home, but I see and understand your point.
Is White Default? The Creed Consideration
I come at this as a mixed race fella - with a Jamaican mom - who grew up in an unusually white town for its size (200,000ish) in the UK. She's halfsies, rendering me a quarter, just to provide the shape of my perspective.
For a white pov character surrounded by mostly white folks - which I think is Taylor's experience - white is the default.
There's the classic joke of identifying someone not white across a room and breaking your back to avoid saying "Sam's the darker one". "The dude, stumpy lil legs, short hair, no not him, next to him, holding the guiness." Well meaning but <amused eyeroll>.
If race isn't mentioned in Taylor's inner monologue about a character, I'm guessing they're white, and I'm not sure that's problematic. I believe that's how her inner monologue would work, and I don't believe it makes her racist?
My reading of the story finds it very egalitarian in its treatment of different races within the explicit text, and I don't see an issue in this aspect either, personally.
It's not something I've paid particular attention to, nor something that jumped out at me. I may have missed some nuance that did exist, but I've read worm a lot and never seen these issues as described.
Worm was cooling its heels in my audiobook/podcast queue for ages purely because of its size. When I eventually started, I had forgotten where I'd picked up the recommendation and what I was to expect. I was initially disappointed to discover it was very clearly a YA superhero story. However, I reminded myself that my typical audio fare is mostly TTRPG podcasts, and perhaps I shouldn't be the one casting stones. I forged on.
Your assessment is fair. I'd recommend it to Marvel fans and more broadly to the nerd fandom crowd. I had fun with it, but I didn't take it too serious. The serial nature of the chapters lead to a lot of episodes ending in a dire cliffhanger, with the next episode resolving the issue immediately via deus ex machina... But we're talking superheroes, so... That's fine.
I've finally gotten around to reading Worm, which was recommended to me many times, but I just have too many issues with the work to let it get away with 1.6 million words without me commenting on it. I'd also like to know what you thought if you've read it, and if/how/why you agree/disagree with my review.
I did not read Worm. Way too dark and grim for me. But I am very happy it exists, because the Worm fanfiction universe is massive and it has some of the best ever works of literature I've ever read.
Edit: I should say, I clicked on the link... and I noped out 5 seconds later. The very bright background and text color combination is very harsh on the eyes. The site also didn't load right the first time, so the formatting wasn't, which wasn't ideal. So I did not read the review either
You get a different colour combination every time you load the website, but I should probably remove the low vision ones, sorry about that
Unless you've changed it, that might be browser/setting dependent? I get a burnt red solid background with gold text everytime
That’s the default, yes. It passes WCAG accessibility standards for contrast, but I guess there’s always reader mode in the browser if that doesn’t work for you.