/lit/ - Literature

>>20085526
Man I've been thinking about reading this for a while, I have it saved as an epub on my kobo and everything, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I know I'd love it, but it's so fucking long.

>>20085551

Just take the plunge.
It has a universe as big as marvel and DC but it has a higher quality all the way through.

>>20085526
i don't look at inclusive cartoons

Capeshit deconstruction is just as tired and stale as capeshit itself.

>>20085571
It also seems you don't read at all.

>>20085571
it has really nothing to do with inclusive tumblr shit. This is just some of the better looking fan art I could find.

>Fans of Worm praise it effusively, often drawing comparisons between other superhero works (such as Marvel Universe or The DCU) and portraying Worm as far and away the better of the two. Many recommend it as a must-read work that skillfully handles themes of trauma, racism, and government corruption, among others, praising the characters as more realistic and likable than any they've encountered in other works. A number of readers drawn in by said recommendations have not found Worm lived up to the hype (especially in its handling of social issues) and some may have critiqued it more harshly than they might have had they not been told it was the greatest work of fiction since Harry Potter, or at least a superior superhero story to anything in the mainstream.

>>20085574
It is neither reconstruction nor deconstruction.
It is a quality story made by one passionate man.
2011 was a lot less of a political atmosphere for media being made. So it doesn't have big nose small hat syndrome

>>20085526
>takes super hero tropes and makes realistic or universe explanations for why their reality works that way.

Alan Moore did it 25 years earlier. Despite him writing the definitive "it's capeshit but grittier, gorier and with the occasional rape" story, the concept has still been done to death since then: the Boys, Kick-Ass, Worm, Invincible, etc.

>>20085526
>>20085551
I've read it and its just too fucking long. The entire background plot with cauldron and scion is just unnecessary for a good capeshit deconstruction.

>>20085612
While you could say its been done to death, you can't say that those interpritations are overtly sexual and violent for for little reason other than shock value. Worm has large sections that are dedicated to the smaller quiet moments of having a life with powers. Also I think it is miles more tasteful than the Boys or Invincible. Invincible isn't even a commentary on super heroes, its just super heroes that swear and get bloody. And the Boys is just "ha ha 2000s corporate America is bad"

>>20085526
I read it, and found it okay. Never understood why /lit/ hates it other than some person writing his passion project while /lit/ does nothing.

>>20085526
Is it realistic? I didn't get that sense. Gritty and grimdark yes, but not "realistic". Realistic would be a lot more boring, with the superheroes waiting around with no one to fight.

People complain about the length but it works. You can skim through really fast, and the plot clues get hidden in plain sight.

>>20085526
Never heard of it before this thread, can it be categorized as fun genre fiction, then? I don't really mind length

>>20086380
it could be.
I like to think of it as a super hero setting with a much more defined set of rules.
Unlike marvel your not going to get a revolving door on people being dead and coming back.

>gay black man/girl/cant tell with emo mask and hair
>smug hapa
>gay whiteboi with anime goggles making le black widow ass pose
>strong black man surrounded by nerdy, flirty white girls
>ALL HERE TO BRING YOU LE REALISTIC GRIMDARK TALE OF SUPERHEROES, TOTALLY NOT DONE BEFORE OR ANYTHING (watchmen, the boys, all the evil superman twists DC has done, the evil xmen and avengers etcetc)
yea miss me with that shit

>>20086597
this was literally just fan art i found

>>20085526
Yah its pretty great, not perfect of course (especially on a thematic level), but its probably the best take on gritty superheros since watchmen. Just don't read the sequel unless you hate yourself.

>>20086613
He doesn't care, he's from >>>/pol/

>>20086613
well it sucks find better fanart
>>20086618
ill judge it by purely artistic measures then: its still shit. toddler drawings. gay anime goggles and fucking dated scene haircuts and masks.

>>20085526
>one of the main protagonists is an actual rapist
How did he get away with it?

>>20087281
The better question: how did he managed to make it seem justified?

>>20085526
What the fuck was wrong with the powers in this series? They made me afraid of shit I hadn't even realized I should be afraid of. There's shit like Taylor shoving bugs down your urethra and Alec hijacking your body, but then there's nightmare fuel that takes it further.

>Simurgh
>Contessa
Literally nothing you can do matters, it's all part of the plan so just give up, no way to win save submitting to their will—and you could be submitting without knowing it.
>Cherish
Standard mind-rape powers, but with the added effect of pinpointing you inside a city full of people.
>Butcher
Fuckton of powers that keep on building, plus if you kill it you become part of the schizo hivemind.
>Grey Boy
This one makes me piss my pants the most—you're just left in an infinite loop of agony or whatever he feels assed to do with you until the sun burns out and no one can do shit about it, and that's that. How did heroes ever fight this kid if they knew one wrong move meant a fate infinitely worse than death? I'd put a bullet in my head if I ever came across his line of sight.
>Bonesaw
Franken Fran murder loli on steroids, just fucking stitch your brain into a public urinal and have you feel mind-melting agony whenever you get flushed or some shit. Fucked in the head. Suicide would be preferable to running across the S9 in general.

And I've only read a couple chapters in the sequel, but I'm sure things take a turn for the worse there too, the tone was already gloomy and depressing. Living in that universe must be hell.

>>20087391
sounds like naruto but worse

Funny how people that claim it's a "realistic" take on superheroes have read exactly zero comic book universes to know how realistic they are and instead get their info from watered down Hollywood adaptations.

Take for example:
>>20085565
>higher quality
How would you know? Have you read a single literary comic before?

>>20085625
If you want all that read Astro City

>>20087514
Narushit is toddler garbage

>>20088203
Fitting thread then.

>>20085526
>capeshit but liek realistic
Wow, original

>>20085526
My favorite genre shit "book", desu. I love the main character.

>>20088292
She's like 14 anon

>>20088332
She's like 18 at the end. I'm only 25.

>>20088359
She also has no tits, no ass and is a gigantic edgelord

>>20088632
She's not even close to an edgelord lol.

>>20088637
>ooooh the darknesss woe is me the government is corrupt fuck heroes fuck society
>fuuuck I miss my dead mom why do I get bullied in school :(
>I cover myself in bugs, I am the darkness, I am vengeance
>CRAWWWLIIIING IN MY SKIIIIIN

>>20085526
>what if superman was...LE BAD!

Pass.

>>20089753
There wasn't a single LE SUPERMAN in the series, the closes was Scion and he was more like a Jesus figure

The problem with both Worm and Ward is that almost every Arc is a tedious slog through long, drawn out fights that almost come across as a military campaign with superpowers as opposed to anything else. The ABB takeover of the city isn't that different from the Brockton Bay anarchy, which isn't that different from the Slaughterhouse Nine arc, which isn't that different than Ward's fight with the Fallen or the battle with Teacher's forces.

There is no variety in the action, only a repeated cycle with slight variation and increased stakes each time. I don't have a gripe with Wildbow's writing or his formula. My gripe is his singular narrative structure makes every Arc devolve into a slog, to the point where when I read the next Arc I'm rolling my eyes and thinking "not again, please".

>>20086211
The better question is why do you always make snarky off-handed remarks about /lit/ users over what you perceive to be "snobbery" like an emotionally discharged girl?

>>20090277
>Person writes his passion project
>/lit/ can only seethe while using pseud cope to feel better
He's kinda right.

>>20090296
>passion project
Buzzword. All books are "passion projects", the only difference now is that it's easier to attract cult followings than ever before. This doesn't mean anything.

>>20090253
All of that isn't to say that I don't enjoy it. I do. But I can't grind through it in one long series of sittings anymore.

>>20090314
>Keeps proving him right

>>20090320
I know your type, you flock in from /wg/ and attempt to demoralize the whole board with your "I am fucking superior" attitude because no one wants to give your amateur milquetoast dime novel tier trash the time of day. I'm not even mad at you, I just pity you.

>>20085526
lame murrican pomo bullshit for nerds with too much free time, patiently awaiting for the next "hype" arc not unlike a marvel fan excited for the new avengers movie. you should have grown past this when you became an adult, instead you ended up like:
>>20087391

>>20085526
I read half of it in like 2016 or 2017. I thought it was pretty okay for the most part. I lost it wherever the metal guy gets introduced (maybe not even halfway through, I can't really remember)

>>20086627
> he’s shallow enough to dislike something for being “dated”
I’m kinda glad I missed the emo years, I might have bought into it and ended up cringing at myself like anon here.

>>20090355
Never include me in your dimwit posts again dipshit faggot I'll beat the shit out of you

>>20090646
t. nigger consciousness

It's fine, a bit too long and overgory but it's American so it really doesn't surprise. Overall it's the trite "save the cheerleader save the world" type of plot that doesn't really do any bad, the main protagonist is deliciously flawed tho and her shenanigans are at least entertaining for a decent portion of the book.

>>20090721
>but it's American
Canadian

>>20090725
While I would love to entertain about the differences between French and Provencal literature I bet absolutely no one on this board would even try to stomach my rambling- not because that would be boring mind you (or at least that wouldn't be why I would get scorned) -no, it's because the variance between the two is minimal compared to what differ between two entirely separate nations literature. Yet, I would argue that in comparison they might as well be Ancient Mandarin Mythology and modern North African Transhumanism if put against American and Canadian literature.

>>20085526
Read Greg veder vs the world it's much better then this grim fantasy nonsense.

>>20090725
>another european colony in the North American region completely divorced from its origins
Who cares

>>20086618
im from /pol/ too, you know why? because we're on 4chan.org

Now that the dust has settled, what the fuck was his problem?

>>20091010
Literally came to destroy the world as part of his mating process. Mate died because fucked too hard with a dangerous stranger. Hung around larping because there was nothing else to do because he was maidenless. Author wanted Jack Slash to be the Joker, so he snaps out of nowhere because of a few words, kicking off the final arc. Wildbow needed an editor and a few more drafts but sadly that's not what we got.

Total dreck.

>>20091042
Jack setting him off isn't too crazy, considering that Scion starting acting like a hero after a couple words from a hobo. Also the twist that Jack's power is actually for broadcasting is a decent explanation for why Scion would listen to him over other people.

It’s trash. I’ve never called something reddit during my entire life, but Wildbow is reddit incarnate. Most of his characters even talk like redditors.

>>20091290
This, just read this:
>"I envy you, that it’s so easy for you to think of things in terms of black and white. I’d like to think I’m a good person, believe it or not. Everything I’ve done, I did because I thought it was right at the time. In hindsight, some of the ends didn’t justify the means, and sometimes there were unforseen consequences.” Like Dinah. “But I don’t think of myself as a bad person.”

>>20085526
Can you niggers go back to /co/ please?

>Black BF
HAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHA

>>20091300
Is talking in strings of clichés a character trait or the sign of the author never having read much anything?

>>20092530
It's the protagonist puffing themselves up, the next line is the other person in the dialogue rightfully dismissing them:
>“Then you’re either ignorant, deluded or you have a very twisted perspective.”
I think people are forgetting that the protagonist starts off as a shithead teenager that fumbles consistently, and improves incrementally as time goes on. The original line that poster took from is very early on. I'm not gonna pretend Worm is anything above basic, but as a page-turner it serves its purpose adequately.

>>20092862
Sounds about right.

>>20085526
male protagonists?
Romance?

>>20085526
I've been meaning to give it a try for years
I should just take the plunge

Not gonna read it.
Fuck capeshit
>b-but it’s le epic deconstruction!
Shut up

>Interlude 10

>>20091995
>she becomes a cuckquean to black bull
Based as fuck honestly

>>20095625
Only based if he has a small pp
Anyways, I stopped reading the story halfway through because the pacing is horrendously sloooooooow and the interludes, more specifically the donation ones, are uninteresting.

I just started reading this after seeing it discussed here. It's not fantastic, but it's definitely more entertaining than anything else I've read published in the last 10 years.
Keep in mind that I'm not very far in yet, but it's refreshing to see white supremacists portrayed as something other than cartoonishly evil nazis or shitty dumb Trump analogues. So far, Kaiser and Purity are well written (and based) and the author is realistic in the portayal of white supremacist orgs as just gangs for white people, not existential threats to democracy or whatever reddit believes. I'll probably drop it if they go full retard on that.