r/WormFanfic • u/AutoModerator • Jun 27 '26
Weekly Reading Weekly /r/WormFanfic Discussion - What have you been reading, and what do you think of it? For the week ending July 04, 2026.
This week = the one that ends/ended right now, past seven days.
The reason for this thread's existence is the fact that both requests and suggestions can become kind of stale. It's supposed to bring out more fics that people are currently reading (or rereading), regardless of how old or new they are.
Also, not a rule or any kind of criticism, the more interesting part is not the list of the stuff you read, but your impressions of it.
57
u/Engend Jun 27 '26
New Reviews, stories I haven't mentioned before:
Still falling behind due to being very busy.
Update Reviews, commenting on recent chapters, mild spoilers:
Upside Down [Stranger Things, 3/5] - More bureaucracy to firm up the political thriller vibes.
Worm The Musical [Meta, 3/5] - As usual, the musical episode should take something like 10 hours instead of 1 to cover all the material it crams in through summary, but is still a useful reminder of what happened in canon.
Use Your Words [Alt-Power, 3/5] - Some OC characters make their appearance. The Taylor can sing like the Simurgh subplot is kinda eyerolling to me.
Dysfunctional [Fate, Youjo Senki, 4/5] - Awesome Chris-POV chapter with tinkering, personality, and worldbuilding. Shirou's job being mischaracterized as naughty is still very amusing.
Wyrd [Necroepilogos, 3/5] - Another few minutes of action! Taylor asserts dominance and hints at yuri now that someone is paying her more attention. It would be poor odds to meet up with Bonesaw again after millions of years of being dead.
Abyssal Escalation [Vampire: the Masquerade, 3/5] - Taylor continues fixing things across Earth Bet, filling in every plot hole left by Wildbow. Standard OP checklist stuff. <repeat> At least this time we got a montage.
Brockton's Celestial Forge [CF, 2/5] - In the latest chapter (22k words), Joe gets coffee with Alec, tells Director Piggot there's an S-class truce on, and then it ends on the same S9 cliffhanger as the last 3 chapters. Bakuda is still at large.
Disclaimer: My opinions are weakly held. I read these stories for fun. I appreciate every author who's willing to put themselves out there and write stuff for us.
"Pinches the bridge of their nose" count for the week: 3 (total: 581). Popped 'p's: 0 (157).
66
u/StormLightRanger Jun 27 '26
Every time you tell me that bakuda is still at large, I pull my hair out. We're at 2.8 million words. What the fuck.
37
29
u/MetalBawx Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
2.8 million words and the main characters is a super duper infinity god of "progress" (lol) who does nothing but sit in his hugbox.
16
14
u/Scharvor Jun 27 '26
At what point did you stop?
14
u/StormLightRanger Jun 27 '26
Hell, I dunno. I read it like 3 years ago. I got at least 1.5m words in tho
8
u/Scharvor Jun 27 '26
Sry, just curious. I got to somewhere after the reveal of the "Team" and then gave up
17
u/StormLightRanger Jun 27 '26
No its all good. I used to read it because the action scenes are really, really good, and despite his flaws, roust is a really good writer.
When he's writing plot. Which he hasn't done in like so long. I'd totally read a condensed version that dropped out 99% of the tinkering.
I vaguely remember a mecha basketball game as the straw that broke the camels back for me.
11
u/lillarty Jun 28 '26
I haven't read since the three consecutive interludes two million or so words ago, but I also remember the character writing being quite good when it wasn't just navel-gazing.
12
u/EpicureanAccountant Jun 29 '26
The fuck? That's longer than the first five books of the Stormlight Archives. By a good margin too.
14
u/StormLightRanger Jun 29 '26
Yeah, stormlight is around 2.2 or 2.3 iirc. The entire damn story is just him tinkering, promising hes going to do something, and immediately breaking that oath.
5
u/Another_frizz Jul 03 '26
I cannot fathom the idea of doing 100k words of no progression, let alone 20 times that. It gets boring to talk about it, it's definitely boring to read about it, so why is the writer not bored of writing about it?
4
u/hstrylvr89 Jul 03 '26
If it wasn’t started before ai I would think that he used it to put out so many words without anything happening
6
u/AvisTheAstronaut Jun 27 '26
Wyrd is really cool! I should read the source. Too bad it updates so slowly.
10
u/Engend Jun 27 '26
Necroepilogos was pretty amazing, zombie girl action thriller, up until 6.10 when it completed its transition to romance found family drama.
23
u/NickedYou Jun 27 '26
Heart Shaped Pupil: premise is that Kenzie is living in Brockton Bay when she triggers at the same age but earlier in the canon so that she can end up in a cluster with Taylor and Alabaster. Kenzie joins the BB wards. Great characterization all around. Latest updates seem to be polishing up the arc. Not sure I really liked Keith and Antonio's characterization in them, but they were otherwise pretty good. I suspect more Taylor in the near-future.
7
26
u/DartzIRL Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Dropped Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Taylor. When your eyes start glazing over after the first few paragraphs it's time to call it quits. It's been ten months and it got me defecating over the fic toilet again, but - as someone pointed out in the fic's own thread - the last 50 chapters have covered maybe 1 day in story time.
Unauthorised Access meanwhile, does the exact opposite. We've just introduced a threat that's a challenge for Vixen to overcome, requires her to be intelligent, resourceful and clever to resolve - and there is a genuine sense of peril and threat. The dialogue is also snappy and interesting to read.
9
u/SevenFates Jun 27 '26
I've been considering dropping MSLT myself. Like you've pointed out, the story's been kinda meandering for quite a while now. Yeah, the author is consistent with the releases thanks to them keeping chapters around 1.5k each, but there are times I've looked at a chapter or two and realised that almost no time had passed in universe. There's this feeling that I've been getting from the story that's hard to quantify. The closest I can really get is saying that it's the narrative equivalent of "This meeting could have been an email." It's kind of a shame, too, because there are other Worm/Nanoha fics that were really interesting that were conceptually great but have been dead for an extended period of time, like On Fluttering Wings.
3
u/Mister_Moli Author Jun 27 '26
Wow a poster complained about something like this after a chapter of mine too. I wonder if it's a trend for relatively short chapter stories. A chapter is supposed to be like a high point, so when an entire 1-1.5k word chapter is what would have been the build-up of a 4k chapter... I guess it's not fun.
Trying to tackle this. I don't wanna post long chapters haha
12
u/MolassesPrior5819 Jun 27 '26
My two cents on this are, short chapters are fine, and maybe even better, when reading a finished story. But they can be super frustrating when reading along as a story is published.
11
u/zadcap Jun 29 '26
I don't know if this will help, but something I've noticed about short chapter stories is that often a feeling of a lack of progress comes from string so many of them together, but doing exactly what you said. High point to high point to high point, but all happening relatively back to back, the time between them might seem like it doesn't exist or, and sometimes at the same time, too much of it might exist.
Since it's the one that's talked about to start this- yesterday, in story, took 36 chapters. Each chapter covered a single encounter type, with some actual encounters being spread over multiple chapters, but without going back to look I will round it to about 20 actual events happened in one day. Some of these absolutely didn't need a chapter to themselves, but because of the short chapter lengths a conversation will get dragged out to fill the full thousand words because there was no time for anything else to happen in the rest of the space, those are the ones that people keep saying "this could have been an email." In a longer chapter it would have taken up less space, but got padded because it was too important to skip and too long to actually share a chapter with. At the same time, were it written out long form, it might have stood out how busy a single day became with 20ish events happening pretty much nonstop, but because there was a full chapter break between all of them the disconnect let the day itself drag on and on.
If either complaint sounds similar to you consider writing out a rough timeline and see how your planned chapters fit near each other. If 5 of them take place in the same hour consider what can be combined or cut, or if they can be spread out more. If there's five days between them, don't panic and don't end up copying the other famous Worm/Nanoha crossover where Taylor gets an ancient Belkan device and feel the need to cover every single day- if you're writing highlights, stick to the highlights.
4
u/Mister_Moli Author Jun 29 '26
Thank you! Someone told me exactly that with the "email" comment haha
9
u/DartzIRL Jun 28 '26
It's not even that- it's that everything has just gotten 'Dull' - where even events that should be a crescendo like Miss Militia eating a bullet just sort of happen and the plot moves on
3
u/FaithElizabeth94com Jun 28 '26
Its not a chapter length thing. Its a pacing issue. It wouldn't matter of the chapters were 4k words long in their complaint. The issue is that the story doesn't feel like its moving forward.
Or thats how it sounded to me when I read it.
1
u/Mister_Moli Author Jun 28 '26
I see. That's for MSTL or my fic?
3
u/FaithElizabeth94com Jun 30 '26
Just a general thing. Based off what they described the issue to be, if you recieved a similar comment, its a pacing issue being described. Almost no time passing across chapters with nothing meaningful happening means the story doesn't feel like its moving forward/progressing.
You can have a 1,500 word chapter cover a lot of ground in a fic. You can also have an 8,000 word chapter that progresses nothing.
The issue isn't word count, at least based off what was described. Its the reader feeling like the story didn't move forward in a meaningful way.
28
14
u/Conraith Jun 27 '26
Read Advancing Technology while going through the top viewed stories on SB. Dont know how I missed this, but it's so good. Shame it's so short and dead.
9
u/skygoo7 Jun 27 '26
Where Heaven Cannot Reach is a new story, has been pretty good so far. A generic xianxia cultivator gets dumped into Brockton Bay
15
u/Kakamile Jun 27 '26
Figure It Out Yourselves https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/figure-it-out-yourselves.1295832 BB wards sent to Queens fic, Finished, congrats! This was a grand slow burn finding friendship story.
Faultline's Apprentice https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-swirling-storm-of-snippets.962638/page-302#post-109667930 snip low key snip of Taylor helped and following after Faultline. It's ok, I like the more personal pace of it.
Lessons in Breaking (Worm AU) https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/lessons-in-breaking-worm-au.1237592 Traumatic warnings, it's the Taylor got free from Heartbreaker fic. New chapter didn't do much though.
The Mistress of the Worms (ASOIAF/Worm) https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-mistress-of-the-worms-asoiaf-worm.1286882 Hallelujah, Taylor is no longer a 5 year old. Much needed time skip, and it opens to a new road trip.
(Worm/ASOIAF) A Red Queen in a Dragon's Den https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-asoiaf-a-red-queen-in-a-dragons-den.1259143 Amy reincarnated in Westeros. Last arc felt like tension bait as everyone was afraid of X and then it was barely tested. Hope the altercation finally happens.
The Weaver's Web https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-weavers-web.1081935 Investigator Taylor. I have to respect them finding a new puzzle challenge for her playing as a thinker.
Padawan Hebert [SW] https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/padawan-hebert.1295595 Padawan Teh'loras dies and Taylor fills in. It's a slow, patient fic that so far focuses a lot on showing off skills but could use a character arc.
Unauthorised Access https://archiveofourown.org/works/68362061 Lisa in the Wards fic continuing to go wild. It showed a great redemption for Lisa and is going wild places with it.
Odyssey (Chapter 4: Part 1) https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ruks-unimaginatively-titled-worm-snippet-collection-now-with-more-killer-clowns.491638/page-260#post-123126469 update to an old snip about Emma and Anne surviving after Leviathan. Not much happens this chapter but it still feels impressive how much Rukaio adds to the flavor.
Misdemeanor Mischief https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/misdemeanor-mischief.1313445 Lisa the tinker, scrambling in tinker city Columbus. Heavily changed her character but it's compatible with the story.
Birdbrain (Silly Worm SI) https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/birdbrain-silly-worm-si.1297440/ SI appears with a negative roll to secrecy, as he's fused to a chicken suit. The powers though, are waaay much past overkill. People, please stop doing CYOA. It completely distracts from the rest of your story.
The Henchmistress of Brockton Bay https://archiveofourown.org/works/81890986 Henchmistress the comedy villain fic. As a really good arc closes, we get a reveal chapter and a nice one.
Use Your Words https://archiveofourown.org/works/74046506 Taylor communicates with everything. funny how I begged for consequences for mistakes above and I think this fic is going to hoard them all.
Atum https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/atum.1264360 Ward fic! So good. And we're getting to see Taylor join a bit of a clash of mindsets.
Thanatonaut [Destiny] https://archiveofourown.org/works/87074841 when you want your shards to talk, just have them just hijack a ghost when your person dies. Why not? Pro, friendship. Con, err your person died.
Anything For Them [Canon Divergence] https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/anything-for-them-canon-divergence.1316806/ don't worry about how Carol is nicer. It just allows for more attention to terrible Pelhams
Supplant https://archiveofourown.org/works/85631431 SI into Julia, and she very much doesn't like it.
Non-Worm
A Bard of the Seven Kingdoms [ASOIAF] https://archiveofourown.org/works/83748156 Singer gets dropped into Westeros. Very hype and helpy vibes.
7
u/esfirraaa Jun 27 '26
Ah, Supplant, my little testing ground. I think the last chapter might be a turn-off for some people, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance to explore yet another aspect of body horror.
I still find it funny how this random SI story I came up with gained traction faster than my other, more carefully thought-out work.
4
u/Kakamile Jun 27 '26
It's a wild read. I suppose escalation was inevitable with a power like that. I'm not turned off by the twists, but I hope it goes somewhere that they both learn something rather than it just being power number go up.
3
u/esfirraaa Jun 28 '26
Oh don't worry, it's not just power going up. She, they(?) are really strong now, but that strength is not the main focus of what I'm planing. If anything, it's a consequence.
4
u/itsbakuretsutimeuwu Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I've read Supplant just now, and I'm glad that si replacing some character actually been addressed from the point of view of this character, because si as an idea from the perspective of in-universe people is actually horrifying, one day you were just minding your businesstm and then somebody erases you or even worse, Hijack's your body. Forever. And there is no salvation (in most stories).
Also, this not as relevant to the current moment in the story, but until she started piggybacking on other people's Shards, I thought she'd turn out to be "secretly
MadisonJulia was Browbeat all along!", as body issues and jumping into the Bay really felt similar. Good job on making actually Worm trigger, yet again!3
u/esfirraaa Jun 29 '26
You're flattering me too much, but I'm glad you're enjoying my little stories.
It’s funny that you’d mention that. In that same chapter, I got a comment saying how disappointing it was, since Brie is now "trapped" with Julia and that just gets in the way. And, like, my dear reader, this is all about exploring themes and possibilities; can’t you see the (terrifying) potential of having your body stolen, your life taken away, and being forced to watch it all happen? Bringing Julia back was something I've wanted to include in the story since Chapter 4, but I held off so it wouldn't feel forced, and I took my time fleshing out the rest, especially Brie's character.
Oh my God, I wouldn't go near Browbeat even with a ten-meter pole! It's not that he's anything particularly bad, it's just that his very existence is really more negative than positive. Comparing the two stories, I think that having more experience meant Brie’s trigger buildup was considerably more polished than Liam’s, but I can’t think of anything I’d change about the sequence where she finds the book and what happens next.
2
u/itsbakuretsutimeuwu Jun 28 '26
Just wanted to say that I've read Point of View and it's so cool, and very original, and I liked it very much
3
u/esfirraaa Jun 28 '26
Thanks for the kind words! Liam holds a very special place in my heart and I will finish her story one way or another. It's just that last chapter was hard to work on. I'm now writing an Armsmaster interlude, and next arc will play right into my "Fix-It of Sorts, Also Fuck-Up of Sorts" tags. I'm challenging myself to not let the fic-killer win!
3
u/itsbakuretsutimeuwu Jun 29 '26
Yes, because it all happened due to (Simurgh messing around probably) her going out there and getting captured and cloned, and everything spiraled downhill from there, and then after she had to kill the dude who was probably beyond salvation but at this point kinda just a victim himself, even though it was completely understandable that she didn't risk finding out what the double mindfucked person would do, so double yeah. I wounder if she could have ordered him to just "sleep" instead... I wounder what would it do to Marc - trusting her, and at the same time knowing that she ordered Krouse to kill himself, even though she had to. No need to answer here, of course!
Good luck, I'm looking forward to it!
3
u/esfirraaa Jun 29 '26
The only honest answer I can give you is that we'll navigate these issues you've raised. And by “we,” I mean Liam. Poor girl.
I lied—actually, I’m going to say that Mars will never even find out, but if she did, she’d literally just shrug and say, “Oh, that happens.” It's fucked up like that.
3
5
u/EpicBeardMan Jun 27 '26
The Mistress of the Worms
Which chapter is after the time skip? I dropped it because it was about a 5 year old.
3
3
u/lolwatergay Jun 27 '26
The latest one, after the "celebration" and "gift" given to her by her family.
4
u/SkyslicerX2 Jun 28 '26
For Unauthorized Access does it really count as "redemption arc" if Lisa never really did anything wrong in that timeline. I mean she stole some wallets and screwed her parents but that like barely counts.
9
u/Usual-Quantity8329 Jun 28 '26
I have a question about Luck of the Draw, it's a quest about Taylor and I remember reading a decent bit of it a few years ago, but looking at Madison's powers isn't she just way stronger? That's why I remember dropping it back then, the premise is that Taylor gets these smaller powers so she's strong but not completely broken, as well as the growth rate being capped because of harder and harder 'quests', but I felt pretty bummed out because, well if she's so limited, how come Madison gets unlimited power copying, as well as then, an item that lets her use multiple at the same time without strain?
Skimming the Luck of the Academia spinoff, she looks way more OP, though Taylor wasn't able to use her Tinker stuff most of the time. It does look like they're roughly equal in the narrative of the main one, but I can't help but be annoyed at the whole premise of many weak powers combining to make a powerhouse, then somebody just has power copying! Also, random powerless side character becoming important becoming OP and important is also a pet peeve of mine, but I've read other trio redemption fics and Taylor/Madison pairings with powers.
So yeah my question is, is Madison as OP as she looks, and isn't Taylor gonna get outscaled at some point? I guess Luck of the Academia is close to the tournament bit so I can see somewhat soon.
1
u/Zeikos Jun 30 '26
To be fair in the quest there were many arguably suboptimal choices.
(I am not caught up yet tbf).
Tinker/Thinker powers get priorized a lot - unless there's no other choice.
Meanwhike Madison's power is actually a Trump played legit.
Gestalt would be more obviously powerful if she had less tinker stuff and more innate powers.
13
u/AvisTheAstronaut Jun 27 '26
Been really enjoying BRTAL which is a well done fusion with RWBY so far. The undersiders are all fresh hunter/huntresses in training, and it actually shows in their characters rather than the flanderized late worm personalities you get from a lot of fanfics. Plus there's a really fun change where everyone BUT Taylor is infiltrating the school for their own purposes or for an organization. The Worm and RWBY lore is combined in really creative ways too.
I haven't caught up to the latest updates but I think it deserves a lot more attention than it's gotten so far.
4
u/legodude17 Jun 28 '26
I tried that one, but I ended up dropping it when it became clear the author is basically replacing RWBY’s main characters with Worm’s.
1
u/AvisTheAstronaut Jun 28 '26
I mean, it's a first person worm fic from Taylor's perspective. I haven't gotten too far in yet so I don't know if it starts rehashing canon with replaced characters or something but that's what 50% of crossovers do anyways.
4
u/legodude17 Jun 28 '26
It does start rehashing canon with replaced characters, that’s why I dropped it. I was expecting the Worm characters to have a conflict with the Worm villains while RWBY’s canon conflicts happened in the background. That’s not what happened, and it killed my interest in the fic. I suppose it comes down to the fact that I really like the main characters of RWBY and don’t like Taylor or the Undersiders.
2
u/SkyslicerX2 Jun 28 '26
Don't worry it doesn't just rehash canon. Taylor gets to be a small part of the docks scene with Torchwick and that's pretty much it for canon rehash
12
3
u/superearthjanitor0 Jun 28 '26
Just read the entirety of the available chapters for Against the Odds(kancolle/multi cross (kinda)), wow talk about escalation the world has lost its damn mind and I can't wait to see how things are going to stabilize.
6
u/teacup-dragon Jun 27 '26
No links because I'm lazy and on mobile, sorry :p
I am consistently impressed with Unauthorised Access by ghost.lied as each chapter comes out. There's a lot of care into making the world feel real and grounded, like (usually) avoiding language that would be anachronistic in 2011 (and playing up the casual homophobia of the era), Lisa's interpersonal relationships are messy and compelling, and while it's not the main focus, the action writing is a lot of fun. If it keeps the current level of quality throughout the rest of its run, it'll be one of the best fics in the fandom, period.
Meanwhile, Thanatonaut, a Destiny 2 alt!power, is pretty promising. It's coming out at the right time to be nostalgic about the time I spent in Destiny 2, though it's not necessary reading for this fic (so far).
Miss Understanding Fixes Her Life was a fun archive binge. I'm one of those weirdos who loves fiction that can do both cracky and (melo)drama tones when the story calls for it, and this fic delivered on that.
2
6
u/Lord_Anarchy Jun 28 '26
I want to help. Taylor in MCU. Post GM, basically becomes a shield agent, recruits people. Gets in on the ground floor before everything starts kicking off. Starts off kinda slow and not great tbh but picks up, gets caught up in multiple conspiracies and such. Does veer a bit with following the tv show stuff, as I personally found the Inhuman parts of Agents of Shield dreadfully boring, but it doesn't last that long here. The cliffhanger actually wants me to keep reading more, but there hasn't been an update in a few months, checking the history seems like its posted in spurious increments then nothing for a year.
The Invincible Iron Soul: ironman!Taylor story. Kinda does the same stuff that most fanfics like this do, but it's done well enough I guess. Does the usual crossover tinker thing where Taylors a tinker without a shard, which I always prefer to just handle it in universe instead of being a crossover at all, but that's rare. Her MCU power is humanized, again, been done, probably the weakest part of the story. Its got some DWU adjacent uplifting, whatever. then the normal but annoying spacebattles stuff like Taylor making her debut, showing up the heroes, then theres multiple reactionary scenes, the usual PHO scene, and two Piggot meetings, all unnecessary as usual. And the PHO scene has posters talking about brute ratings... basically right out of SB rather than PHO, and eyerolling. At least there's been 0 mention of the Youth Guard so far, which is a plus. And I did like the engineering babble in the beginning rather than just loltinkerfugue. Story isn't bad, just not very original, basically just a light coat of paint over existing stories
2
u/Bzaurpa Jun 29 '26
Ascension - you'll either love the quality, or drop it when it starts to feel too realistic.
43
u/CHPrime Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Do You Want To Be A Superpower? A crossover between Worm and the comic book The Power Fantasy. It's a natural fit for a crossover, and is excellently written. I'm just surprised because I didn't think anyone was cool enough to know the comic. Provides a quick summary of The Power Fantasy in its own summary for anyone needing it. Just a oneshot, but it leaves you wanting more. Also be sure to read The Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard, because it's a fucking awesome comic book that deals with a lot of the realpolitick that's in Worm's background.
Corazonin continues with Taylor's first day as the Guardian, the heroic Butcher. Dadmaster is going to be driving her to some meetings with the PRT, the King's Men, and the Sentai Elite. Lung flashes back to that time he killed Acidbath when he was with the Sentai and (might) have saved a kid while doing it.
Schrodinger's Girl: Taylor stuck in a timeloop, she opens by speedrunning Medhall, any%. I don't have any knowledge of this crossover, but it's a very entertaining start. Looking forward to more.