I could read the whole story from Cherish's perspective. Is a damn solid story that actually feels somewhat plotted out

 

It's been a while since I've been glued to reading something like that. I'm really liking Monster, especially since it involves my favorite character in Worm. Really wish there was more stuff around Cherish.

Really excited to see more on this one.

 

I'm just reading Monster for the pay off when Taylor finally gets nailed to the wall and possibly shipped to the Birdcage.

 

There's been a consistent pattern of things being just a little too convenient and easy for Taylor. It's never reached the point of feeling like an ass-pull, but things like being able to throw a sheet over her to make her stay transformed just sort of feels like the author is trying a little too hard to avoid having how her powers work be an actual problem.

Fortunately that's a relatively minor issue, as it's mostly the interpersonal interactions that I enjoy in the story anyway. I love how Cherish has sort of fallen into the role that Tattletale all too often does in monster Taylor stories, except far more entertaining due to that she's really terrible at it and just as broken as Taylor is.

 

From Pangolin, who brought Centipede, we now have THROTTLE, where Taylor's power is turning into various power metal themed vehicles.

There's only seven chapters so far, and so not really much to judge it on. But it seems amusing enough, and there hasn't been any massive glaring issues.

Taylor's massively out of character, but it's just fun to read. When there's more, I'd consider putting it up for review.

 

Harbin (author of Twinning (Taylor is a nutcase with Coil's power) and Cutting Ties (Taylor helps other nutcases with Jack Slash's power)) is writing a short fic, not yet finished.

Danny is dead and we don't know the circumstances. Taylor ends up making a Battery-like deal with Cauldron, gaining Shatterbirds powers. This foolproof plan leads to Taylor not realising that she's flaying people to death with her protective glass and sandstorm.

The story is woefully under appreciated on SB and SV, and to be fair it isn't particularly enjoyable to read. Taylor's loneliness, environment, and her tragic misunderstanding leave the prose and story feeling as stark as its title: Scour

SB, SV

 

Monster is the most not-horrible, barely readable Worm story I've seen recently. That's really the best that can be said for anything in the fandom, so good recommendation.

 

Taylor is out of character, no doubt, but her personality and issues ring true. All powers-related matters aside, we all know kids who "go off the rails" and embrace a years long madness with the same parental disconnect, anger, confusion, and impatience, with their only salves being drugs, alcohol, violence, chaos, sex, and their peers. They can go out and be gods or go home under parental oversight and be normal boring.

Teenagers.

 

Quick notes:

Glassmaker is complete as of yesterday, at 5 chapters. Last couple chapters weren't quite at the same level of quality as the first few, but still fine.

Bittersweet is a story I haven't seen mentioned yet. Features not-insanely-powerful Bio-Tinker!Taylor being kidnapped by Coil. Interesting interactions, people generally don't act stupid, seems to have an update schedule, and the most recent arc just finished (?). Maybe library-worthy?

Defiant is a story I ran across recently. Probably the only Emma viewpoint story I've liked so far. Not much there yet, but seems good.

 

Monster now has a companion piece from Cherie's PoV called How I Met Your Monster (I like that title). One chpater in, I'll withhold judgment until there are more chapters.

 

I'm not a huge fan of defiant, really seems to get Taylor's personality wrong, and it really loses something in the portrayal of Sophia, in short, good idea and bad execution

 

Absolution got another update to it and it's an interlude for Dean. At this point, I just want to get back to Amy and I've wanted that for 2 months or so.

Still, it's a good read!

 

I like how you included that last line. Well, the interlude is not what anyone wants and this story might as well be dead, but the chapter could be worse! Next update in that story is going to end on a cliffhanger with Amy deciding what to do followed by another six month delay.

Honestly the story reminds me a lot of Centipede. Both are massive disappointments. With Centipede continuing to give Taylor everything and Absolution continuing to ride that cliffhanger for months, it really feels like Worm is dead. Honestly I'm annoyed at myself for being so grumpy but god damn.

 

I wish so many Worm writers didn't find it necessary to overload on Interludes like canon did, they very often add nothing of value to the story and just feel like wasted space.

 

Canon used interludes to explore the world. Many weren't directly relevant to the immediate plot events and would only do so later. Eg, consider Canary's interlude as a way to introduce the Birdcage. Or Battery first introducing Cauldron. Others were just about introducing characters before they became important (eg, Purity).

Fanfiction authors in comparison seem to use Interludes as "reaction" chapters. Almost always in reference to something the main character has done. Otherwise, they generally seem to be directly relevant to the current arc and events happening.

Without a major AU that affects all characters or the scope to really explore the wider world of Worm (like say, Agent of Cauldron did), I guess it's hard for most fanfics (which are usually driven off making a limited number of changes to the canon concept and storyline) to really have engaging interludes that actually break new ground.


Edit: That being said, that Atonement interlude was actually pretty interesting. Never seen Dean portrayed that way. Also, never seen Victoria's trigger event.

 

Only Notes does Interludes right. As Jarik says canon interludes are used to explore the world, while that's unnecessary in fanfic interludes - which are rather character studies. So unless you get their voices right (as only Notes does, I think), they all suck.

 

Thanks for the recc. Good read.

 

Centipede does nothing for me. I thought it was okay to start with, but Taylor's growth as a character has been... Self-Loathing Monster => "Lung-Lite" => Weirdly Respected Lesbian Zombie Leviathan Fighter. I so far find the same author's World of Warcraft crossover to be more interesting (and I didn't think I'd make it past the first chapter of that). Taylor, emotionally, isn't very interesting to read in Centipede - and the plot has stalled out since Leviathan (like it usually does...).

I've had a zombie!Taylor story idea that got reignited when Halloween hit us this year. But I don't really feel all that tempted to put the effort into it. It'd be a bit wilder - Bonesaw goes through with one of her threats and unleashes a Zombie Apocalypse upon Brockton. Taylor is at school when the outbreak happens, which would be a fun scene to write. Inevitably, there'd be some drama when she encounters Emma/Sophia ("survivors" in the truest sense). Taylor struggles to keep up with them, until the three of them take a bad turn. Stupid, suicidal, heroic Taylor decides she can use her worthless life to protect the lives of her bullies - and while she does something reckless that saves the three of them, she gets bitten. She triggers as a result of being bitten, but that wouldn't be revealed right away. Sophia would see Taylor as a bit of a badass and Emma would see her as being 'redeemed' for being a strong survivor. Of course, once it turns out she's bit, more drama.

As for her power - Taylor would become a zombie, but she'd retain her independent will. Minor super strength and regeneration. The twist is when she eats brains, she gains thinker/tinker powers! Temporary, but they ramp up and last longer if she eats a lot of juicy brains. Yeah, a little silly, but it's a fun-seeming idea to me. Zombie Tinker Taylor, plus a little drama... plus the plot would be something like, "Panacea surely can cure this plague and stop the S9 nonsense!" so they'd be trying to go on a hunt to find Panacea - who probably is either a Zombie, or Glory Girl is (and so Panacea is too typically moody to help out and be a good person), or some dramatic thing like that. I dunno. It just seems like it'd be more personable and interesting than how Centipede does the whole tokyo ghoul thing (at this point Taylor is just basically just a monstrous changer, I don't see that xover element as contributing much).

 

Pangolin started a story snippets thread (ala Ryuugi's) today: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/pangolins-snips-oneshot-dumpster.454236/

Yellow had a decent scene at the end, with a brief look at Taylor's warped character development, but doesn't seem to have much long term potential. Taylor is grossly OP which could be entertaining in its own right, but that would be outside of Pangolin's demonstrated strengths as he doesn't seem to have strong character arcs.

Stellae Cetacea Arcana had a sort of interesting power mechanic, but lacked a hook. It was a bit boring, really. More could be done with the concept.

Hebert, the Changed Girl was pretty WTF. The QA shard possesses Taylor and tries to pass herself off as the original Taylor for unknown reasons. Humour is derived from QA's ineptness at being human. It's a little similar to the humour in that Emperor-Nero-is-Emma's-sister Worm fic. My favourite snippet so far.

Vanguard: An Aegis Story - I haven't read this one yet.

 

Anybody tried Self Administration? It isn't terrible. Her power is like the inverse of Amelia's, and she ends up sort of teaming with Uber and Leet.