I'm very late to the party, but I finally got into Worm. I've always been aware of its popularity, but the amount of fics it has is just amazing for a webnovel.

What are its best fics by general opinion? Or the most popular since these often are mediocre guilty pleasures.

 

Depends on what you like. The Cenotaph series is probably my favorite.

 

What genre do you want? What part of it do you want to read about? Because depending on what part of Worm you like the list of 'best' fics are very different.

 

98% of the fandom is trash of some degree or other, with only one unambiguously good story IMO. Specifically, notes' stuff, starting with Cenotaph (there's 3 fics total in a series, IIRC, though the third is incomplete, posted both here in WBA and on SB).

Outside of that, the ones that are good enough for me to watch the thread are:

How to Train Your Endbringer - Taylor triggers with the power to control the Endbringers during Leviathan's attack. She also goes a bit crazy in the process and tries to work as a hero with that. It's a goofy premise, but it's written pretty well and quite entertaining, well worth the read IMO.

Constellations - Amaterasu from the Okami games shows up in Brockton Bay, still in her guise of a white wolf, and befriends Taylor. This is almost pure WAFF, where Taylor and her best friend do their own thing and in the process make the city a better and better place. I really like this story a lot, but the readerbase of it is completely fucking insufferable, so I strongly recommend turning on reader mode and ignoring any non-story posts.

How to Drill Your Way Through Your Problems - A Gurren Lagann crossover SI. A guy wakes up in Brockton Bay with Spiral Energy and all that related nonsense and proceeds to be a hero. He ends up forming a hero team with Bakuda, Mouse Protector, and eventually Taylor, while cleaning up the streets. It's long abandoned, but what's there is a good time if you can put up with SIs.

A Subtle Approach - This is another SI, where the SI is inserted as a fourth Endbringer. This Endbringer came to the Fallen and recruited them as his agents to protect Taylor and prepare for the rise of Khepri, but in the nature of fanatical cultists, they managed to misinterpret what he was trying to tell them, and went off to do that instead. The story actually never shows the SI's perspective, it's all told through Taylor's and Valefor's POV, where the Fallen try to be normal and productive human beings and Endbringer cultists at the same time. The way the story's told really elevates it above the premise and it works out quite well.

Imperator - Denys Geneologia, secondary antagonist of Bravely Second (but also a good man), ends up in Brockton Bay after he's defeated in that game. He's taken in by Danny and Taylor until he finds his feet working for the Protectorate as a hero, and shortly thereafter Danny dies. Denys steps in to take care of Taylor as a surrogate father/uncle figure and they both grow as people as a result. It's quite a solid story all around, especially if you know anything of the Bravely games.

Special Edition - Taylor sees the future and shares it with the world through PHO, in the style of news reports. It's based on a movie from years ago, where someone got tomorrow's newspaper every day, and the whole premise is that Taylor sells her predictions to people and serves as a strictly neutral party akin to Toybox. This leans heavily on the PHO excerpts rather than an actual narrative, but it works for it a lot better than it should, and I enjoyed it.

Parental Guidance - Taylor's parents are classic flamboyant comic book thieves, with elaborate Ocean's Eleven style heists and hero-villain rivalries, and they take Taylor under their wing after she triggers. This is an unabashed comedy that's a lot of fun, but it's inherently ridiculous and YMMV with it.

I could probably dig up a few more, these are just the good ones on the first 4-5 pages of my SB thread watchlist, so just let me know if you want more.

 

There's a handful that are recced in the Other Library. Might check that out. But it really depends on your taste, since the vast majority of them are Alt!power fics and a ton are unfinished. Here are some older ones that I enjoyed. The first one is the only one that is canon Taylor, and I think the only one that is actually finished.

Journey of the Dragonfly (Worm Time Travel Divergence)

Centipede [Worm/Tokyo Ghoul]

Flower and The Snake [Worm/Bleach]

Nightingale (Worm/DnD bard!Taylor)

Taylor and the Unseelie Court (Worm/AU)

Silly Villainy (WORM/Harry Potter)

Denial (Worm, Alt-Power, Comedy)

No good deed... (Worm AU)

 

One Bad Day isn't bad, but is pretty short.
Hive Daughter is about a Taylor who is a Tyranid and is pretty much complete.
A Matter for Lawyers and its sequel are about solving the problems of Worm with due process.
Legion is, largely, Taylor/Amy fluff, with some accomplishment porn thrown in (a lot about Taylor studying and growing her various living skills).
Railgun is a totally OP Taylor smashing all the challenges in the setting.
A Propensity for Wrath is a Taylor who makes super awesome equipment by getting pissed off (Warning: story suffers from Author Existence Failure)
A Tale of Transmigration features a Peggy!Sue Taylor with a stronger power in a world with way more parahumans.
Copacetic picks up where canon left off.
Pretty much all of ShayneT's stuff is crossovers that emphasize how ruthless Taylor is and overpowers her. Current story is Kill Them All which is Gamer!Taylor.

 

Nothing specific at the moment. Rather, every fandom has "must read" fics that everyone is aware that they exist and these are fics that I would like to start with.

I'm not against people recommending something less popular that they liked.

If I were to say something more specific then I suppose I always like a good fix-it fic that puts effort into its happy ending.

Thanks Agayek, Heather_Sinclair and DarthBill. I will start with these.

 

Then you might like "Security!", I guess, an unapologetic fix-it in all its sirupy blandness. Everyone and their dog gets their pat on the back.

Maybe peruse some other ack1038's fare. I wouldn't call it good, exactly, but there's a lot of it.

This reddit thread hits quite a few of the most popular Worm fanfics:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WormFanfic/comments/8ae0g3/the_must_reads/

And, if you liked Worm, perhaps you might not want to read Ward. Just saying.

 

Jeez, this is a VERY broad question @Celestin lmao, but btw what's your stance on non-taylor pov fics?
Old but good
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Acolyte
Spirit of Nature
Intrepid (still going, very long)
Starry Eyes
Memories of A Simurgh Victim
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/hindsight-bias-worm.321450/
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10820443/1/An-Imago-of-Rust-and-Crimson

Very AUs
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An Enigmatic Source of Knowledge [Taylor w/ 'powers' from Touhou]
Skitter Studies [Worm crossover w/ Dresden]
Bird

Highly recc'd authors
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Materia Blade -- This is the author that author who wrote (Dominion, really good master!taylor fic) and a bunch of other good shit
JingleJangles' stuff

Popular but Good fics
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Camera Shy


Guilty Pleasures that I fucking loved
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Keeper
that one with the necro!bio-tinker
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/salve-worm-hp.353642/

HAH, avoid acks stuff he only writes mediocre shit, the best thing the worm fandom did was move away from liking his cringe fics as soon as better authors came around and the fandom progressed. Security is particularly bland/sucks and is just a wish fulfillment fic SI from ack.

Oh and yeah Ward sucks as well, it shits over stuff from worm.

Honestly, this is just a really rough list since it's from memory, there's plenty of good fics around and plenty still coming out. When you get tired of taylor povs Id say check out stuff like setanta, oh and for gamer fics a Daring Synthesis, A Bad Name, and Paragamer are the best ones out there.

 

Eh, I dunno, if what someone needs is fix-it, it doesn't get any fix-itter than Security!, heh. All those hugs... maybe one needs them the first time one finishes Worm.

 

Ack is a fucking awful author. They've got one fic that is somewhat decent (Recoil) but even that has problems. Their other work includes gems such as Taylor/Danny and Vista smut.

 

Is it wrong that the thing that bothers me about Taylor/Danny is that I just don't like Danny and not the incest.

 

The problem with the Worm fandom isn't that the vast majority of it is dogshit - since the same is true of any fandom - but rather that even the competent writers there end up writing boring-ass, alt-power shite that invariably lack originality in style or substance.

 

For sure, the stations of canon are so beat by beat in worm fanfic that any generic alt power fic can have the whole plot guessed in a min. Even when they diverge a bit, brockton bay gets tiring sometimes ngl

 

The only fanfic I really remember after diving into the fandom a few years back is Here Be Dragons by Ryuugi which is kind of like being on the other side of a multi-stage boss fight.

 

Tabloid by Babylon Sheep is the best worm fanfic. I rate it just over Cenotaph.

 

I found Yet Another Worm Fanfic. Is there just the one arc? Because that is gold.

 

Respun is a peggy sue that I find very enjoyable.
Wonderful is very fun as well. Both fics are quite tonally light.