Worm (web serial) [January 2019 to October 2019 to End Times]

[Elinor]

I loooved the second arc 12 interlude ! This is the stuff I live for : (view spoiler)[the hero and the villain falling in love, the villain reedeming himself and stuff (hide spoiler)] This was so good ^^ I hope to see more relationships like that later on ;p

[Anni]

Elinor Master of Gifs wrote: "Sir Anni wrote: "Elinor Master of Gifs wrote: "I'm still in the interlude of 4 (I think), and I'm not loving the interludes as much as the rest to be honest... except the one with the young good gu..."

That's funny, I like (view spoiler)[ the Nine's Arc way more than the Endbringers... I think the Nine are written very well and really creepy. Before it was just fighting the big, baaaad evil, I did like it, but it was a little insubstantial... Still it was well written and I especially like how real everthing feels, nothing is sugarcoated to be perfect :) (hide spoiler)]

I finished 16.9 (view spoiler)[ The fight against dragon and the Heros was really quick, I'm curious what will happen next, because for sure they won't get much time to recover... (hide spoiler)]

Also Elinor, check your messages ;)

[Elinor]

13.08 : they just (view spoiler)[discovered Brian and OMG that is so so so so awful ! (hide spoiler)]

[Anni]

Arc 16 (view spoiler)[ Woah Coil, that was pretty, pretty sneaky! As they went after Taylor because they thought she attacked them I actually was pretty scared for her! Really interesting how it all turned out, Tattletail is just great :) So are the Undersiders now the big bad, ruling supervillains? (hide spoiler)]

Arc 17 (view spoiler)[ It took me a while to get used to this part, it's really cool to finally learn more about the travelers, but as I didn't know who's who, I was confused... Also didn't Trickster said to Taylor his name is Oliver? That got me confused so bad! And they are brought by an Endbringer from a alternativ reality? Woah, crazy! I still hope they can somehow solve their problems in the end :( (hide spoiler)]

[Anni]

I'm nearly done with Part 3 and to be honest it gets a little repetitive... The more or less evil guys fighting the even more evil guys to save the day 😅 I really hope something refreshing happens soon...

[Elinor]

I'm still in arc 14 I think... Sorry to hear it gets repetitive ! I would love to finish Part 3 before the end of October.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

So... I'm planning to give this another go with Virginie soon... but in the meantime, I came across something useful for web serials like this while helping someone in another group with The Wandering Inn.

This is a web extension for Chrome and Firefox that turns web serials into EPUB files for personal ereader use. I'm just going to copy the instructions I wrote out for that book here, since it makes easily chunkable ebook files, WITHOUT bulky images inflating the filesize.

Have Fun:

**************

I fiddled around with the extension in Chrome for a bit, and made an ebook to test it.

Here's what to do to make EPUBs for yourself:

1) Install the extension in Chrome or Firefox.

Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/de...
Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire...

2) Go to: https://wanderinginn.com/table-of-con... OR https://parahumans.wordpress.com/tabl... or any other web serial's Table of Contents, and click the EPUB Maker button. (it should say "webtoEpub has access to this site" if it's a site it can make EPUBs for.)
3) Click advanced options. Select everything in the stylesheet section and replace it with this: (view spoiler)[

div.svg_outer {
display: block;
margin-bottom: 0;
margin-left: 0;
margin-right: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 0;
padding-top: 0;
text-align: left;
}
div.svg_inner {
display: block;
text-align: center;
}
h1, h2 {
text-align: center;
page-break-before: always;
margin-bottom: 10%;
margin-top: 10%;
}
h3, h4, h5, h6 {
text-align: center;
margin-bottom: 15%;
margin-top: 10%;
}
ol, ul {
padding-left: 8%;
}
body {
margin: 2%;
}
p {
overflow-wrap: break-word;
}
dd, dt, dl {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
img {
display: none;
}
img.inline {
display: none;
}
.thumbcaption {
display: block;
font-size: 0.9em;
padding-right: 5%;
padding-left: 5%;
}
hr {
color: black;
background-color: black;
height: 2px;
}
a:link {
text-decoration: none;
color: #0B0080;
}
a:visited {
text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
}
a:active {
text-decoration: underline;
}table {
width: 90%;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}

(hide spoiler)]

(This is what was in the area already, but I replaced the image/inline image section with code that ignores images. You can also just scroll down to the section about img and img.inline and delete the stuff inside the curly braces and replace with the lines in bold here.) Afterward, you can also uncheck the line about including image URLS. I left the line as a backup, it just adjusts image sizes depending on device screen sizes.

4) Pick a book name, author name, Filename for when it comes time to save, and plug in an image for the book cover. I like enlarging the book covers on goodreads and using those, if they're missing from a book file.

5) Go down to the chapter section and Select none. Then check the first chapter you want. Then scroll down to the last chapter you want and shift click. All checkboxes between will fill in as well.

6) Scroll up to the Advanced Options button and click Pack EPUB. No special characters allowed in filenames.

7) Wait and save file.

8) Load file into your ereader or Calibre or whatever.

** I did this for Volume 1 of Wandering Inn and got a nice 0.8MB book out of it **

Hope this helps with any possible problems you guys might have, and I hope you find this tool as useful as I do now :)

[Yanique, Thread Master]

Timelord Iain wrote: "So... I'm planning to give this another go with Virginie soon... but in the meantime, I came across something useful for web serials like this while helping someone in another group with The Wander..."

I'll try again with you guys too I think. I started, but the inconvenience of it really threw me off.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yanique wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "So... I'm planning to give this another go with Virginie soon... but in the meantime, I came across something useful for web serials like this while helping someone in another..."

I'm at the start of "book" 2 or 3, Virginie is at the start of "book" 5, Virginie is reading a "book" each weekend, so it'll take 6 months to finish. I'm planning to catch up through the end of book 4 to join Virginie next weekend for book 5...

[Virginie]

Thanks for the info, Iain. I already made an ebook of Worm (will send it to any that wants it btw) but it'll be useful for other webnovels :)
I have my sights on Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation since I've watched the first season of the donghua (chinese anime) adaptation.

[Virginie]

Yanique wrote: "I'll try again with you guys too I think. I started, but the inconvenience of it really threw me off."

I'm planning on reading one arc each weekend (I just read arc 4). I think that pace will allow me to keep to events fresh in my mind while mixing in other reads to avoid getting tired of the story.

[Virginie]

Arc 4: (view spoiler)[
- Taylor's story of her trigger event was very, very difficult to read. The sheer amount of bullshit she went through (for no particular reason, we still don't know why Emma turned on her), and after her mom died no less... It's a wonder she hasn't turned villain (yet)!

- Bakuda is INSANE! Building super-bombs is one thing, implanting them in people's brains... *shudders*
Being half-asian myself, I really empathize with those poor asians forced to join the ABB and shoot people under penalty of melting.

- Brutus is a good boy. (hide spoiler)]

[Anni]

Virginie wrote: "Arc 4: "

Yeah, all those parts on bullying are so well written, it's intense and somehow scary. I think someone mentioned before, that the author worked at a school and therefore was able to add all those things he saw. Makes it even more real somehow.

Emma: Actually you will learn more about her reasons, but only much, much later. It's funny, because I just read that part 😁

[Anni]

Elinor Master of Gifs wrote: "I'm still in arc 14 I think... Sorry to hear it gets repetitive ! I would love to finish Part 3 before the end of October."

Well I take back what I said 😅 I'm nearly done with Arc 22 and things get a lot more interesting only a few chapters after my last comment :) The battle scenes are a little repetitive, but shortly afterwards came a twist I don't expected and I can't wait to see what will happen next!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sir Anni wrote: "Elinor Master of Gifs wrote: "I'm still in arc 14 I think... Sorry to hear it gets repetitive ! I would love to finish Part 3 before the end of October."

Well I take back what I said 😅 I'm nearly ..."

I read a bunch of spoilers at the beginning of the year, when I was trying to get a feel for the monstrosity, and from what I can tell, there are a number of game-changing sequences throughout the "book" that take the story in unexpected directions...

[Anni]

Absolutely! It's far from being predictable. How far are you and Virginie right now?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sir Anni wrote: "Absolutely! It's far from being predictable. How far are you and Virginie right now?"

Not entirely sure... Virginie recently bumped it up from 1 arc per weekend to 2, so she's probably approaching Arc 10... I decided to start over to refresh my memory, and read the first arc a few days ago, before getting mired in BRs again...

Right now I'm trying out an audiobook at 3x speed (Agatha H #2, reread), and reading Dragon Republic (Poppy War #2) in pieces, and about to start Arm of the Sphinx (Books of Babel #2) and Wild Justice (Nadia Stafford #3)

[Virginie]

Just finished arc 9, will read 10 tonight!

I was a bit late so I ended binging arc 5 to 8. Was planning on commenting on each arc, had a bunch of stuff I wanted to say & made a list in my head. Then I read arc 8, and every thought was pretty much replaced by "What? No... This can't be happening... No no no! Wait, WHAT? WHAT THE HELL?!? NOOOOO!"

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I started over when I picked this book back up, since I didn't get too far... I remembered a lot of the story, despite it being 9 months since I read Arcs 1-3... I'm on Arc 3 again now, and feel much as I did the first time so far... (view spoiler)[MC is unfortunate to have such creepy powers despite wanting to be a hero... her school life is shit, and I'm glad I never had to deal with anything like that (I think my size by high school helped)... and the villains are more likeable than the heroes... complicated world... (hide spoiler)]

I think I'm going to get serious about this and try to power through... I'll probably comment at the end of each new-to-me Arc...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Also, I found this useful wiki for anyone that wants to make sure they're not missing details or are forgetting while reading over a long period of time:

https://worm.fandom.com/wiki/Worm_Wiki

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Arc 4: (view spoiler)[the pacing, novella chunking, of this book/series definitely means crazy shit can happen at almost any moment... the wiki is definitely helping me keep track of all the characters, Heroes/Villains being thrown into the story... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

5.3-5.4: (view spoiler)[I was surprised and happy to see Taylor tell her dad about Emma and the bullying, but shouldn't have been surprised when nothing good came of it through the school... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

5.8/5.9: Today seems to be my day for jumpscares (spiderweb in car while driving, mentioned in Random Chatter)... (view spoiler)[I was NOT expecting the demonic dog growl sound effect, the first one about gave me a heart attack... then the thing with the eyeballs... Taylor is getting very mercenary in her actions, very quick, for an "undercover Cape"... I love her ability to be a one-woman tech support for operations, tho... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sir Anni wrote: "I'm in the middle of Arc 5, how's everyone else doing? :) I was a little scared afted so many bowed out or dnfed, but I really enjoy it so far :)

Arc 4 [spoilers removed]

I like how we see other..."

For sure... I like how Rein or whatever his name is, does enough of the chapters to have a semi-consistent narration experience, but the voices and revert-edited animal/monster noises are hit or miss, imo...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Made it to the start of Arc 7... seems like a good pausing point for the day... (view spoiler)[interesting to see where this goes, now that Taylor has decided to give the Undersiders a go without secrets, and stop planning to turn them over to the Wards/etc... situation with her dad is getting pretty rough tho... (hide spoiler)]

Most Interludes feel like prequel backstories for characters about to become important in the next book/arc... some of the chapter jumps are pretty abrupt tho... half the time I feel lost for the first page or two, until I figure out what's going on, again...

[Anni]

Hui, a bunch of updates :)
I finished it on Friday and I'm still undecided if I should rate it 3 or 4 stars. I did enjoy the story-arc overall and the way the author pictured all the conflicts was really great. I also liked how dark and miserable the story sometimes were and that you were never sure that a character would come out of the conflict alive.
But as I said before by the last 2-3 parts, I was a little bored by the repetitive pattern. It felt a little like an episodic TV series, what evil oponent are we facing today?
I'm also not sure at all what I thought about the ending... It was crazy! I won't write a spoiler because I don't want you Iain to open it and spoil yourself 😂

But I'm glad you like it so far Iain. I had the same problem with the interludes... It always took me some time to figure out who we're following now and what's going on. But in the end every interlude that felt out of place at the time made sense and was useful to understand the actions of different characters and I think they were nicely set up.

The "sound effects" were indeed hit or miss (as were some of the narrators, sorry 🙈), but I think in general the audiobook was really well done for a non-profit project and I appreciate all the effort they put into it. Maybe if you and Virginie (and maybe Elinor? :) ) are done we can think about doing the sequel as well? If I understand it correctly Rein is doing the audio on his own and listening to new episodes as they are published (so far they are 11 Arcs) would be fun too, I think.

[Shae]

Wow - well done Anni! I'm completely impressed that you got through this monster tome :-)

[Anni]

Thanks :) If you consider the tine it took me, it's far less impressive tho 😂

[Zaara]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Also, I found this useful wiki for anyone that wants to make sure they're not missing details or are forgetting while reading over a long period of time"

Thanks...this'll be super useful next year when I read. I've deferred my start bcuz I'm not playing in thecontest this year and will like the points for my (future) team.

Sir Anni wrote: "Hui, a bunch of updates :)
I finished it on Friday and I'm still undecided if I should rate it 3 or 4 stars. I did enjoy the story..."

@SIRKNIGHT congrats once more on slaying this beast...

Possibly the cutest image on DeviantArt!

Also I did (try) to upload a GIF on your relevant status update but it failed so you got a ugly link instead...😂

[Anni]

Zaara wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Also, I found this useful wiki for anyone that wants to make sure they're not missing details or are forgetting while reading over a long period of time"

Thanks...this'll be ..."

I saw and I'm still going through things I want to reply to :) So let's start with my thanks here, a great picture, I think the artist took an actual photo of me fighting a dragon to create this masterpiece. My horse is grey as well and when going dragon-slaying I of course always wear my red boots!

[Zaara]

I think it goes well with your antennaed helmet and cloak of royal blue!

[Anni]

Zaara wrote: "I think it goes well with your antennaed helmet and cloak of royal blue!"

Awww, thanks! I was wondering if the antenna would be a bit off, but it does help with my phone reception and the helmetmaker reassured me it's absolutely trendy. Also have you seen my big sword there? 😂

[Zaara]

Sir Anni wrote: "Also have you seen my big sword there? 😂 "
ah I was wondering when that'd come up...😂
So shall we call you VladAnni the Impaler then....

[Elinor]

Sir Anni you're positively gorgeous on this picture. Love the boots.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

@Zaara: I don't even know what to say :D

@Anni: Chapter 7/8... things be getting crazy... (view spoiler)[it's interesting how, in times of crisis, Heroes and Villains work together... but the death tolls here are hard to fathom... (hide spoiler)]

Re:spoilers: I spoiled large swathes of the book early this year, to get a feel for the scope of the book...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Up to Arc 12 now... I can definitely agree that the story is a bit repetitive... it's kind of like watching a show like Dragonball Z, where each storyline is just a bigger and more dangerous enemy...

It's fun watching Taylor's control/powers grow, tho...

The Interludes can be a bit excessive at times, but I think some of them were added later, and as rewards for donation thresholds...

I also don't know if I'd be able to follow everything without the wiki... there are just SO many characters, and little time spent trying to help track all the names/characters/identities... just trusts you...

[Virginie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Up to Arc 12 now... I can definitely agree that the story is a bit repetitive... it's kind of like watching a show like Dragonball Z, where each storyline is just a bigger and more dangerous enemy...."

Heh... I'm not finding the fights that repetitive, and am really enjoying the new strategies Taylor come up with on the spot. Same with the characters (and their powers), I'm not having that much trouble. I've always had a good memory though, and the fact I'm reading and not listening could be part of it.
That said, I really think Worm (and Dragon Ball Z :p) is not meant to be binged. I'm breaking it off with others reads/short stories after every significant action scene. Gives me time to process, adjust my mental image of who can do/knows what, and speculate a bit. I imagine the people reading along as it was published 2/3 chapters a week had a similar experience :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Virginie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Up to Arc 12 now... I can definitely agree that the story is a bit repetitive... it's kind of like watching a show like Dragonball Z, where each storyline is just a bigger and..."

Not the fights, so much as the structure... I was describing the repetition of DBZ more than WORM... Arc 11-12 has the 2nd or 3rd threat big enough for the Heroes/Villains to meet up and plan...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Virginie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Up to Arc 12 now... I can definitely agree that the story is a bit repetitive... it's kind of like watching a show like Dragonball Z, where each storyline is just a bigger and..."

Yea... I'm going about it wrong, for sure... I'm also listening at triple speed unless the new narrator for a section is super fast and I drop to 2.5x... I prefer Rein over most other narrators...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think my problem is I struggle to read things in small doses... if the story was broken into sizable chunks (3-6 arcs = a superarc or something) I might be able to easily take breaks, but as it is, this is the best I've done at reading the book all year...

[Virginie]

Well, I think we could define super-arcs... I'd say arcs 1-8 (view spoiler)[ending with Leviathan's attack, which leveled parts of the city and completely changed the game (hide spoiler)], then 9-14 (view spoiler)[ as the Slaughterhouse 9 arc, with the Ward Arc (9) as a prologue & first introduction of the 9's work, and ending with the remnant of the 9 leaving the city (hide spoiler)].
I'll have to read more to give you the next good break spot. Or maybe Anni could? :)

[Virginie]

Actually, it might help future readers if you edit your first few comments to have more break-friendly 'parts/super-arc'. I refined my ebook as well, and can give you a definite page count for each arc :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Good idea... it's easy to just keep powering through, because the timeline of this book is crazy short, relatively... according to the wiki, page 1 starts on April 11th 2011 (around when the web-serial started publishing, I think)... Leviathan happened in May, (view spoiler)[Slaughterhouse 9 (hide spoiler)] happens in June... if there wasn't a 2 year Timeskip around Arc 22, the timeline would be under a year, I think, similar to my discussions of the crazy timeline of 7 seasons of True Blood...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I repurposed my 5th comment for the Super-Arcs and called them Origin Story and The S9 to avoid spoilers... left Super-Arcs 3-5 TBD... from what I know/remember, I think there are at least 5 arcs...

Looking at the wiki, I think we can call the last arc (view spoiler)[End of the World (hide spoiler)] the event Dinah can see 2-15 years in the future, and (view spoiler)[the Timeskip (hide spoiler)] is probably an arc... and there's another (view spoiler)[Endbringer fight (hide spoiler)] at some point... one of the biggest spoilers I remember reading about should be coming up soon, too, around Arc 17 (view spoiler)[with Taylor joining the Wards, probably through manipulation by Dragon, who knows her identity... (hide spoiler)]

[Virginie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I repurposed my 5th comment for the Super-Arcs and called them Origin Story and The S9 to avoid spoilers... left Super-Arcs 3-5 TBD... from what I know/remember, I think there are at least 5 arcs....."

Yeah, 5 seems about right...
Not opening any of those spoilers, since I managed to steer clear of them so far :p

[Virginie]

If you want to edit message #3 for a more accurate page count:

Arc 1: Gestation = 59 pages [1 to 59]
Arc 2: Insinuation = 92 pages [60 to 151]
Arc 3: Agitation = 139 pages [152 to 290]
Arc 4: Shell = 142 pages [291 to 432]
Arc 5: Hive = 148 pages [433 to 580]
Arc 6: Tangle = 168 pages [581 to 748]
Arc 7: Buzz = 182 pages [749 to 930]
Arc 8: Extermination = 200 pages [931 to 1130]
Arc 9: Sentinel = 138 pages [1131 to 1268]
Arc 10: Parasite = 150 pages [1269 to 1418]
Arc 11: Infestation = 325 pages [1419 to 1743]
Arc 12: Plague = 227 pages [1744 to 1970]
Arc 13: Snare = 248 pages [1971 to 2218]
Arc 14: Prey = 305 pages [2219 to 2523]
Arc 15: Colony = 330 pages [2524 to 2853]
Arc 16: Monarch = 371 pages [2854 to 3224]
Arc 17: Migration = 229 pages [3225 to 3453]
Arc 18: Queen = 334 pages [3454 to 3787]
Arc 19: Scourge = 282 pages [3788 to 4069]
Arc 20: Chrysalis = 179 pages [4070 to 4248]
Arc 21: Imago = 241 pages [4249 to 4489]
Arc 22: Cell = 253 pages [4490 to 4742]
Arc 23: Drone = 198 pages [4743 to 4940]
Arc 24: Crushed = 243 pages [4941 to 5183]
Arc 25: Scarab = 238 pages [5184 to 5421]
Arc 26: Sting = 379 pages [5422 to 5800]
Arc 27: Extinction = 199 pages [5801 to 5999]
Arc 28: Cockroaches = 224 pages [6000 to 6223]
Arc 29: Venom = 325 pages [6224 to 6548]
Arc 30: Speck = 230 pages [6549 to 6778]
Arc 31: Teneral = 222 pages [6779 to 7000]

Which puts Super-arc 1 at 1130 pages, and 2 at 1393.

[Anni]

Virginie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Up to Arc 12 now... I can definitely agree that the story is a bit repetitive... it's kind of like watching a show like Dragonball Z, where each storyline is just a bigger and..."

I agree, I think it's absolutely a book you should take your time with and read in smaller chunks.
It also took me longer to get a bit annoyed by the repetitive-ness, around Arc 20, I think...

I agree that you could well divide this into smaller "books" depending on who we're fighting right now. I'm afraid I'm not a big help with what Arc should go where, I can name key events, but can't remember what exactly happend in which Arc...

[Anni]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I repurposed my 5th comment for the Super-Arcs and called them Origin Story and The S9 to avoid spoilers... left Super-Arcs 3-5 TBD... from what I know/remember, I think there are at least 5 arcs....."

I think the event you mentioned in your Arc 17 spoiler happend later, more like Arc 21 I think

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Virginie wrote: "If you want to edit message #3 for a more accurate page count:

Arc 1: Gestation = 59 pages [1 to 59]
Arc 2: Insinuation = 92 pages [60 to 151]
Arc 3: Agitation = 139 pages [152 to 290]
Arc 4: Shel..."

I just linked to this comment on page 1, for now... I will update my sheet with these numbers, tho...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think I gained a half a point from that adjustment... probably because the end was the most inaccurate... in general it seemed about 50/50 on over/underestimates... and most were only off by a page or 10...