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A BOOK SERIES · 2006–2026 SAMPLE

Worm

John C. McCrae (Wildbow)

2 readers recommend it across 2 discussions

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THE WORD OF MOUTH

What made it worth passing on?

Original Hacker News comments, in the readers’ own words.

DuskStar
Wait, HPMOR was lighthearted? That's not quite how I'd describe it. But in the same vein, try Worm [0]: A take on superpowers that tries to include changes to the world it's set in. Highly recommended by the author of HPMOR - "The characters in Worm use their powers so intelligently I didn’t even notice until something like the 10th volume that the alleged geniuses were behaving like actual geniuses". Also now has a sequel, Ward [1]. But be warned - "people who get powers continuing to act like people" does not a happy world make. (Also, it's really remarkably long. Like, current length of the ASOIAF series long.) Goodreads: [2] Following a slightly more conventional definition of lighthearted, I think I'd recommend Larry Niven's Ringworld. When it comes to "moderately plausible megastructures", the ringworld concept is by far my favorite. Much less complicated than a Dyson Swarm, after all! Story is ok, and the sequels expanded things well enough. Not exactly the biggest fan of his female characters. Still worth it. Triple Crown (Hugo/Nebula/Locus) winner. Goodreads: [3] 0: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ 1: https://www.parahumans.net/about/…

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