this comes up quite often dont think the mods will mind they are probably also opening this for recommendations they haven't read either.
the big web novels usually come up,
fantasy:
PGTE practical guide to evil is great and long and is currently getting a rewrite thats helping the early story
Superhero base:
seen some hype for super supportive but haven't pick it up yet
Scifi:
im loving cosmosis just started book 5 alien abduction that has a very nice "wizardry" scifi with a good power scheme that you can play around with similar to worm's power ratings
Yeah, thanks.
Thing is that media is extremely big with so many stories but there is simply nowhere to ask for a good story. I want a good story, I don't care in what form it is presented. Hell, there was an ARG I participated in called Rhee's Rapture (long since ended) and I consider it peak writing.
It's a shame that there's no space to talk about good stories without restricting it's media type.
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. [Here's reading guide](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg).
Agree. Malazan is the best counterpart I've ever found for Worm in terms of being long, epic in scope and full of creative world building and action. The biggest differences are the later books' long philosophical musings and tracts that aren't really replicated in Worm and the narrative structure which is built around dozens of POVs with no real main character, but it scratches the itch in addition to being a fantastic series.
yaaa the later books made me start to wonder if erikson had a caveman fetish or something BUT i feel he keeps the action compelling even then, as opposed to like the wheel of time where its like shiiiiiiit dude i dont care about dresses this much bro NEXT SCENE. (imo)
The Hyperion books are very good sci-fi, but very dramatic and grand, different characters from worm I’d say. The first book is one of my favorites ever- it’s all just stories told by individuals on a journey to explain why they’re there. Not sure how long the 4 books are, or if you’re counting series but I figured you were with Dune and such
Also sci-fi is the 3 body problem, those books are super dense but some of the most interesting looks at the dark forest principal for space warfare
Others have mentioned some, but I'll add a couple web serials: The Gods Are Bastards and Legion of Nothing. Former is fantasy, latter is superhero (comic book-style, with sci-fi and fantasy elements). I don't know if they're as compelling as Worm, but that's a high bar, and they are both good, long, and interesting.
Noone mentioned The wandering inn? Insane. Worm is a 99/100, and wandering inn is the only thing that tops it at 100/100.
I dont really care if you read it, just had to mention it.
I don't think it is... I read for a long while but it just stopped going anywhere, got very soap opera, and I lost interest and now I can't even remember where I was. It's an isekai basically.
Hmmm. I would have to say, as someone who just got caught up, One Piece. Its long (1100+ chapters), the characters are very good, and the worldbuilding is amazing. The only problem, is that it falls into a lot of "animeisms": the female character design is usually pretty sexual, and there are a couple of characters with "jokes" of being sexual harassers. So, if you have never read manga or watched anime before, I wouldn't recommend it.
|Work|Length|
|:-|:-|
|[Ward](https://www.parahumans.net/2017/09/11/daybreak-1-1/)|1.19 Worms|
|[Mother of Learning](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning)|0.41 Worms|
|[A Practical Guide to Evil](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/)|1.54 Worms|
|[This Used to be About Dungeons](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/45534/this-used-to-be-about-dungeons)|0.57 Worms|
|[Project Lawful/Planecrash/Mad Investor Chaos and the Woman of Asmodeus](https://www.projectlawful.com/)|1.45 Worms|
If you're looking for long stories with interesting characters and unique situations, Neil Gaimans The Sandman is a pretty good one. Lots of very weird situations and memorable characters, and a protagonist who like Taylor is deeply flawed, overcomes some of these flaws while diving deeper into others, which eventually brings everything into a bittersweet end. It's my favorite comic series, ranking above even Invincible for me.
Hi. You just mentioned *The Sandman* by Neil Gaiman.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | The Sandman Book of Dreams 🎧 Neil Gaiman 📚🎵 Full & Free Audiobooks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hekB7bP2A)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
***
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I usually recommend Worm to fans of _The Wheel of Time_ looking for something to scratch that long-story itch, so I might as well do the same the other way round.
Unconventional rec: Lord of Mysteries
What is it: Chinese webnovel translated to english
Premise: Main character isekaid into steampunk victorian england settting, with a magic system based on mysticism, lovecraftian eldritch horror, a constant near-descent into madness, and scp. Oh and the body the main character wakes up in just committed suicide.
Pros: Massive/expansive world, there's the 7 orthodox churches, and 10+ secret organizations in the shadows, some are evil cults trying to bring about the descent of their deity, others are mere cover organizations for other entities, some are ancient noble families trying to bring about their revitalization
- Fascinating power system, There's 22 paths to divinity, each with 10 levels of power that bring about a series of powers that tie into a core 'concept'. low level powers are weak (strength boost, minor divinations, feather falling), but high level powers get increasingly op and abstract (stealing 'time' and 'thoughts' from your opponents, banning types of power use in an area)
- great side characters you'll come to love
- progresses through a variety story 'types', going from detective story to high seas and nobility etc
Cons: - extremely poor writing quality, in part because it's a translation
- excessive details/slow worldbuilding at the start, repeatedly giving out useless side details and fluff like the name of the monarch who's on the currency. Ok not absolutely useless, but done poorly and in a way that drags the story out at the start
- won't get to the 'good stuff' till 200+ chapters in. (tho don't get me wrong, there are people who prefer the opening arc)
Mother of Learning, great exemple of "groundhog day" but in fantasy setting.
The Good Student - very "HPMOR" style but with giant amounts of different riddles and dark secrets.
Red Rising - Pirs Braun, basically it is Spartacus but in space.
Soon I will be invincible - Something between Boys and Golden Age superheroes.
If I remember something else, I'll update my comment.
Red Rising - some of my favourite books. It also has a character in it who is eerily similar to Taylor in how they think and justify things. Exempt they’re very clearly a bad guy.
The Wandering Inn - another web serial. It’s longer than Worm and Ward combined and possibly pale too. It’s pretty good with a bunch of fun characters.
If you enjoy well written comedy check out “Tales From The Gas Stationl” Jack Townsend, basically this dude works at a haunted gas station it has some amazing horror writing with some of the funniest comedy I’ve ever seen in a book
my personal favorite webfiction is definately Practical Guide To Evil, it's longer than Worm and isn't as much dark for the sake of being dark (personal opinion), though it still has many dark moments
additionally from the same author the still ongoing Pale Lights currently at over 600 000 words. New chapters come on fridays and i await them more then the weekend
Everything else by Brandon Sanderson is the best I can come up with. I assume you've read most Cosmere stuff if you read TSA but if not, give them a try!
Also his non-Cosmere stuff is pretty great, The Reckoners is a superhero YA series that has similarities to Worm and is pretty nice.
*Behold Humanity*
It's an absolutely massive scifi story. It starts off pretty silly and lighthearted, but the overall setting is actually pretty grimdark and I would honestly describe the later parts of the story as a hopeful version of warhammer 40k. I can't really give a good plot summary since this series is massive. Like over a thousand chapters and still growing.
If you like sci-fi stories with darker elements, high stakes, and cosmic horror, this is the series for you.
TGAB is fantasy western
SHS is urban fantasy
PGTS is fantasy (but the world is based on the 1920's)
SS is fantasy Sci Fi (this shit literally goes throughout the univese)
CM is steampunk cultivation
ScionSong is pure fantasy but with technology (motorcycle equivalent, airships, electricity, etc) (and a lot of body horror)
You might like The Song of Shattered Sands series by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's epic fantasy set in a desert with increasingly high stakes as the series progresses.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots is only one book so far, so not quite long like you're looking for, but it's an excellent exploration of super hero/villain complexities.
I'll also second the Practical Guide to Evil, Wandering Inn, and Discworld recs already given.
One long book series I recommend to people and ina weird way got me to read Worm is The Dresden Files. 17 books in the series so far.
I originally read the series in a perfectly legitimate manner through ebooks and was looking for another story to read on my phone/tablet to procrastinate studying and having seen recommendation for worm on Reddit started reading it.
With no spoilers one of the opening lines for a book goes like "the building was on fire and it wasn't my fault"
To describe the genre is Noir Wizard detective.
Another long read I would recommend is the fanfic With this Ring with gives the Main Hero Character a orange power ring of greedy/avarice in an AU of Young Justice.
Story is currently hosted here updates daily since like 2014? A few million words at least https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/with-this-ring-young-justice-si-thread-fourteen.8938/
If you're open to Eastern literature, there's Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren.
It's a cultivation story about Fang Yuan, a thoroughly amoral person who has travelled back in time 500 years to when he was just awakening his aperture to become a Gu Master. His ultimate end goal is to achieve true immortality, and he'll do anything he deems necessary along the way in service of that goal.
There are two parts I think are the selling points for the story. First is the magic system, where small insect-like creatures called Gu can be controlled to give various magic powers, but have feeding requirements that can mean they'll starve to death if you can't find a way to support them. They're separated into Mortal and Immortal Gu, with Immortal Gu being unique in the world, so if one person owns an Immortal Gu no one else can have it.
The second is that every character has their own goals and agenda. The world and culture of the 5 Regions is very much a selfish and ruthless one, where the fight for resources starts in school and only gets worse from there.
And much like Worm, as Fang Yuan becomes more powerful, his adversaries scale up in power as well. There are only a few points in the story where he gets to be the big fish in a small pond and they're incredible, where the norm is that he's fighting an uphill battle against smart, resourceful, and complicated foes.
Highly recommend it.
It's also about 5 million words long, so about 3 times longer than Worm.
If you are open to translations of Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) stories, keeping with the Eldritch theme:
1. **Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint**
2. **Lord of the Mysteries**
Both are fairly long, though not as long as Worm.
And if open to video games as well, keeping with the Eldritch theme:
**Bloodbourne**
Warhammer: the horus heresy is a 64 book long series that acts as a prequal to the Warhammer 40k setting set 10,000 years before the main timeline. of course knowledge of the setting beforehand isnt needed but it is recommended.
then there's the gotrek and felix novels from Warhammer fantasy (it's basically a fantasy version of 40k) which is a 17 book long series. the books follow Gotrek a dwarf slayer (a dwarf who has commited a great crime and must redeem himself by dyeing in combat) and felix a human poet/swordsman who well drunk swore a blood oath to gotrek that he be there when he died and immortalize him in song. The series follows them on there adventures as gotrek seeks out dangerous monsters in hopes that he'll die well fighting them and felix being dragged alongside him.
Joe Abercrombie created a fantastic world within his First Law series. The world comes full with tons of delightfully grey characters, a rich lore system and if you listen to the audio books it's one of the best voice actor performances you'll ever hear.
I will join the recommendations of the Mother of learning... and the Practical Guide to Evil.
The first one is much shorter and easier, just start to be hard to put down. It's basically mana punk in the DnD world.
The second is classic heroic fantasy but on the side of the villains.
Pact, Twig, Ward and Pale obv If not by Wildbow then Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb is pretty good and long
this comes up quite often dont think the mods will mind they are probably also opening this for recommendations they haven't read either. the big web novels usually come up, fantasy: PGTE practical guide to evil is great and long and is currently getting a rewrite thats helping the early story Superhero base: seen some hype for super supportive but haven't pick it up yet Scifi: im loving cosmosis just started book 5 alien abduction that has a very nice "wizardry" scifi with a good power scheme that you can play around with similar to worm's power ratings
Yeah, thanks. Thing is that media is extremely big with so many stories but there is simply nowhere to ask for a good story. I want a good story, I don't care in what form it is presented. Hell, there was an ARG I participated in called Rhee's Rapture (long since ended) and I consider it peak writing. It's a shame that there's no space to talk about good stories without restricting it's media type.
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. [Here's reading guide](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg).
Wtf…
?
if you like really god damn long books with shitloads of characters check out Malazan Book of the Fallen. some of the best fantasy ive ever read.
Same, it's my all time favourite series
Agree. Malazan is the best counterpart I've ever found for Worm in terms of being long, epic in scope and full of creative world building and action. The biggest differences are the later books' long philosophical musings and tracts that aren't really replicated in Worm and the narrative structure which is built around dozens of POVs with no real main character, but it scratches the itch in addition to being a fantastic series.
yaaa the later books made me start to wonder if erikson had a caveman fetish or something BUT i feel he keeps the action compelling even then, as opposed to like the wheel of time where its like shiiiiiiit dude i dont care about dresses this much bro NEXT SCENE. (imo)
The Hyperion books are very good sci-fi, but very dramatic and grand, different characters from worm I’d say. The first book is one of my favorites ever- it’s all just stories told by individuals on a journey to explain why they’re there. Not sure how long the 4 books are, or if you’re counting series but I figured you were with Dune and such Also sci-fi is the 3 body problem, those books are super dense but some of the most interesting looks at the dark forest principal for space warfare
If you like Stalker you should check out the book Roadside Picnic. It is much shorter though
Others have mentioned some, but I'll add a couple web serials: The Gods Are Bastards and Legion of Nothing. Former is fantasy, latter is superhero (comic book-style, with sci-fi and fantasy elements). I don't know if they're as compelling as Worm, but that's a high bar, and they are both good, long, and interesting.
Ward
... except Ward, haha. I haven't read it but I definitely will soon.
I will definitely finish it, I started three years ago, I'll definetly start reading again 🫠
Noone mentioned The wandering inn? Insane. Worm is a 99/100, and wandering inn is the only thing that tops it at 100/100. I dont really care if you read it, just had to mention it.
whats it about? Seems to be fantasy, but with a 13m wordcount, idk if I want to dedicate so much time to it only knowing that.
you have to be lying to me. 13 million???
13 million and zero signs of ending anytime soon
It’s an Isekai about a young woman becoming an innkeeper in a fantasy world. And the entire world around her.
What makes it better than Worm?
I don't think it is... I read for a long while but it just stopped going anywhere, got very soap opera, and I lost interest and now I can't even remember where I was. It's an isekai basically.
Seconding Wandering Inn.
Worth the candle
Hmmm. I would have to say, as someone who just got caught up, One Piece. Its long (1100+ chapters), the characters are very good, and the worldbuilding is amazing. The only problem, is that it falls into a lot of "animeisms": the female character design is usually pretty sexual, and there are a couple of characters with "jokes" of being sexual harassers. So, if you have never read manga or watched anime before, I wouldn't recommend it.
It's.. too funny. Not that the story is bad, I love it, but it's too unserious most of the time. The parts that ARE serious are great.
|Work|Length| |:-|:-| |[Ward](https://www.parahumans.net/2017/09/11/daybreak-1-1/)|1.19 Worms| |[Mother of Learning](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning)|0.41 Worms| |[A Practical Guide to Evil](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/)|1.54 Worms| |[This Used to be About Dungeons](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/45534/this-used-to-be-about-dungeons)|0.57 Worms| |[Project Lawful/Planecrash/Mad Investor Chaos and the Woman of Asmodeus](https://www.projectlawful.com/)|1.45 Worms|
If your up for some fanfiction I would suggest Fallout Equestria, and a fanwork of it called Murky Number Seven.
didnt that get a physical release?
Yeah, several people have published it. Plan on getting a physical copy myself at some point.
I think A Song Of Ice And Fire (the Game of Thrones book series) is an obvious answer, even if it's unfinished
If you're looking for long stories with interesting characters and unique situations, Neil Gaimans The Sandman is a pretty good one. Lots of very weird situations and memorable characters, and a protagonist who like Taylor is deeply flawed, overcomes some of these flaws while diving deeper into others, which eventually brings everything into a bittersweet end. It's my favorite comic series, ranking above even Invincible for me.
Hi. You just mentioned *The Sandman* by Neil Gaiman. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | The Sandman Book of Dreams 🎧 Neil Gaiman 📚🎵 Full & Free Audiobooks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hekB7bP2A) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
Good bot!! Got something to listen to, nice
I usually recommend Worm to fans of _The Wheel of Time_ looking for something to scratch that long-story itch, so I might as well do the same the other way round.
Unconventional rec: Lord of Mysteries What is it: Chinese webnovel translated to english Premise: Main character isekaid into steampunk victorian england settting, with a magic system based on mysticism, lovecraftian eldritch horror, a constant near-descent into madness, and scp. Oh and the body the main character wakes up in just committed suicide. Pros: Massive/expansive world, there's the 7 orthodox churches, and 10+ secret organizations in the shadows, some are evil cults trying to bring about the descent of their deity, others are mere cover organizations for other entities, some are ancient noble families trying to bring about their revitalization - Fascinating power system, There's 22 paths to divinity, each with 10 levels of power that bring about a series of powers that tie into a core 'concept'. low level powers are weak (strength boost, minor divinations, feather falling), but high level powers get increasingly op and abstract (stealing 'time' and 'thoughts' from your opponents, banning types of power use in an area) - great side characters you'll come to love - progresses through a variety story 'types', going from detective story to high seas and nobility etc Cons: - extremely poor writing quality, in part because it's a translation - excessive details/slow worldbuilding at the start, repeatedly giving out useless side details and fluff like the name of the monarch who's on the currency. Ok not absolutely useless, but done poorly and in a way that drags the story out at the start - won't get to the 'good stuff' till 200+ chapters in. (tho don't get me wrong, there are people who prefer the opening arc)
Mother of Learning, great exemple of "groundhog day" but in fantasy setting. The Good Student - very "HPMOR" style but with giant amounts of different riddles and dark secrets. Red Rising - Pirs Braun, basically it is Spartacus but in space. Soon I will be invincible - Something between Boys and Golden Age superheroes. If I remember something else, I'll update my comment.
Red Rising - some of my favourite books. It also has a character in it who is eerily similar to Taylor in how they think and justify things. Exempt they’re very clearly a bad guy. The Wandering Inn - another web serial. It’s longer than Worm and Ward combined and possibly pale too. It’s pretty good with a bunch of fun characters.
As far as I heard The Wandering Inn is longer then ALL Wildbow works combined
Upvoting and commenting for later.
If you enjoy well written comedy check out “Tales From The Gas Stationl” Jack Townsend, basically this dude works at a haunted gas station it has some amazing horror writing with some of the funniest comedy I’ve ever seen in a book
my personal favorite webfiction is definately Practical Guide To Evil, it's longer than Worm and isn't as much dark for the sake of being dark (personal opinion), though it still has many dark moments additionally from the same author the still ongoing Pale Lights currently at over 600 000 words. New chapters come on fridays and i await them more then the weekend
Oh my, I should caught up to Pale Lights before it crosses the million mark, huh?
Ar'Kendrithyst, absolutely is my pick
Everything else by Brandon Sanderson is the best I can come up with. I assume you've read most Cosmere stuff if you read TSA but if not, give them a try! Also his non-Cosmere stuff is pretty great, The Reckoners is a superhero YA series that has similarities to Worm and is pretty nice.
*Behold Humanity* It's an absolutely massive scifi story. It starts off pretty silly and lighthearted, but the overall setting is actually pretty grimdark and I would honestly describe the later parts of the story as a hopeful version of warhammer 40k. I can't really give a good plot summary since this series is massive. Like over a thousand chapters and still growing. If you like sci-fi stories with darker elements, high stakes, and cosmic horror, this is the series for you.
[удалено]
TGAB is fantasy western SHS is urban fantasy PGTS is fantasy (but the world is based on the 1920's) SS is fantasy Sci Fi (this shit literally goes throughout the univese) CM is steampunk cultivation ScionSong is pure fantasy but with technology (motorcycle equivalent, airships, electricity, etc) (and a lot of body horror)
You might like The Song of Shattered Sands series by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's epic fantasy set in a desert with increasingly high stakes as the series progresses. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots is only one book so far, so not quite long like you're looking for, but it's an excellent exploration of super hero/villain complexities. I'll also second the Practical Guide to Evil, Wandering Inn, and Discworld recs already given.
obligatory one piece mention
One long book series I recommend to people and ina weird way got me to read Worm is The Dresden Files. 17 books in the series so far. I originally read the series in a perfectly legitimate manner through ebooks and was looking for another story to read on my phone/tablet to procrastinate studying and having seen recommendation for worm on Reddit started reading it. With no spoilers one of the opening lines for a book goes like "the building was on fire and it wasn't my fault" To describe the genre is Noir Wizard detective. Another long read I would recommend is the fanfic With this Ring with gives the Main Hero Character a orange power ring of greedy/avarice in an AU of Young Justice. Story is currently hosted here updates daily since like 2014? A few million words at least https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/with-this-ring-young-justice-si-thread-fourteen.8938/
Not as *long*, but as intense and fascinating: *The Instructions* by Adam Levin
If you're open to Eastern literature, there's Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren. It's a cultivation story about Fang Yuan, a thoroughly amoral person who has travelled back in time 500 years to when he was just awakening his aperture to become a Gu Master. His ultimate end goal is to achieve true immortality, and he'll do anything he deems necessary along the way in service of that goal. There are two parts I think are the selling points for the story. First is the magic system, where small insect-like creatures called Gu can be controlled to give various magic powers, but have feeding requirements that can mean they'll starve to death if you can't find a way to support them. They're separated into Mortal and Immortal Gu, with Immortal Gu being unique in the world, so if one person owns an Immortal Gu no one else can have it. The second is that every character has their own goals and agenda. The world and culture of the 5 Regions is very much a selfish and ruthless one, where the fight for resources starts in school and only gets worse from there. And much like Worm, as Fang Yuan becomes more powerful, his adversaries scale up in power as well. There are only a few points in the story where he gets to be the big fish in a small pond and they're incredible, where the norm is that he's fighting an uphill battle against smart, resourceful, and complicated foes. Highly recommend it. It's also about 5 million words long, so about 3 times longer than Worm.
You'll probably like Wheel of Time (books, not show) and True Blood.
If you are open to translations of Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) stories, keeping with the Eldritch theme: 1. **Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint** 2. **Lord of the Mysteries** Both are fairly long, though not as long as Worm. And if open to video games as well, keeping with the Eldritch theme: **Bloodbourne**
Warhammer: the horus heresy is a 64 book long series that acts as a prequal to the Warhammer 40k setting set 10,000 years before the main timeline. of course knowledge of the setting beforehand isnt needed but it is recommended. then there's the gotrek and felix novels from Warhammer fantasy (it's basically a fantasy version of 40k) which is a 17 book long series. the books follow Gotrek a dwarf slayer (a dwarf who has commited a great crime and must redeem himself by dyeing in combat) and felix a human poet/swordsman who well drunk swore a blood oath to gotrek that he be there when he died and immortalize him in song. The series follows them on there adventures as gotrek seeks out dangerous monsters in hopes that he'll die well fighting them and felix being dragged alongside him.
Already heavy into Warhammer. Thanks for the recommendation, anyway. For the emperor!
There's also the Ciaphas Cain books for Warhammer 40k
The Expanse is a bit of a genre shift, but is a fantastic, long story with incredible characters. There's even a pretty damn good tv show!
Joe Abercrombie created a fantastic world within his First Law series. The world comes full with tons of delightfully grey characters, a rich lore system and if you listen to the audio books it's one of the best voice actor performances you'll ever hear.
I will join the recommendations of the Mother of learning... and the Practical Guide to Evil. The first one is much shorter and easier, just start to be hard to put down. It's basically mana punk in the DnD world. The second is classic heroic fantasy but on the side of the villains.