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The Best Damn Fics You've Ever Read.

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Wobulator said:
The point of the fic is that capitalism is terrible, but so is Taylor. She's a fifteen year old girl, with a fifteen year old's understanding of the world, and her solutions kinda really suck. The fic is pretty careful to never say "Taylor is the good guy", which I greatly appreciated, at least until the final chapter.

The flanderization of Alexandria, though, is just stupid. The fic tries to portray her as an agent of the status quo, in contrast to Taylor's violet rejection to it. Sometimes it does a good job, sometimes she comes across as a whiny nihilistic 12-year-old.

I will admit that I'm biased because I have a very negative view of the author's political views, but I hardly think that diminishes my criticism.
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The actions Taylor takes are extreme, but A) in the world of the fic they work, B) Alexandria was actually worse in the original work and C) her criticisms of the world as it stands are absolutely correct?

i don't know if you've noticed, but capitalism is literally killing the planet right now. Current estimates are global warming already kills 100,000+ people per year, and even the optimistic estimates for mitigation call on full ww2 levels of societal mobilization.

DIs missing Taylor as a girl who doesn't know what she's talking about is just failing to engage with anything the fic is saying.
 
spiritualatheist said:
It Starts With One is an absolutely fascinating Worm AU.
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Derec. I'm up to chapter 8 and neither the setting nor the characters make any sense. I'm not saying it's a bad story, and some other day I may keep reading it and see if it improves or if there's an explanation for the illogical way the characters are all acting, but 8 chapters of nonsense is enough to drop this story off of any "best ever" list.

spiritualatheist said:
i don't know if you've noticed, but capitalism is literally killing the planet right now.
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Capitalism is like democracy - it's the worst system ever, except for every other system we've ever tried.
 
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spiritualatheist said:
It Starts With One is an absolutely fascinating Worm AU.
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Derec. I'm up to chapter 8 and neither the setting nor the characters make any sense. I'm not saying it's a bad story, and some other day I may keep reading it and see if it improves or if there's an explanation for the illogical way the characters are all acting, but 8 chapters of nonsense is enough to drop this story off of any "best ever" list.
 
Question about the 'must be complete' requirement: if the author has divided their story into different 'books' but posts it in a single fic, does the entire 'series' need to be complete, or just 'Book I'?
 
Pidl said:
Question about the 'must be complete' requirement: if the author has divided their story into different 'books' but posts it in a single fic, does the entire 'series' need to be complete, or just 'Book I'?
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Can the individual books stand on their own as a complete story?

For example, each book in the Harry Potter series can stand on its own, with a complete story arc that functions outside of its place in the greater series, while still working with the other books to tell an overaching story. You could probably rewrite each one as a standalone work with very minimal changes. Conversely, each "book" in Avatar the last Air Bender doesn't really stand on its own. While they do have internal arcs, they are more defined by their place in the overall series. None of the books past the first would really make sense without the others, so any changes to make them stand alone would need to be pretty drastic.

Put another way, are the books actual books or super-chapters.
 
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How to Save a Soul by TheArchimage

Chara awakens in a field of flowers deep in the Ruins. Weren't they supposed to be dead? Instead they form a tenuous alliance with a human invader, promising to help them through the Underground if they will shatter the barrier. So begins a tale of an unlikely partnership and an even unlikelier friendship.

It's not One by One, but this Undertale fanfiction by far the best fanfiction in any fandom I know of where stations-of-canon have been followed faithfully.

The allure is that Chara is the main protagonist of the story where Frisk is a secondary protagonist, with most of the point of view being around Chara. It follows the fanon interpretation where Chara is misanthropic but genuinely loves monsters, and is the narrator of the game. It's a story that greatly expands upon the characters of Frisk and Chara, and is a story of confronting one's own mistakes, overcoming hatred, and of course, finding new friends.

It has a sequel, but I can't recommend it since I haven't read it yet, and it's incomplete.
 
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Uh, so it also looks like there's some things I do need to sorta address...

About Litany of Earth and other works by professional authors, original or otherwise- I honestly thought that's already been addressed before lol. Though the others probably explained it way better than I could, my thoughts on the matter boil down to it not really being a concern as long as its accessible? The thread's all about taking each rec in a case-by-case basis since we're already threading on very subjective waters as it is. If somehow the origin or the nature of the story negatively impacts the contents within then it should be alright to account for (sort of how a paywall would heavily discourage a lot of folks from reading it as an example), but besides that I don't really see the point otherwise?

If there's any worry about original fiction muddying the waters there's already a subsection dedicated to only them that you're free to completely ignore, and if you were planning to barrage the thread of recs to stories that you do think qualify, feel free- and anyone who agrees can second them (individually ofcourse, if i had to specify) just as how we'd usually go about it.

And on the topic of With This Ring: as Zoat's fic is still being frequently updated, it doesn't really currently qualify to be in this thread. You guys might wanna table discussions about it once it's properly finished? (which is probably far from soon though honestly)

spiritualatheist said:
May the Sunrise Bring Hope Where Once it was Forgotten
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Heya, I'm not sure if you're aware, but you may have linked an entirely different fic to what you're recommending? It seems to be a dragonball fic there instead.

Pidl said:
Question about the 'must be complete' requirement: if the author has divided their story into different 'books' but posts it in a single fic, does the entire 'series' need to be complete, or just 'Book I'?
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Like what Epsilon said- essentially, if the story has been divided into books but organized into a single collection, you'll have to specify which book, as well as pointing out the chapter range for it, if needed. (The same can be said for the fic I saw that you also recommended earlier- Richochet, I think? As the author left it open for additions and change, it'd be hard to consider without the fear of your rec being invalidated in the long run)
 
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Phearo said:
Heya, I'm not sure if you're unaware, but you may have linked an entirely different fic to what you're recommending? It seems to be a dragonball fic there instead.
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Whoops, lemme go fix that. :oops:

TheUnicorn said:
Derec. I'm up to chapter 8 and neither the setting nor the characters make any sense. I'm not saying it's a bad story, and some other day I may keep reading it and see if it improves or if there's an explanation for the illogical way the characters are all acting, but 8 chapters of nonsense is enough to drop this story off of any "best ever" list.
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Huh, that was not my experience at all. Was there anything in particular that you found nonsensical?
 
spiritualatheist said:
The actions Taylor takes are extreme, but A) in the world of the fic they work, B) Alexandria was actually worse in the original work and C) her criticisms of the world as it stands are absolutely correct?

i don't know if you've noticed, but capitalism is literally killing the planet right now. Current estimates are global warming already kills 100,000+ people per year, and even the optimistic estimates for mitigation call on full ww2 levels of societal mobilization.

DIs missing Taylor as a girl who doesn't know what she's talking about is just failing to engage with anything the fic is saying.
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I'm not going to respond to the talk about capitalism, because I don't want to get in an argument about it in here- DM me about it if you want to talk, but here is not the place.

Alexandria, though, was absolutely flanderized. In canon, she is driven to do anything to save the world. Morals and ethics take a distant second to the necessity of killing Scion, to her.
This sort of idiotic nihilism that she has in-story runs completely contrary to her character, and does her a massive disservice.
 
Lazor said:
How to Save a Soul by TheArchimage

It's not One by One, but this Undertale fanfiction by far the best fanfiction in any fandom I know of where stations-of-canon have been followed faithfully.

The allure is that Chara is the main protagonist of the story where Frisk is a secondary protagonist, with most of the point of view being around Chara. It follows the fanon interpretation where Chara is misanthropic but genuinely loves monsters, and is the narrator of the game. It's a story that greatly expands upon the characters of Frisk and Chara, and is a story of confronting one's own mistakes, overcoming hatred, and of course, finding new friends.

It has a sequel, but I can't recommend it since I haven't read it yet, and it's incomplete.
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I'd like to add a rec to this. I'm always a fan of misanthropic but still fundamentally caring Narra-Charas.
 
spiritualatheist said:
It Starts With One is an absolutely fascinating Worm AU. If I had to summarize it in a sentence, it would probably be something like "In a world just a bit different than out own, a girl gets bug powers and decides to Save The World by murdering billionaires." While I don't support murdering people, the fic does an absolutely incredible job of articulating the fundamental differences between Leftism and the ruling Liberal consensus, as personified in Skitter and her nemesis. Plus, the prose is just incredibly evocative and does a tremendous job of building tension.

I highly recommend that you give it a look.
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I'll second this as well.

Though I would have to say that as Worm fanfic it's arguably terrible, as it's so AU it's basically an original story with some characters loosely inspired by Worm. Still very good though.
 
spiritualatheist said:
Huh, that was not my experience at all. Was there anything in particular that you found nonsensical?
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The bug controller's actions were idiotic, the fact she apperently got away with them without anyone finding out strained SoD, the super charismatic leader was at best implausabile (unless there were supposed to be superpowers involved, and given that it's an original setting that really needed to be established), Alex actions made no sense, both why she did them and the supposed limits on what she was capable, her being covered with blood and suddenly not (or at least not so any one who met her noticed) was ridiculous, the guards being willing to open fire in that fashion with no setup made no sense - the best they could hope for after that would be multiple life sentences, the PRT's stated purpose, etc...

Wobulator said:
Alexandria, though, was absolutely flanderized. In canon, she is driven to do anything to save the world. Morals and ethics take a distant second to the necessity of killing Scion, to her.
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This is completely wrong, more importantly it's just as off topic as the Capitalism discussion. If you want to debate that Worm canon discussion is a suitable thread.

Erebeal said:
it's basically an original story with some characters loosely inspired by Worm.
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This I agree with, I just don't think it's very good original fiction.
 
As it just concluded today, exactly one year after it was started, here's an amazing story I'm reccing.

Ghost in the Flesh (Read it here, here, and here), is a crossover between "Worm" and "Love, Death, and Robots", more specifically the first episode of the series, "Sonnie's Edge." I would highly recommend watching the episode before starting the story, as while the story does a good job at explaining things, seeing the short episode really helps you understand Sonnie's character, her circumstances, and her world.

After the events of Sonnie's Edge, Sonnie finds herself in an alleyway on Earth Bet. Not in Brockton Bay however, but Philadelphia. Taken as a Case 53, she then ends up involved with Faultline's Crew, who were canonically there a month before the events of Worm kick off.

The focus of the story begins and ends centered upon Faultine's Crew, and does a fantastic job with it. While their are interesting plot points showing the Crew's various jobs as mercenaries as well as their overall search for answers, the true majesty of this fic is in the characters. The author does an amazing job expanding upon the brief instances we have of the Parahumans of Faultline's Crew, as well as Sonnie herself, and it is so engaging to read their interactions and camaraderie and growth over the course of the story that I found myself rereading it constantly over the past year.

Some of the major events of Worm remain unchanged, some gather minor alterations, and some are wildly and enormously divergent thanks to the presence of Sonnie. And all of it tracks very realistically based upon her character and actions.

For those who want to read it, some notes. If you like the primary characters of Worm, be prepared as in this story they are either side-characters, one-shot appearances, or Mr. and Mrs. not-appearing-in-this-fic. If you like Worm stories that go all the way to Gold Morning, well the author says it best in the epilogue.
Redcoat_Officer said:
There are four hundred and sixty-nine thousand, seven hundred and thirty-one words in Ghost in the Flesh, and not one of them is Scion.
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Things end with the entire Crew in a good place, and it feels appropriate and fulfilling to see how far they've come from the first chapter. Great read. Thank you @Redcoat_Officer for your amazing story.
 
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While I'm on the Undertale Trash Train, I might as well add another fanfiction.

You Monster by CleverCatchphrase

She was a monster, and she had called you her child. That meant she was your mother, and you were a monster too... right?

Frisk suffers amnesia and as a result is completely unaware of their life on the surface, or is even aware that they are human. To save them the grief, Toriel pretends they are their biological mother, and names them Chara (because of course unoriginal naming is a species-wide trait).

Flowey, to no-one's surprise, is being a little shit, and is driving the conflict by manipulating Frisk to reach New Home. It's made worse by the fact that Frisk genuinely believes Flowey is their best friend.

It's a story whose conflict is not driven by Frisk befriending/killing monsters to reach the exit, but everyone else scrambling to hide the fact that Chara!Frisk is human, including to Frisk themself, and inadvertently keep Flowey's leaves off of them. It's not as crack-induced as it sounds, I swear.

Oh yeah, and Sans follows his promise of protecting Frisk.

For once.
 
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TheUnicorn said:
Thanks for the rec and I'm going to read the story, but if this is true then the story doesn't belong in this thread.
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Not quite certain what you're talking about. The fic is complete, the author has changed the thread title to display that. If you're talking about Sonnie's Edge from "Love, Death, and Robots." It's a Netflix series composed of unconnected sci-fi episodes, of which Sonnie's Edge is the first episode, so that is technically complete as well.
Also, I did state that the story does explain everything that happens in Sonnie's Edge, so you don't technically have to watch it, but it's a really cool animation with an awesome fight, so I recommend watching that as well.
 
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kamkong said:
Not quite certain what you're talking about. The fic is complete, the author has changed the thread title to display that. If you're talking about Sonnie's Edge from "Love, Death, and Robots." It's a Netflix series composed of unconnected sci-fi episodes, of which Sonnie's Edge is the first episode, so that is technically complete as well.
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There is debate whether a fic needs to be capable of standing without the work it is based on or not. Some parties think that having a necessity to be familiar with the original work the fanfic is based on is a disqualifying demerit.
 
Epsilon Rose said:
I think it's perfectly reasonable for a fanfic to require a basic knowledge of one of the underlying properties.
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Granted, but there's a difference between that and "you need to watch this specific part of the show in order to get the story".

kamkong said:
The fic is complete,
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I was talking about the fact you said you need to watch Sonnie's edge in order to get the story, i.e it doesn't stand on it's own.
Also, I did state that the story does explain everything that happens in Sonnie's Edge, so you don't technically have to watch it, but it's a really cool animation with an awesome fight, so I recommend watching that as well.
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Then I misunderstood.

Judging from the first few chapters, the story is well written but didn't keep my interest. Not a derec, just not my taste.
 
TheUnicorn said:
Granted, but there's a difference between that and "you need to watch this specific part of the show in order to get the story".
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Every episode of the show is standalone, watching any other episode would give you zero familiarity with the basic premise of Sonnie's Edge, so there's really no difference.
 
Adding another recc for It Starts With One.

Definitely one of the better worm fics, for all the issues the writer had with it they still created a tight and well written action thriller. One of the better uses I've seen of Worms characters and themes.

TheUnicorn said:
Capitalism is like democracy - it's the worst system ever, except for every other system we've ever tried.
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There was a time when this could have been argued for feudalism. It's not really a very meaningful statement.
 
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