The Worm Ouroboros

Anyone else feel a bit sorry for the red-headed stepchild of fantasy novels? The Worm Ouroboros was the first modern high fantasy novel ever written for Pete's sakes (it beat Lord Of The Rings by three decades), yet very few people have even heard of it, let alone read it. I myself have never managed to finish the book, though the parts I have read were actually pretty damn good - the prose just gets a bit too difficult to read, and every time I pick it up I make it about a third of the way before losing interest. Still, I love the author's trippy names, the fact that the book is set on the planet Mercury, and the fact that all of the characters basically spend their lives trying to prove to the world just how damn manlier they are than the rest of the characters. It's almost like Gurren Lagan, only with long and difficult to follow poetry instead of giant robots.

Anyways, what do you all think of The Worm? And shouldn't it have a trope page already!

It's freakin' fantastic! OK, the prose is a bit purple, and he misuses the names of mythological creatures, and he's a bit too obsessed with gore and violence, and I'd like to discuss the shortcomings of the ending but I'm a newbie here and haven't learned how to do spoilers yet...

but hey, the perfect book hasn't been written yet. Really, it transcends its faults. I loved it, and the other Lessingham books too. If you think a Mary Sue can't be interesting, read "Mistress of Mistresses"...

I adore this book. Sure, it’s sort of a mix of adult pretentiousness and childish wish-fulfillment, but so many of the characters are so damned cool it kind of evens out. Some excellent dramatic scenes in there that have always stuck with me. When Lady Prezmyra tells off the Demons at the end before poisoning herself, I was thinking, “Yeah! Right on, sister!”