Gadgeteer (The Crisis Nemeses Book 1)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

On the night of July 29th of the year 2059, Vermillion Blue city was in mayhem. The Bastion of Heroism saw its most significant victory and defeat at the hands of one super-villain: Herttz. Ever since the night he publicly announced his retirement, The City and The Heroes' Operation Center (HOC) stood in a fragile line between order and chaos, and it has been like this for the next four years.

However, change is bound to happen, a change that will turn the city upside down. And it all started when Shindo East's actions in a hostage situation set a chain of events in motion that completely alters his entire life. Shindo is forced to take an undeniable offer, causing the gadgetsmith to take on the alias Wattz, his life starting anew as a hero.

***Disclaimer***

This story will be published on RoyalRoad for free. I do not support any other people taking and publishing my work without my express permission.

Also this story is intended for a young adult audience since some chapters will contain certain topics and descriptions related to PTSD, Violent Language, and blood. Although I'm writing with the intent of keeping it PG-16 by not writing these topics in extreme detail, I do recognize that some people can be either offended or triggered by this. Proceed at your own discretion.

Update schedule: 1 chapter on Saturdays

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: L.J.Molina

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 47
Views: 28,047

Chapters(42 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(3)

BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This story has flaws, the biggest of which being the conversations. They just don't make sense to me, feeling closer to somebody talking to themself than anything else(Seriously. Try it. Made so much more sense when I did it). Listen, I like the idea, I like the way it's shown, but I didn't like the writing style. Sentence structure really does need some work as well, the length being one of the things that might need some changes.
Review was kinda harsh but whatever. Was enough to read. 4.5/5
Gary DuganRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
To start this review off, I need to make it known that I'm a very picky reader; it takes me ages of browsing to find a story that fits my niche, and even longer if it's outside of my usual genre. Superhero books are ones that I don't even spare a glance at, and yet this story has something special about it. I can't quite put my finger on it, but this story (for me at least) radiates quality! Let's start from the top.
Style- the writer of this story uses a very natural writing style that is to the point and doesn't waste page space with flowery detail, you're given good descriptions that let you make a mental landscape of areas, but nothing incredibly guided. That's a plus from me. The interactions also read very naturally, which I love since I have a hard time with dialogue myself.
Story- this is definitely one of the authors strongest points (which is great since stories... are all about story?) The story here is engaging and throws twists and surprises at you often, making the reader really look into the details of scenes; if you look close enough, you see the foreshadowing. Even some of the more mundane scenes tells you something about the characters; a simple conversation about a coffee shop at first glance, an insight into a personality at a deeper inspection, really well done. I also can't help but want to see the MC succeed, the unique perspective of the character brings a very interesting twist to the story, a sort of tension on every page that makes me want to keep reading.
Grammar- Sadly this is where I think the author needs the most work. The Grammar isn't awful by any means, but there are a lot of places where the punctuation just isn't right: missing quotation marks, lack of full stops and the occasional echo. Do I think these detract from the story? A little yeah, there was a few parts i had to go back and reread to figure out who was talking, but a quick proofreading from the author could fix this.
Character- again, this is another place where the au
TienSwitchRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
But I'm not gonna reveal that twist to you.... Muah ha ha.
So I've been meaning to review this story for some time, which is funny because I'd been meaning to READ it for some time. And once I started, I couldn't put it down. So let's examine this, shall we?
Note: As of this review, I've finished the first two arcs. Arc 3 is a few chapters in, but I've not touched it yet.
STORY
I really like the story presented. I like the premise. I like the larger world it takes place in.
Vermillion Blue City comes off to me as a place repairing itself after a near-apocalypse. A few years ago, "The Undaunting Villain" Herttz was responsible for the Night of Fear. After Herttz disappeared immediately after, the city began to rebuild.
Today, the Heroes Operation Center licenses superhero teams to go out there and fight in the front lines against the myriad of supervillains running around. Shindo East, a gadgeteer (designer/repairer of superhero equipment) with an aloof and "fed up" attitude towards the world around him, is scouted to become the city's newest superhero, and his transformation into the hero known as Wattz begins.
It's a strong setup with a strong setting. The only downside I'll really say is that there are certain things that aren't conveyed very well. There's a regulatory system and certain gadgets aren't treated particularly well by this system, and there's chapter after chapter of characters talking about it without the story taking a moment to elaborate exactly what's up. Of course, that poor conveyance could be another issue that I'll get to later when we talk about grammar.
The other oddity I noticed is that the entire cast of characters seems to suddenly change from the first arc to the second. Now, I feel the need to counter my own point by saying that the characters from the first arc may (and probably will) show up later down the line. I'm judging a serialized work-in-progress, after all, so it's easy to find flaws that won't be in the finished product. But