The Ghost of 191st Street

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A teenage superhero is invited to join the world's most popular teen team. Once there, he learns that the entire upper echelon of the hero community is a mess of infighting and corporate special interests. Slowly, he begins to realize that if he truly wants to help people, he'll have to work outside the system.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: HoofHearted

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 7
Views: 5,786

Chapters(15 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(4)

KaedeTRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A teenager discovers he has a superpower. Although it's weak, he submerse himself into the hero community.
The story itself is very interesting. The author is able to balance between the description and the dialogue. It is well paced and easy to get sucked in.
I feel like the main character has been literally abandoned in a world of sharks. Right now, I'm doubting he's going to pull it through, but I am curious to see how he is going to grow especially after a prologue like that. As for the other characters, I can't say I'm particularly attached to them. But it's still early in the story for me to judge.
The superpowers are nothing out of the box, but that makes it easier to imagine how everything works.
I hope there will be a balance of action and mystery. But right now, the story is focused on the main character's growth.
There is no grammar issues. The writer's style is really a joy to read. The paragraphs are also at the right lengths and makes everything so much easier.
Overall, I recommend it!
vtech1855Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like the author's writing style. They're great at setting a scene and letting the reader get a feel for the characters. The world they're building has some usual superhero tropes, but that's not a bad thing at all, and I'm happy for all of the uniqueness that I've come across so far.
I like that the author publishes chapters that take me more than 2 minutes to scroll through. The content of the writing is such that I don't want to skim it, and I feel more involved with the plot and characters.
These first few chapters have been great! A little action, some world building, a bit of character introduction, and I want to keep reading.
The story has, what I consider, some typical plot points and it's still too early to give a firm review on this aspect. I can't tell yet if this will be action packed with long, drawn out fight scenes or if it turns into a noir detective mystery. I'm happy to find out! I've read enough that I wouldn't be happy not knowing how this all ends.
Grammar and spelling are fantastic. There is an occasional typo, but the author's vocabulary and sentence structure are a delight to read! The paragraphs are more then 2 sentences, and it feels like there's actual substance to the chapters.
The characters seem interesting, and I'm rooting for the MC. The interaction between characters can be a little cliche or trope-like sometimes (the blowout at the superhero lounge comes to mind), but this doesn't seem like it's a major aspect of the author's writing and doesn't take away from the story, so I'm happy for this every now and then.
NatarajaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The action descriptions are very good but the author should work more on the characters and especially their emotions.
- Style & Grammar
This is well written, no grammar, or syntax issues. The layout is good which makes the text pleasant to read. The style could be reworked to alternate more between dialogues and descriptions, it would be easier to read. English is not my native language, so I may have missed some things...
- Story
It starts as a classic superhero story and very quickly the originality appears. The villains are some kind of interdimensional monsters in the service of an oracle who can make you lose your memory. I am hooked, the idea is really interesting! Great prologue.
Unfortunately the prelude falls flat because the following chapters don't come back on this setting and focus on Blackout's life who does a not very original superhero job in the end...
- Character
The characters are rather well described and the dialogues work, but they don't seem to have passions, objectives and especially emotions! I don't like empty characters and prefer psychology and complexity (even if it's harder to describe). It's hard for me to identify with the hero when there are no such aspects. As it is, it is a succession of events that is difficult to follow.
woseRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Not sure if it's intentional, but a lot of the details and style of writing and back and forth in the writer's work reminds me of Rick Veitch's legendary comic series the Brat Pack, which also dealt with teenage superheroes. Sure, Ghost of 191st street isn't quite as bleak (yet) but it will probably get there!
The good parts:
The author has a great grasp of pacing with the dialogue and action scenes, with the story flowing expertly at that point. I never find myself being bored or lost. The powers of the superhumans presented are also interesting, ranging from horrific to eye-catching.
The bad parts:
Unfortunately, the main issue is with exposition. While the author is very good at conveying the plot through dialogue and action, there ar points where past relationships and events are explained in such minute detail that it bogs down everything for a paragraph or two before the story gets rolling again. I am sure it's something easily fixed, however,