The Supervillain Diaries

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Anna Jones only ever wanted to be a superhero.

She missed the mark a bit.

Now, as a fugitive supervillain in a lawless, dangerous district of Sanctum City, she struggles to survive against scarcity and the violence of competing factions. But as dark as the night can be, stars always shine, and hope is as easy as looking up. One day, Anna receives an offer too good to be real: Go to superhero school, graduate, and her crimes would be forgiven. She could have everything she ever wanted.

Our mistakes don't have to define us, and sometimes, we're offered a second chance. Even villains can change.

If they want to._____________Jumping back into serious writing mode. The process might be rocky, but I intend to work my way back to putting out multiple chapters per week. Once I reach that threshold, advance chapters will be released on Patreon first, but for now, all releases are simultaneous.

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2023
Author
Doomedstar

Tags

ACTIONANTI-HERO LEADFEMALE LEADSCHOOL LIFEMYTHOSSTRATEGYURBAN FANTASYPROGRESSIONDYSTOPIASUPER HEROES

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.7/ 5.0
Followers
369
Views
72,396

Chapters(24 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(9)

  • TienSwitchRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Okay, I'm gonna do this review a little differently. I'm gonna go beyond spoilers, and we're just gonna sit and read the entire story word for word until I get hooked. Alright, let's go:
    "I’ve heard that hell is the absence of hope.
    I think that’s interesting, because I just called it high school.
    Let me tell you about the second worst--"
    And we're in.
    From the beginning, The Supervillain Diaries had me wanting to know a little more about what's going on, teasing me a conflict and pushing the resolution back and back in a believable way to keep me engaged. And at the end of Act 1, twelve Issues in (it's a superhero story, obviously), it continues to do so.
    It's rare that I give 5 stars across the board on an Advanced Review, but this superhero story did it for me. And as a connisseur of superhero fiction, let's take a look at what works in The Supervillain Diaries.
    STYLE
    The story is written from the first person view of the protagonist, Anna Jones. It's hard not to talk about a first person narration style without talking about the character in question, but I'll try to keep them separate.
    The narration does a great job of balancing the tertiary need of conveying the MC's personality, the secondary need of conveying tone and atmosphere, and the primary need of effectively and clearly, well, narrating the story. In her narration, Anna will sometimes linger on a point or spend too much time on a metaphor, but it rarely ever breaks the pace of the story. Instead, it gives more of an insight to the gravity of the situation and the hopelessness of it all. Power scaling is a thing that's usually done, using metaphor and comparison to another force to describe how powerful one character is versus another. When it isn't necessary for her to wax poetic about somethng, you can expect a clear and concise narration.
    And the narration does a great job at setting the scene, both tonally and in the moment-to-moment action. There's rarely ever confusion, save for some moments duri
  • Youngish OldsterRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I’ve been slacking on reviews lately, and owe apologies to several authors for that.  Doomedstar is at the top of the list.  Will update with a more detailed review later, but wanted to fumble a few words into an initial review.
    The Supervillain Diaries is just great writing.  It’s outside my normal lane in being darker and more emotionally wrenching than what I usually read.  But damn it, it’s so well done that I’m completely sucked in regardless.
    The characterization of Anna and the supporting cast is vivid and feels authentic.  The current origin story arc of her as a conflicted villain-ish super is a rollercoaster that’s phenomenal in showing us ‘how it got to this’.  No punches are pulled, but at the same time, there’s so much emotional depth and gradual revealing of the dystopian world we find ourselves in that everything feels real & impactful rather than formulaic dark & edgy.
    World & lore & other parts of the story are solidly centered around the characters.  I can’t recall any examples of their stories feeling forced by the plot or by exposition.  There’s a lot of well-done slice-of-life-ish detail that makes the story feel organic.
    The character interactions and conversations just feel real.  They’ve smart, angry, conflicted, poignant and darkly funny, depending on the situation.
    Action scenes are detailed while not being too detailed and allow readers to visualize what’s happening without feeling bogged down.  There’s a good mix of grittiness and groundedness that keeps the scenes lively but also connected to how & why they matter to the story as a whole.
    This is an intricately woven brilliant tapestry of a story that I’m super happy to have taken a chance on.  Thx Doomedstar!  😎
  • alSeenRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This book and Corpse Ride have really gotten me into reading more superhero stories on royal road. I came for thé litrpgs, I am staying for all the niche stories I could ever want. This is a very interesting look into supes and how it could affect the world. But then again, there’s so much history hinted at and, not hidden, but mentioned in passing, that it is not just supes. There are horrors and worldwide events that also took place to craft a special supe world. I say you gotta check this book out.
  • Rookie12Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This review is based on the first six chapters that were available at the time.
    Before you, we have a story about a world in which superpowers are real; they exist, and heroes are trying to keep peace. The villains had carved a place for themselves, but it looks as if the heroes might eventually defeat them when... The MC comes into play.
    The story hits you straight in the feels right away, without pulling any punches. You can easily see why the MC chose this way of life and how the system has failed her again and again, making her feel cornered. And the other side is not presented as white either. No, villains are just as predatory as you can guess, forced to abide by certain rules out of fear rather than respect.
    The prose is excellent; it conveys the MC's broken hopes and frustrations simply and perfectly, without lingering on any horrific thing for too long. Hopes, dreams, shattered goals—it is all here, and it tears at a reader's heart when you see how happy a person the MC could be and how much she could've offered to society if things were to take another turn.
    The characters are quite unique and feel human. From the MC's new obsessive and creepy boss to the hero who tries to help the MC, to the disgusting school bullies, all have their place and feel real. This helps paint a picture of the world, painting us this gritty setting and giving us an idea of how scary it must be for people without powers to live here.
    I am a non-English speaker, but I have found zero mistakes in the text. The author's vocabulary is rich, and they know how to wield it. Easy five stars here from me.
    The worldbuilding and lore are very well thought out, explaining why neither side can win yet and, at the same time, why the status quo can't extend for much longer. The author does not drop an information dump at us but rather shows us the setting as the story goes on. Various levels of power, how they interact, their weaknesses... The system that the author had created looked very prom
  • ScruffedUpRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    So, I got requested to do a review, and I will do my best even if the story is rather early on with not much to work with. I am currently on 'Issue 5', so take my review as you will.
    Style/Story:
    The genre of the story, obviously, is one of 'Superpowers'. Superheroes, supervillains, and the world around them. We follow in the steps of a supervillainous, and as of chapter 6 we have seen her backstory, what made her into her current self, and the beginning of the story she is telling.
    The themes are done quite well, and the writing so far has done very well on showing them off.
    The story is written well, the writer has done an excellent job at getting me invested, and I find myself with a burning desire to watch the city burn. (Wake the fuck up Samurai!)
    5/5, for both style and story.
    Grammar: I haven't seen/noticed any issues grammatically, so thats a 5/5.
    Character:
    The characters have been done very well so far, I am invested in the MC and I really want quite a few of the antagonists to die, violently if possible. Its rare a story gets me invested enough that I want to read more simply because of the story itself, and not the fact I am doing a review, so good work. 5/5
    ===
    Overall, I like the story. It grabs you in and gets you wanting more. And I want more.
    Good work!
    5/5
  • HeyItsKaseyRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    The Supervillain Diaries contains some very well done emotional character writing, some of the best I've seen in a good while. I'd recommend it to anyone who's here for an actual story instead of some weird video-gamey nonsense. It's also good to be seeing a story examining the broader implications of comic book superhero weirdness, like how in bigger comic book universes the strange silver-age adventures still have to be canon, and many works built on the superhero premise are scared to acknowledge the strange, tonally dissonant side of comic books. The Supervillain Diaries, however, is absolutely willing to acknowledge this sort of thing, and I admire it for that.
  • Jordan Elias R.Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    First of all, i'd like to mention that this is the sort of book that gets addictive quickly and i've fallen victim of that. The story just sucks you in and that is absolutely beautiful.
    I'm not a huge fan of 5 star reviews. I find that many of them are given out purely because people like something, rather than because it has earned a rating on merit...
    This book though has earned its stars. On the simple side, there's little to no grammatical errors that stand out or cramp my flow. I'm sure they exist, but it didn't take anything from the experience.The style of writing is great and the flow is increble, the pacing isnt too fast but it doesnt lag either. I love how the first chapter seems to inject a lot of humor into the book, but then it ends with a gory scene that is so vivid you can almost see it.
    The story follows the main character Anna, and it's almost like she's seated before me and telling me her story. The main character is well fleshed out and is easy to connect to which i find amazing.I love how the world isnt white and black, villains vs superheroes, whuch adds so grit and depth to the story, it feels more relatable and the powers already mentione in the book are incredible.
    Overall, the book is a great one and the story is absolutely fantastic and interesting. It also makes sense in the world and in context of the universe...I don't think I need to give away plot hints to say: this is one of the best fictions I have read on this site.
  • darksevenRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 4.0
    Clearly the makings of an epic Super Hero Story! Well written, powerful emotions, interesting powers, and clever fights. However, my main objection is that the author's plan is clearly very grand. Grand enough that at the current point (300 pages written) I feel like we're really barely warming up. The MC isn't really a villainess so much as she's a shell of a person trying (and often failing) to avoid spinning out of control.
    Having read as much as I have, I have complete faith the author is going to build her into a proper confident villain over the full course of the story. Based on current trajectory I fully expect that to take another 1-2k pages at least though...
    I love Villain(ess) stories (Worm, Villain's Code, DIRE, Practical Guide to Evil, etc.) but this really isn't those. I'd say the writing is as good, but the focus is much more emotional and raw which makes for much heavier reading.
    Style Score: The writing has no style problems at all. The author quickly builds a deeply interesting world that seems like it's going to be incredible.
    Grammar Score: Very few grammar issues at all. Just an occasional typo here and there...
    Story Score; The story is a bit dark for my tastes. The MC is (at 300 pages in) a shell of a person who hasn't made a single "on camera" choice for herself. She's constantly blown from one situation to the next doing the best she can when she lands
    Character Score: In general I think the characters are incredible. Very detailed, very 3d. My only concrete complaint is that the author played up the teenage angst so well in the first couple chapters I almost dropped the story there.
    Anyways, this is clearly the makings of an incredible story and I think I will revisit it when I can binge a nice large section. Hopefully the MC will start to take some control by then.
  • RedPineRoyal Road
    ★★★ 3.0
    This story is not for me.  The worldbuilding, grammer, conversations, scenery, pacing, and prose are all good.
    The tags should clue you in on the overall tone, but I wasn't prepared for how self destructive the MC would be.  It's one thing to get an unlucky situation, it's another to fall into the same or worse relationships repeatedly.
    Realistic? Sadly, yes.  Something I wish to live through vicariously? No.