Super Supportive (Superhero System Novel)

This story has great world-building without coming across as infodumps, the characters feel real and what little character-progression there's currently been, makes me believe that this is a story worth following.

Style: High quality. That's the feeling the first few chapters have given me. It seems to me like that because all of the writing seems to have purpose, we get introduced to characters, a goal, the world and the people in it, while the main character doesn't hesitate to tell use their opinions about them all. This story knows exactly which direction it is heading into. 

Story: Most stories focus on the present, introducing the current situation and maybe showing a flashback or two in the future. Others do time-skips, often poorly. This one introduced us with the past and promised a goal and a future, one where Aidens dream comes true. I am very hopeful we'll be able to watch him achieve that dream.

Grammar: Nearly flawless.

Characters: The characters are the heart of this story, the small cast we've been introduced in the beginning is charming and unique. 

This story is promising my only criticism can't be called one as this is a slow burn and there aren't that many chapters yet, because of which the lack of action can simply be explained by: We haven't gotten there yet. 

While I haven't found any flaws yet, we are very much at the beginning, so I'll update my review in the future.

The writing flows smoothly, the characters are engaging, there's absolutely interesting background stuff that hasn't been revealed yet but is being hinted at, and the author is engaged with their readers. Not often that I get so hooked onto stories without a lot of content, but this is definitely something I want to stay abreast of.

Only fourteen chapters at time of review, but very promising start. Great character building, world-building shows a lot of promise, and teasers of "all is not as it seems." I also greatly appreciated that during the MC's earlier 'kid' phases, he actually read like he was a KID and not "precocious" or as an adult in a kid's body.

I got to the end of chapter 14 clicked on "next chapter" a few times, sadly to no avail. Can't wait to see more of this one.

Some might be put off by the time spent pre-system, but I see it as a showcase of skill. This story isn't one that jumps directly into things and splatters boxes all over the first chapter in order to distract you, it's one that has layers of thought put into all aspects of its world. As the author, Sleyca, moves towards fulfilling their promise of a superhero system, every word serves only to convince me that I made the right choice to keep reading. That what I'm going to recieve is going to be better than I could find elsewhere, and will be even better than that because of the build-up going on in so many places I'm not 100% sure I even caught all of it. World-building manages to drop the important details naturally, characters are each unique without being tropey, and the system has all the hallmarks of being built with enough depth that it won't run dry before the story is wrapped up with a nice little bow.

I'm hungry for more, I would subscribe to a Patreon if there were one, and the only reason I left the style score at 4.5/5 is because I'm sure what will be delivered is better than what I've already seen (and to make it look less like I give 5s away like candy)

Despite what I might have expected, this story took most of the 16 chapters that are out for the mc to even start the process of *beginning* to get powers - and surprisingly, I didn't care, because so far it has been instead a surprisingly fascinating mystery.

It's set in a weird nearly-our-earth that has been regularly interacting with a distant empire of superpower, technology, and magic-granting aliens that reserve the right to conscript superpowered people in exchange for giving them powers since the 1960s, and are near-constantly visit earth, or even live here, despite being secretive about much of their motives and methods - and have significantly impacted human culture and even religion.

The main character, who decided to aggressively try to befriend a "demon" that was magically bound to essentially be a receptionist for one of the public-facing alien facilities, stumbles upon something.. weird. Something touching the edges of what the aliens are trying to keep so secret from humans. Figuring out what is actually happening with these weird ass aliens and the weird ass magic system slash superpowers the real draw here so far, even if i'm sure that it will have actual fights soon enough.

Grammar: I'm not having to deal with tons of misplaced modifiers in sentences, or the incorrect usage of past participles, etc. This is good for Royal Road.

Characters: The characters are likeable and do a decent job of acting and speaking like normal people. This is not anime in written form geared towards 10-year-olds. So far, the characters appear to be the strongest element of the story.

Very good so far. The world being built out is interesting, and you can see the small pieces that are being planted now to be expanded later.

The characters are all pretty excellent and have their own voice which can be rare on RR. The conversation and humor feels genuine.

So far I'm hooked. I don't know how I feel about the system yet, it's still barely been shown, but I'm hoping it leans into the idea that it was (spoilers)

The story so far is SUPER intriguing, hinting at so much behind the scenes, without it feeling like a pistol-whip by chekhov's gun. Really cool and natural world-building.

The DIALOGUE though, is fantastic. Real reactions from real people without it being boring. Do you know how hard it is to write that? This is a feat, a wonder, and I'm hooked. 

Thank you for this story! Especially because I've always loved side-kick stories since a grade-school encounter with villainous jellyfish and depressing dave...Dan? I don't remember. 

I'm excited for what comes next!

So far, this has been one of the best beginnings of a story on the site, or anywhere else. Everything about it has me coming back constantly to check for more updates.

Style:

Great so far. Straightforward prose and realistic dialog. The author is very good at setting the mood of a scene and really getting you immersed there with the character. The story does a good job of sticking you in there with the main character, nudging you to draw your own conclusions and putting you on the spot to try and figure things out with the same information as Alden, instead of spoon feeding you.

Grammar: 

No complaints. If there are any run-ons, spelling mistakes, etc. they have been very few and far between and aren't anything that will pull you out of the story.

Story:

The story is the only area in which I could see where some would be disappointed. If you are used to or are expecting instant gratification, numbers go burrr, or some crazy cliffhanger each chapter, you may find this story much slower. This story relies much more heavily on its ability to slowly build suspense and its amazing characterization in order to keep you hooked. 

Character:

Speaking of amazing characterization, this is the highlight of this story for me. Each character that is introduced has a distinct personality and immediately draws you in. The dialog between the teens feels organic and makes you feel like you're right there, shit talkin with the gang. Each chapter seems to reveal just a bit more about some character or another and makes you care that much more about them. In the end, that is the best part for me; everyone feels real. Characters don't seem to just play a role, they have depth. 

Overall, amazing story so far and I look forward to continuing the journey. Definitely recommended if you appreciate well written characters and stories that slowly unfold, as opposed to info dumping and speed running.

Still pretty early, so I'll keep an eye out and update my review if needed in the future.

Seriously, where has it been? This story is still in its early stages, but even so it is already excellent. 10/10 would recommend.

Setting wise, the story is a pretty standard Capes and Cowls. Heroes and villains battling, eldritch abominations looming in the background, and powers. Lots of powers. Unlike some other stories in the genre, Super Supportive puts a lot of work into just what these superpowers are and where they come from.

As for the plot, so far it has been excellent.

Grammar: I haven't noticed any mistakes so far. This being Royal Road, that is a surprise; the comment sections of most stories are flooded with grammar corrections, but that is not the case here.