The Legion of Nothing

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Nick Klein is your average high school geek--if you can still count as average when your grandfather is a retired superhero, and you've been trained in the martial arts by his friend, a mysterious, immortal mercenary. After his grandfather dies, Nick inherits the last version of the Rocket suit, powered armor that allows him to shrug off bullets, smash through walls, and manipulate sound. Along with it comes the base of his grandfather's superhero team including the team's jet and trophies from forty years of fighting criminals and aliens. Together, Nick and his friends, descendants of his grandfather's teammates, attempt to bring back a superhero team that was originally formed during World War 2. Along the way they'll face the normal problems of high school (bullies, homework, and dating), and the less normal problems like supervillians and mysteries leftover from their grandparents' past. As a story, it uses the conventions of all eras of comics from the 1940s on, ranging from serious to silly. If you're hoping for a grim and gritty story, this isn't it. The Legion of Nothing first debuted on my websitelegionofnothing.comin 2007. In that period it's updated more than 900 times, is still running, and has had millions of pageviews. The first two years have been released as an ebook, receiving good reviews onAmazonandGoodreads. I hope you'll enjoy it, and that you'll review it and comment. You can also vote for it onTop Web Fictionand rate it onWeb Fiction Guide. Member ofThe Order of Phantasmal Architects.

Information

Status
Ongoing
Year
2016
Author
zoetewey

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICSCI-FISUPERNATURALMARTIAL ARTSSCHOOL LIFESECRET IDENTITYSUPER HEROES

Chapters(1877 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

  • nielRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0

    I have read Legion of Nothing both here and at the author's site. Since my first exposure here I have been nothing but impressed with the story line and characteraztion. It reminds me of a retelling of a top notch supers champaign comprised of multiple excellent players. Since we're talking about a single author, you'll understand my 5 star characters rating. Story background reveals a world of nearly infinite complexity and depth. Further, the story maintains its excellence even with multiple read throughs.  I highly recommend this story to anyone who wants to experience a literature level saga.I feel one reason the story is so fun is that the author is able to write several sections from several different viewpoints and make each both comfortable and different, without losing the main thrust of the saga. Style is consistent, with a feel of maturing as the main character ages. Grammar is perfect and I literally have no memory of flaws. Again, the story is well laid out, well paced, and appropriate to the genre.The story contains no harems, the MC's do not develope too quickly, the villians and opposing characters are more than one-sided and develope alongside the MC's, setting changes occur naturally with out jump-arounds, and pacing of published updates continue steadily and (at least on the author's site) keep us informed of any delays.All in all, a professional level story.

  • Ralph CerchioneRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0

    The Legion of Nothing follows Nick, the grandson of his world's equivalent of Iron Man, the Rocket, and his friends as they bring back a legendary, Golden Age superhero team, the Heroes' League.What's basically their grandparents' team.There's a lot of action, and we're mostly seeing the progression from Nick's perspective. While he's technologically superintelligent, has extensive tactical training and excels at practical problem solving, he's one of the worst members of his team when it comes to understanding people and the dynamics of the group.This works well for character development, starting with a small group he knows well, expanding out to other League grandkids and their friends and allies, but also running into more of their old enemies and extremely powerful new ones.There's alotof backstory which comes out over the 19+ years this series has been coming out. Most of it is told from Nick's perspective, but with rare parts written in a couple of other characters' voices.He's an essential member of the team, with more potential than almost anyone realizes, but he keeps working with different allies and enemies, moving steadily from being the team's flying tank and weaponsmith to a larger role as all of them mature and become more powerful.The suit he is using starts with some core abilities - bulletproof, flight, strength and sonic attacks - so he doesn't have automatic get-of-jail-free cards in the form of dozens of ridiculously powerful weapons he can drop at any time. On the other hand, he a tough, mobile, powerful fighter which lets him get in all kinds of trouble very fast.There's plenty of suspense in this storyline, beyond character development and the overall plot.The series is technically slow burn because there's so much of it. Over 6,000 pages is enough for 20+ 300-page novels, and it's still ongoing.In a way, Legion of Nothing is a classic superhero story, while also being slice-of-life. You get to see Nick and the team not so much building as r

  • SobekRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0

    When I saw that this was being posted here I knew I had to review, This is one of the original web novels before RR existed. Its been updated on inmydaydreams.com since 2007 (If I remember correctly) and has spawned some of my favorite web novels of all times, such as worm whose author has specifically given a shoutout to this story as major inspiration.For me this novel is extremley nostalgic and holds many memories, and even though I have not been consistantly reading it(I stopped after worm was being written in 2011) It still holds a place in my heart.

  • SpaceDorfRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0

    One of my favorite superhero / coming of age stories.An amazing silver age tale of superheroes with bits of everything mixed into.A crazy world I am not sure I want to live in.I am rereading this the third time now that I found the story again on royal road.

  • cloopatroopRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0

    The plot is good and the story is well thought out. I just dont get it why nick cant realize that sound is vibration though he could vibrate the bodies of the bad guys to death y'know. Anyway. More power and please gib mor

  • GrandestRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0

    This is honestly one of the best Superhero Fiction I've ever read including both other web fics and published superhero fiction. It manages to convey a compelling storyline that is both fun and entertaining, without falling down the grimdark rabbit hole or feeling like a children's story. Decent pacing, interesting characters, and a somewhat unique take on second-generation heroes and having to live up to legacy... This story grasps the essence of episodic storytelling without taking itself too seriously and is by far my favorite in the Superhero Genre as a whole. It also has great writing quality, impressive character development, and a unique world that keep you engaged all the way through.I think the biggest hurdle is the rather slow start, where our main characters are sort of getting into the swing of things and deciding if they want to walk in the shadow of those that came before. The somewhat slower pacing and slice-of-life sections might be a turn-off to some readers who are more invested in constant action and care less about character development and more about power development but I see this as a positive rather than a negative myself. It is definitely a long the lines of old school superhero comics that are driven by the characters rather than by their fancy powers and flashy combat scenes. So, essentially more like a comic book rather than an anime.All-in-all, this is one of the few stories that I can't honestly think of anything to criticize and would highly recommend for anyone looking for a superhero story that goes into character development rather than raw powertrip.

  • MalacaiRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 4.0

    First off, the entire series is posted at inmydaydreams.com .Now, I’ve been reading this web serial for a few years now. It was the first, or close to the first, story of this format that I’ve read, and it’s still really entertaining. I’ve even gone and reread it a couple times, and it continues to intrigue.Style: The story is written in 1st person, which works mostly because the main character is analytical yet spacy. He does go into detail about people’s powers, some wondering, but a lot of stuff that is really nuanced, like emotions and descriptions, he describes them succinctly and matter-of-factly. He does seem to have a slight problem empathizing, but it doesn’t seem to be debilitating. And he doesn’t seem inhuman, just slightly detached.Story: We’re following the lives of the grandchildren of some WWII superheroes. Thus, we go into having to deal with old villains, creating an identity with respect to their predecessors’, as well as typical teenage stuff of figuring out what they want to do. There’s lots of action, but also fiddly stuff about the structure of a team and how to decide what to do without depending on just heroic instincts. There’s lots of fun, and lots of serious parts without much death or gore. When there is death, it is dealt with seriously and not really dramatized or downplayed.Grammar: Not much to say here, other than the author doesn’t have many grammar errors, and responds to reader comments on them.Characters: The characters are very well developed, even if that isn’t that obvious at the beginning. The main character’s lack of introspection and awkwardness in social interactions leads to a slightly slanted view of others, but everyone’s motivations, goals, and personalities shine through their actions and words. Also, they remain consistent, even where they grind against others’.

  • Joe Berridge BealeRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 3.5

    Style:First person narration with staightforward wording and sentencing. Nick the narrator is very witty in a dry sort of way. The writing is refreshingly minimalistic in terms of description.Story:You've read the description, so you already know the premise. What you don't know is thatThe Legion of Superheroesis quite slow-paced and non-action oriented for piece of fiction about superheroes. From what I've read so far, the majority of the content is Nick talking to his fellow superhero-decendent high schoolersaboutsuperhero related matters rather than him and his friends participating in superheroic adventures themselves. It's also consistently, and quite weirdly considering the subject matter, ordinary for the most part. Don't get me wrong, there are high-energy action scenes where Nick has to fight rowdy civilians, giant monster supervillains, and men in black, but it always eventually returns to this ordinary, high school setting where Nick will go thinking about suburban things like how he feels bad because he only washes his jogging uniform once a week. So, if you're into the usual, constantly sensational, fast-paced fighting fest that superhero comics, television shows, and movies tend to be, this may not be for you (keep in mind, this is coming from a guy who's writing a web serial that conforms totally to that norm, so I'm pretty biased).Grammar:Flawless as far as I could see.Character:This one was the biggest turn-off for me. Nick's character doesn't really come across that much, to the point where I actually don't know what this guy wants. He seems to just go along with whatever is expected of him. Like, apparently he was trained in martial arts, and he just went along with it because it was expected of him, and the reason he became a superhero is because his late grandfather and his friends expected it of him, and he continues to risk his life as a superhero because...it's just the done thing in his social circle??? He's just a pithy guy who doesn't seem

  • BigLandsRoyal Road
    ★★★ 2.5

    I honestly really wanted to like this series. I'd been planning to read it ever since I finished Worm, but it was long enough that I kept putting it off. Now that I've tried reading it, I'm just really disappointed.Grammar: No ruinous problems here, though there are still a plethora of typos and missing words. You'd think those would have been caught sometime in the last 15 years.Characters: Some of the characters are very likeable, relatable, and somewhat enjoyable to read. Some are not. More importantly, despite what several reviews seem to say, there is little to no noticeable character growth. 500 chapters in and the characters are still making the same mistakes. The world around them may have changed a little, and so have the situations they're in, but aside from direct references to their "experience," the characters don't react any differently to problems and events than they did when we first met them.Even the main protagonist, Nick, was introduced with the idea that he didn't want anything to do with being a hero, a sentiment which changed within the first 3 chapters. After that point, heroing becomes his whole life and, neither he nor his fellow heroes seem to have any actual motivations as people beyond "be a hero" and "go to school."Style: The first person style works well, and even if the occasional flashback chapters are a little annoying, they're usually both relevant and infrequent enough to not be major detractors. The real stylistic problem for me personally is the length of the chapters. They're far too short and tend to end before much of anything can actually happen. A single, fairly brief, event will often begin in one chapter and not end until five chapters later due to having to start and stop and occasionally recap so frequently.Story: The story itself is somewhat standard fare for young superhero tales, but as one of the early webnovels of its type, we have Legion if Nothing to thanks for much of what has now become so commonplace. Regardle

  • CashireCatRoyal Road
    ★★ 1.5

    I only read the first fourty chapters.The story premise is quite nice, however it sadly fails to deliver.It´s full of plot holes, be it that some random characters know of the identity of our MC´s.It´s not clear why the MC wants to be an hero. It seems more that he is forced into it by an girl and the fact that his grandfather was one too. But not once the MC seems to like to be one. Furthermore the MC is not an superpowered, but got a super suit. And in all those chapters he never did anything noteworthy except being thrown around.The majority of the content is about our MC talking about that the toilet paper is wrongly positioned or some random unimportant stuff like that in a bar was years ago a theatre.