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

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

ShadoCat2Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I normally don't read more than a few chapters of "teen superhero" stories because they tend to be either super angsty or omni-powerful author wish fulfillment stories. I kept reading this because the characters are written as real people who learn and grow (or don't) just like real people do.I've been reading LoN for years. I just checked out his latest post and know that there's going to be a bit until he's caught up with his original site.This story contains all the crazyness that you find in comic books but in a much more thought out way. This has: telepathy, super tech, random non-biologically-possible power, fantasy critters, aliens, space opera, dimension hopping, chuloid beings, etc. He gives reasons for most of the comic book stuff that happens (I don't doubt that there are reasons for some of the things he hasn't explained yet).What that means is that the grammer/spelling/writing are pretty much flawless since we found all(?) the typoes on the original site. Those who like to hunt for those will have to wait until he catches up here.Several of the reviews here by people who just started reading LoN for the first time can be answered by two observations:This is written as a slow burn story. The characters grow and learn more about themselves throughout the story. Nick might come across at first as a bit bland but I think the purpose is to use him as a sounding board to all the crazyness that exists. He is the way of presenting this from a "normal" viewpoint to make the world relatable. Nick takes this all in stride (mostly) but he was raised with all of this crazyness so his standard of "normal" is a bit off and it shows.The writer does learn as he goes. You will see a constant improvement in the writing. In my opinion it starts from good and goes up from there.I recommend this to anyone who likes super hero stories or who wants to see very well done slow burn characterization.
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.
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
D33B0Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
How to review this story? What could I possibly say that would give enough credit to the author? Not only has it been running for almost a decade now, you can also clearly see the development of the characters, as well as the authors. It is simply an amazing work!Style:The perspective is not unique, the author uses first person from the point of view of the MC, who can be considered as one of those eccentric, genius inventors, who also have a skewed view on life and the people around them. I personally prefer third person, since it allows the author to seamlessly move through characters and their actions. Yet, here, first person is perfect! Especially when the author gives us a few chapters with the pov’s of others, filling the gap that is created by the skewed view of the MC. What's interesting is that there is no awkwardness when reading from Nick's perspective, it's so marvelously done that it feels natural, so much so that when reading from someone else's pov, you only want to read more of Nick's thoughts, he's more like a computer with a really bad memory than a human XDStory:The story is not that new today, but back when it started, it was probably one of its kind. It is simply marvelous how well the author leads us through the scenes and builds the lore of the world. You get some hints early on, but nothing major. Only with time does the story slowly unravel, especially once you get to the 5th arc. (Yes, there are more arcs on the author’s site than you will find here, so feel free to go over there and continue reading if you have caught up with the chapters posted here). I won't say anything else about the story, since I don't want to spoil anything, instead I'll just say this: I really enjoyed reading it.Grammar:A few minor mistakes, mostly typos that you miss when writing, so nothing major. In other words, the grammar is excellent.Character:So, now we come to the main point of the review, the characters. How can I score them, I simply love the MC, he is on
bwfoster78Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To be honest, the first part of this story kind of dragged a bit for me. I'm glad that I stuck with it, though, because the author really develops his craft over the course of this series, turning it into a series that rivals my very favorites in the superhero genre.Note that by "dragged a bit," I'm not talking that it's Wandering Inn level hard to get into. It's just that the pace is slow at first and having the POV character be a little emotionally stunted didn't help matters.
NavineRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As my review title states. This novel is fantastic. Great charaters, great superhero, story, and an amazing number of chapter.Read. It.Fifty words. Fifty words. Fifty words. Fifty words.Wow. Still not fifty words for some reason. Ant. Egg. Leaf. Just wanna get to fifty words. Now it is fifty words.
sdeligarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Like many I started reading this on the authors main site http://inmydaydreams.com quite a while back. Due to the incosiderate nature of real life I lost track of it a while ago. After discovering it was on here and suprisingly was still on going on the main site I decided I wanted to pick it up and even decided to start over from scratch on here. Mostly because it make it easier to keep track of what chapter I'm on.The important part though is whichever site you use just read the story. It's one of the best superhero stories I've ever read and if you've ever enjoyed one of them many super hero cartoons, movies, books, graphic novels, or comics you will love this series.
vladeragRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An absolutely fantastic web novel; excellent hardly begins to describe this criminally underappreciated series!To summarize the whole of this work is difficult because of the sheer volume of writing involved, and I feel that any attempt to do so while keeping my review spoiler free will be difficult to say the least.If you've gotten to the point you are reading this review, you probably already know that this is a superhero story. For those familiar with what has become, it seems, the standard nomenclature of superhero web novels, the main character is a Tinker. A genius at engineering and technology, Nick inherits the Rocket suit from his grandfather and is essentially dragged by his friends into restarting the "Heros League."Formed from, at first, the kids and grandkids of the original superheros of the League and the grandkids of a few supervillains, the plot is a non stop rollercoaster of intense situations and high stakes.And honestly, that's kind of my first complaint. It's all escalation without any normalcy. While it is par for the course in the genre, there is only so much doom one can take before it becomes a little comical. When a small side story about a reporter going to interview them becomes an interdimensional invasion by sentient dinosaurs, and the whole thing is treated as a mere background noise, it is hard not to become a bit desensitized to it all. Especially because there so very few consequence.Compared to "Worm," which from what I understand was either partially or wholly inspired by "Legion of Nothing," where character death and permanent effects from character actions is common, The Heroes League has gotten off unscathed so many times it's become utterly expected. Without naming names, a major character was mortally wouded in a recent chapter as of time of writing. However, I felt zero tension from this development despite the fact that only a few chapters before there had been conversations about the lack of medical technology avai
IvyVeritasRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the best, longest-running, and most consistent web serials out there, it's also one of the best on a technical and grammatical level--the author actually knows how to write (which is always a pleasant surprise).Each of the main characters has their own personalities and growth, and even the minor characters have a purpose and a personality.Some of the story arcs are slower than others, but for a first-time reader, I recommend reading the whole thing all the way through. And some of the arcs are a bit out there, but I believe that's a deliberate homage to the decades of comic books that the story takes inspiration from.
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.