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The Reluctant Superhero #1

The Reluctant Superhero Book 1

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Randold, better known as Rand, was no ordinary individual. Despite his best efforts, he possessed an extraordinary secret—he was a Super. Well, technically speaking, he belonged to that exceptional group, but he concealed his true nature from the world. For Rand possessed a remarkable ability to manipulate all forms of energy, even the Superpowers of others, a power that, if discovered, would undoubtedly land him in dire trouble with the government. The consequences ranged from imprisonment to something far worse.

But the weight of responsibility rested heavily on Rand's shoulders, a burden he never asked for. He had never aspired to be a Super; all he desired was a simple, ordinary life. His dreams revolved around attending university, graduating, and securing a decent job in the world of business. Saving the world was not part of his grand plan.

The existence of Supers had been a reality for over two decades. It all began with the dramatic entrance of a Supervillain, shattering the tranquility of the world. However, their reign was short-lived, swiftly countered by the arrival of a courageous Superhero within a week. From that point forward, the world underwent a metamorphosis, forever altered by the presence of these extraordinary beings.

It wasn't just the human population that experienced transformation; even animals underwent bewildering mutations, transforming into monstrous creatures. Even seemingly harmless creatures like rabbits had evolved into formidable level-two threats. An average human being was classified as a level-one entity, whereas Supers spanned a spectrum of power, ranging from level three to the awe-inspiring Titan and Dragon threat levels. In the face of such cataclysmic changes, humanity sought refuge in fortified City-States. Rand resided in one of the larger cities along the eastern coast, aptly named New San Diago.

However, everything changed on one fateful day when Rand found himself saving what he had initially assumed to be an ordinary human girl. From that moment onward, his life veered onto an irreversible path, leaving him uncertain if the consequences would be favorable or not. Concealing his identity as one of the most powerful Supers in the world became an even greater challenge, as the act of rescuing a single girl posed a threat to exposing his closely guarded secret.

Embark on Rand's journey as he grapples with the immense task of controlling his powers while navigating the treacherous path of secrecy. His quest is not only to hide his true nature from his newfound friends but also from other Supers who may be lurking in the shadows. Will he successfully strike a delicate balance, or will his remarkable abilities lead to an unmasking that could forever alter his destiny? Join Rand as he faces these trials and tribulations, where the stakes are high, and the world of Supers is fraught with peril.

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 19, 2023

323 people are currently reading
68 people want to read

About the author

D. Levesque

51 books116 followers

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5 stars
303 (51%)
4 stars
163 (27%)
3 stars
82 (13%)
2 stars
24 (4%)
1 star
19 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
97 reviews
August 22, 2023
this story is an poorly written copy of Saving super villains

There is unfortunately a lot of poorly written crass statements that makes this seem written by a hormonal teen. 2 of the main plot points of this book (the fruit that the girl ate that corrupted her powers, and the power set of the main character) are direct rip off of the other story. I loved that story and the antihero protagonist so I thought I’d give this a shot, but it’s just not that good despite ripping off of a great series.
2,565 reviews72 followers
August 29, 2023
This is the same idea as Bruce Sentar's Saving Supervillians.

There are several differences. This has a very weak set up. Many of D. Levesque's books have a weak setting, but this one is really bad. There are inconsistencies and the main character's power is a catch all rather than an actual ability. The fact that the cast are all kids, just eighteen years old, messes up the balance. This is a copy of a successful series with enough changes to avoid legal issues, but none of the changes work.
415 reviews7 followers
January 30, 2024
So...let's be clear here.

This is a very poorly written book. There are sentence fragments, choppy writing, horrible dialogue, weird stream of conciousness sections, and an annoying overuse of the word "Hmm" as a complete sentence. There's also a few continuity errors (eg, whether or not the protagonist has met Frank's dad before, or whether Tripper has killed people in the past, where we're told first one thing, then a couple chapters later, something else).

Beyond that, the protagonist is the most blatant Gary Sue imaginable. He's absurdly powerful, but also kind and humble, but with no discernable personality, and everything he might possibly want seems to fall into his lap without effort.

Finally, the setting, premise, and many plot elements are also...well, let's say an "obvious homage" to Saving Supervillains. And not even copied particularly well; enough stuff got garbled that some details don't make a lot of sense if examined closely.

In many ways, this book reads more like poorly written fanfic. And yet! It's...actually a pretty pleasant book? If you want some low stakes wish fulfillment, it's not terrible! Just don't expect anything too good or novel or for the protagonist to be challenged in any way by anything, ever.
Profile Image for Iori.
593 reviews4 followers
September 24, 2023
Decent plotline

This was good with some typos here and there, but I wish there was more world building in the story. Rand is a nice guy, but I wish the author also worked more on the harem element.
183 reviews8 followers
November 18, 2023
So aside from the obvious

As has already been mentioned in other reviews, this is a blatant rip off of Saving Super Villains. I love the power premise of both MCs but it is a blatant copy. The ways they use their powers are slightly different but the set is the same.

So aside from that obvious problem, there are other things I just really dislike in the authors writing style. I am not sure if the author is American born or not, but the story is written from the perspective of a guy from basically LA. The word choices used to describe things, such as him grabbing his runners, really bothers me. That isn’t something I have heard someone call their tennis shoes outside of the UK or maybe Australia so when I see that it kinda throws a wrench in the flow of my reading. It is nit picky of me I know, but if you’re going to write your story from an American perspective, then do a few minutes research to learn colloquialisms from the area you’re writing about!

Secondly, the intimate scenes in this book are down right pathetic. I’m not saying you should go into crazy graphic details like some authors do, but come on; the fade to black and then wake up the next morning crap stopped being acceptable in the 90s as an explanation!

While the story overall is interesting, where it actually differs from SSV, I honestly don’t know how this hasn’t been slapped with an IP infringement case or something.
33 reviews
July 1, 2024
Junk

Like other reviewers mention this definitely pulls a lot of references from Bruce Sentar’s SSV, of which I’m a big fan. I wouldn’t call it straight plagiarism as the book is certainly different enough in content, but there’s enough references to SSV that I would at least expect a not from the author somewhere stating permission was gained from BS or at least giving him credit where do.

That said, this book falls far short of SSV and is nowhere close to BS’ talent or ability. I found it overall unoriginal, unimaginative, and poorly written. I dnf’d around 36%, but what I got through showed poor characterization, a dumb unlikeable MC (and other characters) who sounds like a frat ‘bro’, and inconsistent details throughout with plot armor galore. The narration was repetitive, unclear in details, and just not well thought out. It seems like the author read Bruce’s work, said ‘I could write something like this,’ slapped a loose somewhat different plot together from SSV in a very similar world, and was too lazy to even change the names or sufficiently change the world mechanics to be somewhat original, then published independently with little editing because why not?

Also what’s with the obsession with the unrealistic ‘silver spoon’ rich kid character? (Seriously, the term was used at least 5 times in just the piece I read). I just cannot muster more than a bottom of the barrel rating for the cheap Chinese knockoff of BS that I wasn’t even able to finish.
403 reviews3 followers
June 28, 2024
I like the story, its one of the better super-hero harem stories i've read so far. My only complaint is some of the repetitive writing. It's pretty annoying. Like Linda apologizing to MC literally 6 times for not showing up for their first date. And on two of those times, MC is like 'hey no worries, i was able to buy myself some delicious scones so it wasn't a total waste' and then she goes off about the strawberry ones. Two effing times they had that conversation. And then later, we are introduced to the brainiac of the SAC, along with MC, and are told about his 700 IQ or whatever. And then it's mentioned again near the end of the story like no one even knew it before. What?

And MC being completely clueless as to why there is construction guys in his house when he didn't call for them? C'mon man, you have a literal A.I. in your house, is it that hard to effing piece together how they got called in? Real genius.

These were just small annoyances, mostly it's a solid story. I look forward to the next book.
46 reviews2 followers
August 31, 2023
Entertaining story, writing was pretty decent. Curious plotline as it developed although there wasn't what I would consider to be a lot of action. MC has a bit of a Mary Sue feel about him but the only time we see any real fighting in the book it's not that overpowering.

The end, however felt a little over the top - sudden access to money, powers, acclaim, and the relationships that developed were just a little too much to maintain the suspense of disbelief needed to really enjoy Sci-Fi & Fantasy novels. It all just seemed too pat and convenient, with everything neatly tied up with a bow. Real life, unfortunately, doesn't work like that.

Despite that I'm willing to check out the next book because, as I said earlier, the writing was pretty good and the plotline needs a little more to fill it out, and I'm willing to give the author the opportunity to continue to regale me with the story.
586 reviews
October 16, 2023
Familiar powers with the MC of a similar story

I enjoyed the book, but I kept thinking that the MC had basically the exact OP powers to the MC from the Saving Supervillains series by Bruce Sentar, which also had a ‘fruit’ that was being distributed that played havoc with superpowers as a main storyline in that series. The stories diverged enough to not be a copy, but you get the impression that this author got a lot of inspiration and ideas from that series. This has fade to black sex scenes, and the MC has stared building a harem of supers who had unstable powers. A fun read but it would be better if more of the similarities between the previously mentioned series storyline were replaced.
922 reviews18 followers
August 6, 2024
I actually enjoy stories with over powered MCs because I find the questions of where, when and how to apply such power interesting. As a result this book tells a good story for me. The first time I listened to these books (1 & 2 in the series) I enjoyed them. However, a few months later I forgot I read book 2 and started the series a second time.

A second read through is a somewhat fascinating experience in itself. There are very few books that fair as well the second time through and those are the classics. Here that was obviously not the case. Still an enjoyable story for me, hence the 3 stars, but the prose is only competent, not artful. Still, if you are like me and can enjoy OP MCs you will likely enjoy these books.
10 reviews
August 24, 2023
Fast Paced First Novel

This was a fun foray into the genre by the author. It seemed like he was going in a certain direction, only to veer off into a different direction! While I think he could have slowed the pace down for this novel, as the MC revealed his true power to way too many people so soon, it was still a fun read. I’m giving the author 5 stars on this book, but be a aware as a reader, you will find that the story rushes by and you have to be able to accept that the support cast takes a lot of things at face value! Fun read, but the author needs to take things slower in the next book!
5 reviews
August 31, 2023
Shouldn't like it but I do

Good: No sex scenes. Relaxing storytelling, practically a slice of life. Interesting premise and world. Reasonably thought out.

Bad: I want to pick this apart so much, like as an editor or something. Where is the character motivation and depth? How is the MC such an idiot? I'll just pick one though and ask where all the anchovies for pizza are coming from, since apparently nobody takes boats out any more...

But I enjoyed it anyway.
247 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2023
Glad I gave it a shot!

I picked this up on a whim and am glad I did. I like the writing and story of this one a lot more than some of this author's previous books (they were good books, but I like this one more).

Some parts are a bit close to an already popular superhero story, but the story is different and not as heavy.

I thoroughly recommend you give this one a shot.

Spicy bits are FTB.
27 reviews1 follower
June 12, 2024
Strong start

I enjoyed this. While the MC is extremely over powered he is aware of it and the supporting cast react in sensible ways to this.

As a reader be aware, this is (another) story with the character in education who falls into lots of cash giving lots of equipment and a base with many convenient things in it. I don't mind this, but if you want a story with someone slowly building up a support base for their walking WMD status, probably best to avoid.
Profile Image for Kevin.
1,765 reviews32 followers
October 21, 2024
I'm only giving this a go because a friend enjoyed it. The author is very hit or miss.

I wonder if this was inspired by Saving Supervillains by Bruce Sentar, or if this book was first? Because I am seeing some major similarities.

LOL. I finished the book. This was Saving Supervillains with the serial number gouged off, and a full body kit fitted onto it.

I might pick up the sequel. We will see.

3/5 Stars
132 reviews
January 19, 2025
It's good

This isn't plagiarized from the other book that it's plot closely mirrors. There's a lot of original material toward the end of the book. Things start to diverge. I wouldn't say severely but it's definitely its own thing and not a copy of anything else. Standard superhero tropes everywhere and that's not a bad thing. But if you like superhero stories this is worth giving it a try
157 reviews2 followers
October 17, 2025
Could be written better

I wanted a superhero book with some romance. There is closed door spice so no smut written in.

The book is about Rand who is hiding his powers and now reluctant becomes a hero. Alot of the information is just handed to us. We dont have to work for it.

There are a couple of fights but the writing needs more depth.
I would recommend others reading saving supervillians by bruce sentar. Who has better writing skills or book of graves by g.s
27 reviews1 follower
October 29, 2023
Atrocious prose.

I am mainly reviewing in order to teach the algorithm not to recommend me this book. The author has the horrible prose style of a new author on royal road. Basic sentences are not constructed properly, sentences are oddly constructed and extraneous information is given. It two stars because I couldn't read far enough to judge plot or character.
88 reviews1 follower
November 21, 2023
Knockoff

This is a poorly done knockoff of Saving Super Villians which I know is a knockoff already but that book is ~miles~ better than this one haha. Enough joking this book is pretty rough in the beginning and while different enough from Saving Super Villians I see why the author of SSV didn’t go down these story lines. I’ll read the next one though.
Profile Image for Sean.
87 reviews2 followers
July 18, 2024
For those looking to start this series, don't waste your time.

While I didn't hate each individual book, the plot quite literally gets wrapped up in like 20 pages at the end. It honestly felt like there was supposed to be a 4th book, and at the last minute the author said, "Nah, F it, I'm done," and then just wrote a couple of pages to skip over months and months of conclusion.

If you never read this series, you will not have missed anything, trust me.
9 reviews
March 16, 2025
Weak storytelling. Fundamentally a ripoff of another author’s work, and badly done at that. No attention to world building. Potential hurdles eliminated by “but they are richer than Dog”. Harem is lazy and too convenient. No emotion, just teenage fantasy for boys that have never had relationships before. Unless you’re bored, skip it.
49 reviews2 followers
August 19, 2023
Great start

Loved this book and it's quite different to what I expected with new slants on the genre. Good characters and the story could go in so many directions. Next one please. :)
21 reviews
August 20, 2023
Another good series

Once again this damn author has started another series I will have to buy. And no you are not a bad dad for addicting your to Ranks 1/2 anime. Just keep your health up so you can slave away writing books.
89 reviews3 followers
August 20, 2023
Pretty Good

The story starts off pretty similar to another superhero harem story, but it diverges at about the midway point. Overall the story is pretty good. Spicy scenes are FTB, not explicit.
Profile Image for Brian Frazier.
331 reviews4 followers
August 22, 2023
Great start

I've seen similar, but not the same, powers. Glad you added the brain, I actually thought he would be more. Educated is not the same as common sense smart. That will be interesting! Might have to add the parents too! I think would need a bigger team.
21 reviews
August 25, 2023
not bad but not super original

Good enough book and I love his writing but man the main premise was ripped from Bruce sentars saving supervillains almost to a T. Similar powers for.l the MC and even a rip off of monster fruit. Not a bad book at all just seems a little unoriginal.
9 reviews
August 28, 2023
well written and well thought out novel.

Unlike many other Super power novels, this novel is more detailed and thought out. Though the pace is slow, it is still quick enough to captivate the reader. Overall an enjoyable read. Keep up the good work, author.
274 reviews6 followers
August 29, 2023
Good

The storyline is excellent. However, the MC is far too childish for me to give this five stars. This author always has amazing stories to tell, and I look forward to the next one in this series.
102 reviews2 followers
September 17, 2023
I really enjoyed it!

I'm not a big superhero fan, and I tend to steer clear of this genre. But this story got my attention, and I'm glad it did! It's written extremely well, and is alot fun to read. Can't wait for #2!
134 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2023
Didn’t match its promise

Some interesting concepts but was a bit too much Harem for my taste. The power level just kept on escalating without any justification. The emotions were missing from the main characters. Needs a good rewrite.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews

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