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Zephyr by Wereviking

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Rated 7.52 out of 10 Statistics

Information

Genre: Superhero / Crime

Audience: anyone

Updated: none

Content Advisory

Occasional Sexual Content

Frequent Coarse Language

Frequent Violence

Statistics

Overall Rating: 7.521

Average Rating: 9.28 (Guests), 8.63 (Members)

Ranking: #40

Rating Count: 23 (18 Guests, 4 members)

1 indicates a weighted rating.

Zephyr by Wereviking product Read This

"An astonishing achievement -- and ongoing!"

Rating: 9 / 10

I started reading the self-described Wereviking’s Zephyr chronicles half a year ago and was drawn in to the chaotic and dense style, the strong narrative voice and the very original take on the superhero genre, which is not something that would normally appeal. I cooled on the series when new posts related more to its secondary storyline—the main character Zephyr waking up in a parallel universe where he has somehow been divested of his powers and identity—not because this thread was so uninteresting (though initially that seemed true), but because of the strong appeal of the main thread.

Not to be ongoingly critical, but the story is complex and diverse and sometimes this distracts from a coherent and driving storyline. On the one hand this doesn’t matter because the story, fragmented as it is, is quite interesting, and the numerous asides, intertextual references, pop culture gags and wry observations fuel the reader’s interest. Second, the author describes the story as a superhero universe reimagined through the lens of Bret Easton Ellis’s fiction (think American Psycho), and if we’re reimagining the genre then I guess nice and neatly-contained storylines go out the window with that.

As the series goes on, the other elements have fallen by the wayside and the renewed focus on Zephyr and seeing various plot elements come to fruition and be resolved reflects well on the ongoing series, now entering its second year judging by the posts on the site. In the course of his adventures we’ve learnt a lot about the iconic, flawed and sometimes self-obsessed main character and readers who have boned up on the backstory are now well supplied to see where all this information is taking us. I recommend the series highly, particularly for clever readers looking for professional-level writing online for free.

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