Title: Extraordinary Times
Author: Kenchi618
Rating: M
Genre: OC
Status: WIP (132K words atm)
Library Category: -
Pairings: -
Summary: The life of a young mutant is perilous enough on its own. Follow the experiences of a student entering the hallowed halls of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, learning just what it takes and what it means to count himself as one of a race that is feared and targeted by many. Welcome to the X-Men, Bellamy Marcher - Hope you survive the experience.
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11874143/1/Extraordinary-Times

So, I saw Logan this weekend. I've never been into the comics/super hero thing before, but I rather liked the movie so I figured I'd give the fandom a try.

Since I'm not familiar with the universe anyways, giving an OC story a try could serve as an introduction to it, yeah? So, this fic was exactly what I was looking for beforehand and it had tons of favorites and follows. Read on!

(If this fic was mentioned in almost recommended or something, I couldn't find it but you have my apologies)

Onto the story then; young guy discovers he has powers, meets some Friends (of Humanity, I'm sure you guys are more familiar with them then I am), gets rescued by X-men and goes off to the institute. Cue trouble and bonding.

Not terribly original you say? I'd have to concede the point. However, it's all well written, and the protagonist is so damn likeable man. You don't even know how likeable this guy is. You're two chapters in and you're thinking, we'd be BFF's for sure if we went to school together. And it's not just the protagonist either. Obviously, the institute is a great place to design your own characters, but they're not just a a bunch of blank slates with cool mutant powers. I'm sure the teacher cast will be familiar to everyone who's ever read an X-men comic, but I can't speak to their characterization. The other kids though, they have their own personalities and they all feel real, which is hard because the author introduces a bunch of them.

So far the action scenes themselves have been good enough I guess, but the way there felt contrived to me. That's the one negative I'll leave you guys.

For me, this has been a great read and the last update was last week, so the story is alive and kicking. Definately give it a try if you like the fandom or, like me, you've seen Logan and are willing to give it a try. 4.5/5

Jarizok out. (Yes, the author does that in his ANs. I'm sure those of you who've read his Naruto/Bleach fics will know. Unless he doesn't do it there, I sure as hell don't know, I don't touch the stuff.)

 

It's a Kenchi fic. Anyone who's read one will know what they're getting before they go in. That said, this and Less Than Zero are probably his best stories. They still tend to get bogged down with references to other series, but are overall very enjoyable if you're the kind of person who's seen Gurren Laggan 10 times and played all the Metal Gear games. Otherwise, you'll find your mileage may vary.

4.5/5 from me

 

I enjoy the story as well. The main character seems to have Bishop like powers. I am not sure how i feel about the first person perspective though.

I also think less than zero is one of his best stories, it too bad it is not updated regularly anymore.

4/5

 

Title needs X-Men, or something similar, in it. The format for Other Review Board is slightly different:

Spoiler

 

Woopsie, right you are. Can I do that myself or will I need mod assistance?

 

You'll need mod assistance, I'm pretty sure. Palindrome ?

 

Taken care of.

 

I've been reading this on and off. It's typical Kenichi, while the plot is much improved there still seems to be a harem vibe coming from the story. 3/5

 

I feel like this is a loaded assessment, multiple romantic interests doesn't mean it's a harem. He's depicting a teenage boy, they want to stick their dicks in everything... so I feel that when we have unfettered access to Sol's thoughts that it isn't unrealistic or unreasonable that he has a genuine appreciation for the females around him. I actually feel like the romance is well balanced at the moment, it's predominately used to spark playful banter. Yet the way you describe it denotes negative connotations. Interesting, different strokes I guess.

I honestly feel like Kenchi is coming into his own with his OC centric stories. He's been sticking to his strengths for his protagonists, as always, but at the same time they still feel unique.

I wasn't quite sure about the first person, but within a few chapters you won't notice that it's any different. It even starts to feel a little more personal and intimate in story telling after a while.

Kenchi has a knack for capturing the personalities of so many characters it's almost uncanny. I feel like he's really outdone himself on the world building/incorporating he's been doing with the Marvel and DC stories.

This is actually one of the few stories I actually look forward to seeing updates from. There aren't may on that list. 4.5/5

 

Let's not kid ourselves, if you've read his other works its fairly safe to assume that this is going the harem route and if it doesn't, I, for one will be extremely surprised.

As for the story itself. Its engaging and entertaining like most of Kenchi's stories. Bellamy fits inside the X-men universe rather seamlessly which is the story's greatest strength.
3.5 rounded up.

 

It has been AGES since I've read the last few chapters of Better Left Unsaid, but it wasn't 'going the harem route'. It was Naruto/Ino, right? There was someone (a princess, maybe?) trying to have her way with Naruto but nothing actually happened, if I remember correctly. Bellamy has a flirty/easy-going vibe going on, but I didn't get an obvious "harem" vibe to be honest.

Extraordinary Times is actually the first OC-centric story I've ever read and the first story -told by the first person- that I liked. It is easier to enjoy a well-written OC-centric story if you don't read much in that fandom, so maybe this is the reason I like this so much, unlike the 'good' ones from Naruto or HP fandom. Its start was capturing and the pace of the story was well balanced. Sure, there were places towards the end of the first quarter I skipped. I did read them eventually after I have become a better reader and started to enjoy the little details.

I don't know a lot about X-Men comic books and the timeline, but it didn't prevent me from enjoying the story. Or understanding it, for that matter. At first, it was a "cool" guy with cool powers trying to figure out his life. (Admittedly, I became bored with this trope pretty quickly, but this one and maybe 'Less Than Zero' remained among my favorites.)

The update rate is better than most stories', but it still causes some details to slip from my mind. I don't mind to read over most times though. It is one of the few stories I eagerly anticipate seeing an update from.

4.5/5

 

The latest chapter makes this fic 250K+ words. It’s become my favorite WIP fic by miles and miles in any fandom. Bellamy’s voice just makes this fic a joy to read even when nothing particularly interesting is happening, which isn’t often as the fic is fairly action packed. At the same time the plot isn’t contrived or rushed though.

I’m upgrading my rating to 5/5.

 

It is at the moments. Basically what it does to the end of Breakworld arc is going through Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3 (which focus mostly on the Cyclops, Kitty, Beast, Emma, Collossuss and Wolverine with Paladins being only side characters), with some elements and tone of DeFilippis' and Weir's run on New X-Men Vol. 2 (which focus on New Mutants team and their rivalry with Hellions), but skip a lot of things that would chronologically happen during it, most significantly House of M (crappy event resulting in depowering most of the mutants and in longer perspective in death of most of the X-kids) and some other divergences, which for example result in Danger arc being completely different.

We will hopefully probably never return to that one. But, as it returned to New X-Men arcs that it originally skipped, we may still get some version of Civil War (fight about the need of superheroes registering their identities with the government, canonically not of much import in regards to X-Men, because most of them were depowered and government knew and had under observation those retaining their powers) and World War Hulk (Hulk comes back from space angry at Illuminati [Iron Man, Namor, Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt and Xavier) in which X-Kids were heavily involved.

Still, even the almost directly rehashed arcs (Breakworld for example) felt pretty fresh due to a different perspective. On the other hand, even the fully original arcs (like the holidays with X-23) are rooted in canon content, and due to most of the later X-stuff being centred on results of House of M, I wonder what will happen when Kenchi runs out of the base material.

And I feel the base material is important, this fic is better than Less than Zero largely because it roots itself in a good material, whereas the early 00s were largely bad for DC which reflects in the fic itself.

 

I was pretty stunned. I can never find x-men fics that I like... for a lot of the reasons that have already been mentioned. 5/5

 

I really enjoyed this story. I'm not usually the biggest fan of POV fics, but this one manages to pull it off to a T.

The only main problem is that the main character is a bit Dresden-like in that he keeps restating that he's scared and whatever but is still thought to be "too cool". Other than that, I enjoy the character interactions, the storyline, and the powers to such an extent that I actually read parts of his other fics, which are much worse. Less than Zero just feels like a slog to get through compared to this story.

4.5/5

 

Wait, what's your definition of POV fic?