Sanctuary Reviews

Agent X by ScribbleYourThoughts

Agent X

By ScribbleYourThoughts

Agent X is a great story for fans of Marvel's Shield series. The premise is similar, but this story takes a wonderfully unique twist with its characters and world-building. Agent X works for a top secret agency that neutralizes threats that are very sci-fi in nature. He sets out on his first real case: to rescue hostages of a rival and evil agency called ACE and steal a dangerous weapon called VX. Really reminds me of Neon Genesis: Evangelion too, particularly with the rival agencies and the sci-fi tech the story utilizes. So this story is great for fans of that show as well.

At first I was apprehensive about this story because a lot of the cliche' sci-fi stuff I've been seeing on Wattpad (and just in general lately) has featured the same kind of story: "Badboy superhero agent with tragic past beats up bad guys in space, winning battles with both his Gary Stu plot armor and his Deadpool snark" and it's been pretty annoying...I've actually seen this alot with female characters (take She Hulk for example) in an attempt to, I guess, pander to the "girl boss" trend. The fact that this story doesn't do that is such a breath of fresh air. I loved X's character. He's extremely genuine and he feels like a real person. I love that he has two personas: the first is his genuine, anxious self, the second is a cool, professional facade that he wears to complete his missions and survive. While the mask he wears allows him to complete his missions successfully, his true self suffers from trauma, fear, and sadness, which only grows as he continues his work. Fantastic character writing! I love this design! In a world of Disney + cash grab cookie cutter characters, X's character is such a welcome relief.

I do think that this story takes a little too long to get started. The opening where X goes to receive his mission from Tasker was a good idea and I like the banter that X has with Hacker in the chapter following, but these are two very simple beats that don't have to be drawn out over two full-length chapters: "X receives his mission from Tasker" and "X goes to meet Hacker before the mission." Both of these beats could easily be condensed into one chapter and I found that a lot of the dialogue was unnecessary. For example, I didn't really think the scene where X was showing Hacker some tech that he designed was pertinent to the story. Then continuing the dialogue and exposition about the bee drone into the third chapter made the introductory material feel exceptionally long. A pacing style that introduces the agency, X, Hacker and Tasker in the first chapter so that the inciting event could begin in the second chapter (the mission) might serve the story best.

Overall this story is a nice addition to the sci-fi genre with a very fresh take on what's so often pushed into the mainstream these days. While it's weaknesses are in its pacing currently, its strengths are in its characters which is the most important part. This story is also a very fun and charming read and the reader finds themselves caring deeply about these heroes from the start. I wish you luck with revisions and I can't wait to see where this story goes.

See you, space cowboy