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Review: Save Me From Myself

Save Me From Myself by AllMightSideKick

Genre: Action, BNHA/MHA Fanfic

Chapter Length: 26 Chapters, Complete

Chapters Reviewed: 6 Chapters

Update Schedule: N/A

Save Me From Myself follows a girl named Kayo who lives with her sister after her parents death. Even with the recent deaths, she still decides to go to U.A. to become a Pro Hero.

Warning: I've gotten the okay to give out spoilers for this book, and while I don't touch up on a lot, I don't hold back on them, so tread with caution if you haven't read this book.

The author has given me permission to discuss spoilers in this book, which I will be touching up on some major spoilers, despite only reading six chapters. So, if you haven't read the book yet, please tread with cautions.

As stated, this story follows a girl named Kayo, who has a very interesting backstory. Each chapter reveals something new about her that can intrigue a reader to continue on. I know I have only read 6/26 chapters; however that was enough for me to determine the story's strengths and weaknesses.

One thing I absolutely loved was seeing how the title related to the storyline. There are many times where writers will chose a title just because it's catchy, but it doesn't relate to the storyline at all. That's not the case in this story. Save Me From Myself is a title that directly correlates with the struggles the main character, Kayo, will face later on. It's catchy and yet has relevance to the story which is refreshing to see.

At least, I can assume that the title is closely related to the plot as it's revealed early on that Kayo's actual dad is a villain, one of which is shown early on with a similar Quirk as herself. I love that her backstory is complicated. Just weeks prior to the start of the start of the story, Kayo's parents die due to a crime lord. It's an interesting take as most stories wouldn't take this route. If an MC's parents die, it's usually because they're heroes, or it was an accident, etc. etc. Seeing that they weren't necessarily good people, but Kayo decides to still become a hero, it's an interesting take that is super creative.

There's a lot of creativity that this story has. One of which is about All Might. I like the idea that her sister, Akuma, is actually married to the guy and knows about the secret. While Akuma knows this, Kayo doesn't. This leads to some hilarious scenes of the young girl wondering why Akuma "left" All Might for some lanky guy that doesn't seem all that impressive. I loved seeing these thoughts because as the reader, we all know Yagi and All Might are the same person, and even look similar (well, minus the buff and scrawniness, and the different ways they present themselves), but to the characters, it's so hard to see when All Might is this praised hero.

While there is so much creativity going on in this story, it's also one of this story's biggest weaknesses. It is so easy as a storyteller to want to tell our readers everything about our characters. I felt like I was being fed every piece of information. Everything is being told in this story. There is nothing that really shows anything. It would've been nice to figure some of this on my own or to find the truth out later.

For example, Akuma's backstory. Right away, the first chapter talks about how she's an orphan now since her parents died. Oh, but it's okay because she doesn't feel sad because they worked for a crime lord, so they weren't good people. Thing is, her dad (the one that died, not her actual one, which she doesn't know yet) taught her how to use her Quirk, so she could protect herself. He's not her actual dad though, because this villain is actually her dad (which her sister reveals in one of her POVs).

This is all juicy stuff, but it's not executed well because it's just told. Not once was I shocked with any of this information because it was just stated and then the story moved on. Personally, one of my favorite things as a reader is when there are twists and turns in a story, but if I'm being spoon fed them in the beginning, it's not as interesting as it could be. It also doesn't make the story feel real.

This is the problem with telling a storying instead of showing a story. Maybe instead of having Kayo explain everything, show a scene of where she was training with her dad in a flashback. Show that he wasn't a good father with how he treats her during those training sessions, but maybe not have her see that he wasn't being a bad father because of it (as she states he wasn't bad, but he wasn't good either). This flashback could then turn into a scene where she gets off the train and sees her sister and Uncle Yagi for the first time in years, showing a bit of what's going on instead of giving a lot of fluff that seems poorly executed.

Some other minor, yet important, things that needs to be fixed though are grammar and relationships. Spelling is something that I have troubles with, and grammar isn't the easiest of things either. Luckily, there are tools you can use that can help with that, and I'm not talking about Wattpad. As much as I love using this site to read and write, the grammar and spelling check on this thing sucks. It doesn't pick up on grammar rules or every single misspelling, so it's best to check on a site that specializes on this. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Grammarly are three commonly used resources that can help a story improve so much because it can help catch repeated and misspelled words. There are a handful of misspelled words in every chapter, which can become distracting after a while. The good thing is that it's not horrendous, but it'd be good to edit some of the chapters to prevent readers from catching them. I know I have to do the same thing on a monthly basis as I'm notorious for making grammar and spelling mistakes.

The other thing I mentioned that needs to be fixed is relationships. What I mean by this is how people are related to one another. I know Kayo goes to live with her sister, Akuma; however, she refers to her husband as Uncle Yagi. This honestly threw me off at first because for him to be her uncle, that'd mean Akuma was her aunt. I know there's an age difference between Akuma and Kayo, but she's still her sister, meaning Yagi would be her brother-in-law.

That doesn't mean she can't call him Uncle Yagi, but it'd be nice to know why she calls him that early on. When it comes to small details like that, it's okay to explain things. This can help a reader understand it a bit.

I know that's a lot, but this story has great potential. There is a lot of interesting things going on, but the way it's executed, well, it just needs some work. That aside, the ideas that are used, the backstory, even the world-building of this book are things that the author should be very proud of. I can tell the writer worked very hard on this story.

Great job on creating a creative story. I wish you the best of luck with all your stories in the future.