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Powers, Masks and Capes
The Technopath
Breaking News: Confessions of the Supervillain Mask the Technopath!
In an exclusive scoop, the Daily Messenger has acquired the transcript of the infamous Technopath’s interview with the Power Defense Authority upon her initial capture after the August 19th terrorist incident in downtown Mayson.
Among the shocking revelations in the transcript is allusions to the PDA knowing of her villainous sire, on-going abuse of the children of Masks and accusations of terrorism and collusion against Mordant Technologies.
For full details, just subscribe to the Daily Messenger within!
In an exclusive scoop, the Daily Messenger has acquired the transcript of the infamous Technopath’s interview with the Power Defense Authority upon her initial capture after the August 19th terrorist incident in downtown Mayson.
Among the shocking revelations in the transcript is allusions to the PDA knowing of her villainous sire, on-going abuse of the children of Masks and accusations of terrorism and collusion against Mordant Technologies.
For full details, just subscribe to the Daily Messenger within!
- GenresSuperheroes
46 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 17, 2020
9 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Tao Wong
146 books965 followersTao Wong is the author of the A Thousand Li progression fantasy series and the System Apocalypse LitRPG series, among others. His work has been released in audio, paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats, and translated into German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and several other languages. He was shortlisted for the UK Kindle Storyteller Award in 2021 for A Thousand Li: The Second Sect. In 2026, the first three books in the A Thousand Li series will be republished in hardcover by Ace Books.
When he’s not writing or working, he enjoys practicing martial arts, reading, and dreaming up new worlds. He lives in Toronto, Canada.
When he’s not writing or working, he enjoys practicing martial arts, reading, and dreaming up new worlds. He lives in Toronto, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 14, 2025
⚡ “Circuits and Conscience: A Superpowered Origin Story with Heart” ⚡
Book Review: The Technopath by Tao Wong
Plot Overview (Spoiler-Free)
We follow Maddie, a young woman who manifests the rare power of technopathy—the ability to manipulate and control technology with her mind.
In a society where “powered” individuals are both policed and commodified, Maddie is recruited into a training and regulatory organization for heroes.
What begins as a story about learning to control her gift evolves into a tale of autonomy, trust, and institutional power dynamics.
What Sets This Apart
Grounded Powers: Unlike overpowered protagonists in many superhero or LitRPG universes, Maddie’s abilities are formidable but limited. Her victories come from cleverness, not brute strength.
Psychological Realism: The book balances its sci-fi elements with emotional intelligence. Maddie reacts to trauma, pressure, and ethical challenges in realistic ways.
Tech with Tension: Tao Wong cleverly explores what technopathy would really mean in a world of surveillance, data privacy, and cyber-warfare.
Character Development
Struggling with imposter syndrome and societal expectations.
Learning to assert boundaries within the “hero hierarchy.”
Forming connections—with other powered individuals, mentors, and machines—that deepen her understanding of trust and control.
Writing Style
Crisp and Accessible: Tao Wong keeps his prose clean and focused. This is not a book that over-indulges in exposition or technobabble.
Smart without being dense: The book feels intelligent, with just enough techno-thriller elements to satisfy fans of both superheroes and sci-fi.
Character-First: Action scenes are clear and effective, but they never overshadow Maddie’s emotional journey.
Thematic Core
Control vs. Freedom: Maddie must learn not just to control machines, but to resist being controlled by systems larger than herself.
Power and Ethics: What are the consequences of giving someone the ability to shut down the world’s infrastructure—or just a surveillance drone?
Coming of Age: This is a superhero origin story wrapped inside a personal awakening.
Drawbacks
The scope stays relatively small—some readers may expect more high-stakes global action, but that’s not this book’s intent.
Because of its introspective tone, the pacing can feel slow in the middle third, especially if you're coming from more explosive superhero fiction.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨ (4 Stars)
Final Verdict
Book Review: The Technopath by Tao Wong
When your mind can control machines, what happens when you're faced with people?
The Technopath is a compelling standalone—or possible series starter—set within Tao Wong’s Powers, Masks and Capes Universe. Known for his cultivation-heavy series like A Thousand Li, Wong takes a sharp yet seamless detour into superhero science fiction. This novel delivers a grounded, character-first narrative about power, identity, and responsibility, wrapped in an accessible blend of tech-based abilities and modern hero tropes.
Plot Overview (Spoiler-Free)
We follow Maddie, a young woman who manifests the rare power of technopathy—the ability to manipulate and control technology with her mind.
In a society where “powered” individuals are both policed and commodified, Maddie is recruited into a training and regulatory organization for heroes.
What begins as a story about learning to control her gift evolves into a tale of autonomy, trust, and institutional power dynamics.
Maddie’s technopathic abilities offer a unique lens through which to explore today’s tech-dominated world, but the true strength of the story lies in her internal conflict: Should she serve the system—or challenge it?
What Sets This Apart
Grounded Powers: Unlike overpowered protagonists in many superhero or LitRPG universes, Maddie’s abilities are formidable but limited. Her victories come from cleverness, not brute strength.
Psychological Realism: The book balances its sci-fi elements with emotional intelligence. Maddie reacts to trauma, pressure, and ethical challenges in realistic ways.
Tech with Tension: Tao Wong cleverly explores what technopathy would really mean in a world of surveillance, data privacy, and cyber-warfare.
“Controlling a machine is easy. Controlling what people do with it—that’s harder.”
Character Development
Maddie is the heart of this story. She is young, introverted, and more engineer than fighter, yet she’s also resilient, curious, and principled. Wong doesn’t rush her development. We see her:
Struggling with imposter syndrome and societal expectations.
Learning to assert boundaries within the “hero hierarchy.”
Forming connections—with other powered individuals, mentors, and machines—that deepen her understanding of trust and control.
Other characters are well-sketched, particularly the instructors and fellow trainees, who represent various ethical standpoints in a superheroic world. None are purely good or evil—just people navigating a system as flawed as they are.
Writing Style
Crisp and Accessible: Tao Wong keeps his prose clean and focused. This is not a book that over-indulges in exposition or technobabble.
Smart without being dense: The book feels intelligent, with just enough techno-thriller elements to satisfy fans of both superheroes and sci-fi.
Character-First: Action scenes are clear and effective, but they never overshadow Maddie’s emotional journey.
Thematic Core
Control vs. Freedom: Maddie must learn not just to control machines, but to resist being controlled by systems larger than herself.
Power and Ethics: What are the consequences of giving someone the ability to shut down the world’s infrastructure—or just a surveillance drone?
Coming of Age: This is a superhero origin story wrapped inside a personal awakening.
The Technopath isn’t about saving the world with lasers. It’s about saving yourself with choices.
Drawbacks
The scope stays relatively small—some readers may expect more high-stakes global action, but that’s not this book’s intent.
Because of its introspective tone, the pacing can feel slow in the middle third, especially if you're coming from more explosive superhero fiction.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨ (4 Stars)
A smart, grounded, and emotionally resonant superhero story for the age of automation.
Final Verdict
The Technopath is a strong and thoughtful entry in the superhero fiction space—tech-savvy, character-driven, and ethically layered. If you’re looking for a superpowered story that’s less about punching villains and more about understanding what power means, this is absolutely worth your time.
In the end, Maddie’s real power isn’t technopathy. It’s the courage to choose what kind of person she wants to be—with or without the mask.
February 23, 2023
.I have read 2 books by Tao Wong before this exciting mini novel. I found this short thrill to be the perfect, bite-sized snip of something HUGE! I felt as though i was a passenger on a train or a pedestrian in the park who overheard something intense.
In The Technopath, we get an exclusive confession thats filled with details even though I knew I was missing something. In the brief pages, I learned just enough information to make me want to follow the speaker & hear the rest of the story. I may not have known the characters involved, the meanings of certain codes or if this person is a hero or villain but I want to find out.
I felt like an investigative journalist seeking out the scoop on these super powered individuals in this world. I thought of X-Men or of the Umbrella Academy while exploring this story. Supers, Metahumans or Homosuperiors are ostracized & the balance of the world is changing. How will the power tip?
In The Technopath, we get an exclusive confession thats filled with details even though I knew I was missing something. In the brief pages, I learned just enough information to make me want to follow the speaker & hear the rest of the story. I may not have known the characters involved, the meanings of certain codes or if this person is a hero or villain but I want to find out.
I felt like an investigative journalist seeking out the scoop on these super powered individuals in this world. I thought of X-Men or of the Umbrella Academy while exploring this story. Supers, Metahumans or Homosuperiors are ostracized & the balance of the world is changing. How will the power tip?
June 8, 2022
Set in the realistically foreseeable future, some humans randomly go through a change that turns them into Supes. This happened to Jane, who went from a boring teenager to someone with the ability to manipulate technology.
The novelette is told as The Technopath’s confession, which is interesting. It weaves together her past and what the events of the day were. It really focuses on whether or not having the right intentions make you a bad guy.
It was very fast paced, and as someone who is not technologically advanced, it was relatively easy to follow and understand. One minor complaint is that it could have used like one more read-over with intention to edit - some misspellings, missed words. Not enough to draw you out of the story, thankfully.
The novelette is told as The Technopath’s confession, which is interesting. It weaves together her past and what the events of the day were. It really focuses on whether or not having the right intentions make you a bad guy.
It was very fast paced, and as someone who is not technologically advanced, it was relatively easy to follow and understand. One minor complaint is that it could have used like one more read-over with intention to edit - some misspellings, missed words. Not enough to draw you out of the story, thankfully.
September 18, 2022
Usually when I read prequels I get the feeling that they finish way to fast. Maybe that's because the main thing the authors do is to make something from point A evolve into point B in the fastest, easiest way possible.
But this novel had such a unique feeling that came from how it was written, in that second person time, that it was almost like listening to a real TV interview.I loved this aspect.
"The technopath" is a short story that details the events of a terrorist attack that after all may not be so terrorist after all. Out narrator is the main protagonist so we only get her POV, but despite that the story felt real and somehow it did not dissapoint in the fantasy/ tech mumbo jumbo.
The worldbuilding was also on point and all in all I am now curious about the full book that comes after this.
But this novel had such a unique feeling that came from how it was written, in that second person time, that it was almost like listening to a real TV interview.I loved this aspect.
"The technopath" is a short story that details the events of a terrorist attack that after all may not be so terrorist after all. Out narrator is the main protagonist so we only get her POV, but despite that the story felt real and somehow it did not dissapoint in the fantasy/ tech mumbo jumbo.
The worldbuilding was also on point and all in all I am now curious about the full book that comes after this.
March 4, 2021
A new universe, super powers and excellent story telling!
Pretty neat story telling element, it’s a confession of a new supervillain but one that align with our society’s poor and less well off citizens constant struggle against the rich and powerful trying to make a profit.
Or maybe it’s just the moment someone had enough and changed themselves by using all the tools available?
I’m definitely jumping right into the next book to find out!!
Pretty neat story telling element, it’s a confession of a new supervillain but one that align with our society’s poor and less well off citizens constant struggle against the rich and powerful trying to make a profit.
Or maybe it’s just the moment someone had enough and changed themselves by using all the tools available?
I’m definitely jumping right into the next book to find out!!
May 3, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this novella. Instead of the usual superhero story, we get something dark and more dystopian that makes you think at the same time. We all know that most corporations are corrupt yet we still work for them and collect a paycheck from them.
The MC of this story is the same. She's a super but she trusts the company she's working for because she enjoys the research.
Despite the short length, I felt that I read a full (compressed) story. The editing is great, and the characters are developed. Recommended if you like stories on the darker side. 5/5*
The MC of this story is the same. She's a super but she trusts the company she's working for because she enjoys the research.
Despite the short length, I felt that I read a full (compressed) story. The editing is great, and the characters are developed. Recommended if you like stories on the darker side. 5/5*
March 21, 2021
A taste of things to come?
This could be an interesting world to explore. I like how everything is delivered as a confession, but there were a few paragraphs where I thought it didn’t work as well.
One of the authors I insta-buy. Worth it.
This could be an interesting world to explore. I like how everything is delivered as a confession, but there were a few paragraphs where I thought it didn’t work as well.
One of the authors I insta-buy. Worth it.
July 7, 2021
The Mask
Not usually something I'd read, but this was an awesome little read, Interesting characters and worldbuilding , A Technomancer with the power to bring the government to its knees, I will be exploring more of this series very soon, highly recommended....😁
Not usually something I'd read, but this was an awesome little read, Interesting characters and worldbuilding , A Technomancer with the power to bring the government to its knees, I will be exploring more of this series very soon, highly recommended....😁
February 7, 2021
Fun Afternoon Read
Interesting main character and world building. Would love to see this world opened up in a longer novel or series.
Interesting main character and world building. Would love to see this world opened up in a longer novel or series.
October 23, 2023
Short, but far from simple.
A good listen, and one you'll likely want to hear two or three times.
A good listen, and one you'll likely want to hear two or three times.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews