What do you think?
Rate this book
MASKED
The nefarious Dope Gang has robbed the Wonder City First National Bank!
In a world where the line between super and supervillain blurs with televised news, two lost souls are caught in a bank-heist blunder. Crimson Justice-the most powerful super on the planet, endorsed by corporations and the federal government-is obsessed with bringing the Dope Gang to justice one way or another.
Trapped inside a max-security bank vault, Dean and Tori trade tales of failed love and the dreams that passed them by. As Tori and Dean fight to escape their predicament, they encounter mutants, secret lairs, conspiracies, and supers with corrupt agendas. Will they conquer the forces working against them, or will they lose everything in the process? The only thing scarier than being hunted by supers, supervillains, and vigilantes, is letting themselves be vulnerable.
MASKED is a super-herom-com with a satirical punch-bang-pow!
In a world where the line between super and supervillain blurs with televised news, two lost souls are caught in a bank-heist blunder. Crimson Justice-the most powerful super on the planet, endorsed by corporations and the federal government-is obsessed with bringing the Dope Gang to justice one way or another.
Trapped inside a max-security bank vault, Dean and Tori trade tales of failed love and the dreams that passed them by. As Tori and Dean fight to escape their predicament, they encounter mutants, secret lairs, conspiracies, and supers with corrupt agendas. Will they conquer the forces working against them, or will they lose everything in the process? The only thing scarier than being hunted by supers, supervillains, and vigilantes, is letting themselves be vulnerable.
MASKED is a super-herom-com with a satirical punch-bang-pow!
480 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 13, 2022
1 person is currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
G.A. Finocchiaro
11 books40 followersG.A. Finocchiaro is a self-described goofball with a taste for bad jokes and good burgers.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 30, 2022
I read Masked from netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.
This is the only reason I’m leaving a review.
This is going to be difficult because honestly, I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to. I like dystopias with things to say. I like superhero stories that take a critical look at superheroes as a concept.
I think there were two major problems in this book. One was personal. I didn’t like the two main characters that we spend the most time with. While the book is in third person and follows a variety of people from supervillains, to the “heroes”, to the main character Dean’s best friend Ruby: Dean and Tori are who we spend the most time with and act as the main love interest and driving force when it comes to the themes of the story. That leaves Tori as an abrasive, tsundere who really just wants to be loved by the right guy but has been hurt too many times, and Dean, the nicest of nice guys who has dated a million girls who either dumped him for petty reasons or were “broken” and then got stuck on one girl until he met Tori. It honestly wasn’t just their personalities; it was that these two couldn’t seem to exist without dating or at least trying to be in a relationship with someone. I can’t relate to that type of person, and that was all they talked about in the majority of the book first as they were trapped in the Bank and then when they were on the run.
They talked about their past a lot. It was relevant to the plot, but the whole thing also felt forced and irritating and for a long time I didn’t want to be following them anymore and to be anywhere else because they weren’t affecting the plot, just talking at each other and because I was going to be reviewing this, I had to pay attention and couldn’t skim.
The second one could also be personal but seemed a little more troublesome to the overall narrative flow of the story, and that was the play of the dystopian themes and the parody of the superhero world that was going on. It isn’t that this can’t be done well. The Boys and Umbrella Academy are ones that usually blend the criticism and parody or humor well together. Here, I had a hard time sometimes trying to figure out what was a critique of today’s world. Fake News obviously was a reflection on today, but where superheroes would seem an obvious reflection on the police and how they get away with unnecessary force at times, the police in this story are underdogs (though mostly they just seem to be ineffective sighers to me as a reader). Masked has world-building where superheroes would fight each other, sometimes to the death on television to become the next hero, and we got a little of how that became normalized. but I feel that still didn’t completely explain how people would then just allow what were obviously psychopaths killing people who hadn’t done anything bad could then go to fight without regulation beyond the people in power let it happen because they were all comically evil.
We had some protests going on, but I felt like both sides of the protests seemed to be villainized as just mindless anger and reaction that was playing into the government’s plans.
That said, a lot of thought was gone into the background. It was clear that the author was trying to create relatable characters. He was building a bigger world. He made a lot of characters connect in more and more ridiculous and I’m sure imaginative ways. I didn’t notice anything grammatically incorrect, but I’m not the best judge of that sort of thing.
Honestly, this book wasn’t for me, at all, but maybe it’ll be for you. It’s a 2.5 star since Goodreads asks for stars. Definitely readable but rounded down to a 2-star here because I’m just that irritated with everything.
This is the only reason I’m leaving a review.
This is going to be difficult because honestly, I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to. I like dystopias with things to say. I like superhero stories that take a critical look at superheroes as a concept.
I think there were two major problems in this book. One was personal. I didn’t like the two main characters that we spend the most time with. While the book is in third person and follows a variety of people from supervillains, to the “heroes”, to the main character Dean’s best friend Ruby: Dean and Tori are who we spend the most time with and act as the main love interest and driving force when it comes to the themes of the story. That leaves Tori as an abrasive, tsundere who really just wants to be loved by the right guy but has been hurt too many times, and Dean, the nicest of nice guys who has dated a million girls who either dumped him for petty reasons or were “broken” and then got stuck on one girl until he met Tori. It honestly wasn’t just their personalities; it was that these two couldn’t seem to exist without dating or at least trying to be in a relationship with someone. I can’t relate to that type of person, and that was all they talked about in the majority of the book first as they were trapped in the Bank and then when they were on the run.
They talked about their past a lot. It was relevant to the plot, but the whole thing also felt forced and irritating and for a long time I didn’t want to be following them anymore and to be anywhere else because they weren’t affecting the plot, just talking at each other and because I was going to be reviewing this, I had to pay attention and couldn’t skim.
The second one could also be personal but seemed a little more troublesome to the overall narrative flow of the story, and that was the play of the dystopian themes and the parody of the superhero world that was going on. It isn’t that this can’t be done well. The Boys and Umbrella Academy are ones that usually blend the criticism and parody or humor well together. Here, I had a hard time sometimes trying to figure out what was a critique of today’s world. Fake News obviously was a reflection on today, but where superheroes would seem an obvious reflection on the police and how they get away with unnecessary force at times, the police in this story are underdogs (though mostly they just seem to be ineffective sighers to me as a reader). Masked has world-building where superheroes would fight each other, sometimes to the death on television to become the next hero, and we got a little of how that became normalized. but I feel that still didn’t completely explain how people would then just allow what were obviously psychopaths killing people who hadn’t done anything bad could then go to fight without regulation beyond the people in power let it happen because they were all comically evil.
We had some protests going on, but I felt like both sides of the protests seemed to be villainized as just mindless anger and reaction that was playing into the government’s plans.
That said, a lot of thought was gone into the background. It was clear that the author was trying to create relatable characters. He was building a bigger world. He made a lot of characters connect in more and more ridiculous and I’m sure imaginative ways. I didn’t notice anything grammatically incorrect, but I’m not the best judge of that sort of thing.
Honestly, this book wasn’t for me, at all, but maybe it’ll be for you. It’s a 2.5 star since Goodreads asks for stars. Definitely readable but rounded down to a 2-star here because I’m just that irritated with everything.
May 9, 2023
I'll start off with the things I liked.
I liked the police commissioner character, wish the story was more framed around him because the story of a good man who's just trying to keep law and order but has to constantly deal with the back last of collateral damage of super heroes that are celebrated by the general public but have no care for the damage their carelessness causes.
I also like the metaphysical ideas of reality distorting powers that the main story goes into more around the end. I love that stuff.
With that said, this book definitely needed a slash edit because it didn't need to be as long as it is. There was alot of spots where the story was bogged down by needless flashbacks and going into detail on events that would have been mentioned in dialogue. Made it very hard to get through.
I liked the police commissioner character, wish the story was more framed around him because the story of a good man who's just trying to keep law and order but has to constantly deal with the back last of collateral damage of super heroes that are celebrated by the general public but have no care for the damage their carelessness causes.
I also like the metaphysical ideas of reality distorting powers that the main story goes into more around the end. I love that stuff.
With that said, this book definitely needed a slash edit because it didn't need to be as long as it is. There was alot of spots where the story was bogged down by needless flashbacks and going into detail on events that would have been mentioned in dialogue. Made it very hard to get through.
September 13, 2022
They say don't judge a book by its cover, but the imagery of Masked sets the tone perfectly. There's plenty here for fans of everything from The Boys to Suicide Squad to enjoy, as you'd expect, but I was surprised to be reminded of Stephen King's The Running Man as well, the underrated film adaptation in particular. Ultimately, Masked has its own tone and style.
Superheroes and villains make a dystopian alternate reality their playground as the normal world falls apart from the antics of both. In the midst of the chaos, Dean and Tori have their own problems to sort out but they find themselves drawn into the world of the supes, and drawn closer together.
This is not a love story, but it's not a loveless story, either.
Fast-paced and intense. For mature readers.
Superheroes and villains make a dystopian alternate reality their playground as the normal world falls apart from the antics of both. In the midst of the chaos, Dean and Tori have their own problems to sort out but they find themselves drawn into the world of the supes, and drawn closer together.
This is not a love story, but it's not a loveless story, either.
Fast-paced and intense. For mature readers.
September 14, 2022
This one’s a no from me.
I persevered all the way to the end of the 1200 pages!!! I’m sorry to say, it just wasn’t worth it.
First of all, it was 1200 pages!!! There was a LOT going on, almost too much to keep track of a times and a lot of it wasn’t needed. It felt as though there were four stories happening at once that could have been split into different books as they didn’t need to happen simultaneously and then people also wouldn’t have to read 1200 pages!
There were a few good elements and I found the two main characters semi likeable which is why I’m going for 2 stars instead of one, but it was a close call.
I persevered all the way to the end of the 1200 pages!!! I’m sorry to say, it just wasn’t worth it.
First of all, it was 1200 pages!!! There was a LOT going on, almost too much to keep track of a times and a lot of it wasn’t needed. It felt as though there were four stories happening at once that could have been split into different books as they didn’t need to happen simultaneously and then people also wouldn’t have to read 1200 pages!
There were a few good elements and I found the two main characters semi likeable which is why I’m going for 2 stars instead of one, but it was a close call.
February 2, 2024
This is a pseudo-romance story set against a backdrop of a people rebelling against a fascist government. There are some fascinating ideas here, and the story's bones are good.
Sadly, that is kinda where the positives end. The bulk of the writing here is pure fluff, and the two main characters are incredibly whiny.
Sadly, that is kinda where the positives end. The bulk of the writing here is pure fluff, and the two main characters are incredibly whiny.
May 5, 2023
Really Really fun
Picked up the book on a whim! The world was interesting, the characters were fun, and the plot was a great ride. Solid recommend!
Picked up the book on a whim! The world was interesting, the characters were fun, and the plot was a great ride. Solid recommend!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews