A funny and entertaining book about the folks behind the masks. The story alternates chapters between the POVs of a supervillain and the newest recruit on the team of heroes dedicated to stopping him. The characters are well thought out and there are some surprisingly poignant moments -- it's clear that Grossman put a lot of effort into imagining the hardships of life as a caped crusader. On the other hand, the ending was very drawn out and felt anti-climactic...there were also some parts in the body of the book (mainly in the heroine Fatale's chapters)that could have been made more concise, or cut altogether. I still enjoyed reading it -- any fan of old-school comic books will find a lot to laugh at here. I just wish the ending had a little more oomph.

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An interesting look at the psychology of superheroes. Very much a character piece and thankfully the characters /are/ interesting, as there is very little plot to speak of.

I actually checked this book out at the library, read it, and utterly forgot about it, which subsequently led to purchasing a copy later. It is not, to say the least, a memorable book. That said, I really enjoyed Dr. Impossible as a character and I'd be curious to see the world established in the book expanded. Had this been an actual comic book, I think it might have been much stronger, as it is there's too much going on and the plot itself relies too much on comic book tropes without subverting or examining them the way it does with the characters.

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This is a story told from two perspectives: a super-villain, presumably the smartest man in the world (who never seems to get what he wants), and a newly-minted superhero filled with insecurity. Doctor Impossible has escaped from a high-security prison, and threatens, yet again, to take over the world with a new Doomsday Device he dreamt up while in prison. His foes are the recently rejoined New Champions, a collection of superheroes filled with personal problems of their own.

Its fun in a kind of strange throwback-to-old-comics way, and its also kind of thought-provoking and sad when we get inside the heads of these people. Their lives, despite the force fields, lasers, and mystical hammers are kind of unsatisfying. It really feels like despite the power everyone demonstrates, there are no winners here.

The start of the book is fantastic, and drew me in quickly. But the excitement kind of wears thin before too long, and the book doesnt end with a bang at all. So the emotional journey the reader takes is not really what youd expect in a superhero book.

Interesting and enjoyable, but left me wanting something different.

4 of 5 stars.

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A fun superhero (and supervillain!) story, told with great intelligence and style.

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This book just didn't grab me as much as I thought it would. I did enjoy the story from the villain's point of view, at least to some degree. But, I think the author should have used a different hero to tell the story. When I was done, I was very disappointed with Fatale's story and just didn't care for her or her thoughts. I would have enjoyed the story much more from Lily's or Damsel's point of view. I don't know. It just wasn't what I was expecting and I was a bit disappointed. I can see that the author spent a lot of time thinking about characters and what they would be like. But, I think he missed the mark on execution and motivations, just a bit. I believe this was the author's first novel, however, and I would like to revisit him in the future when he's had a little more time to hone his craft. I see a lot of potential in his work and would like to see him develop.

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The book was good until the end. I felt it was somewhat anti-climactic.

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Imaginative and fun.

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I think this is one that I would have enjoyed more if I had read instead of listened to it. The world was compelling and it was a little more soap opera style than I anticipated. It's fun to think about what superheroes do in their downtime. It took me a little while to adjust when the narrative voice changed; I think that would have been easier to manage via print.

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