Soon I Will Be Invincible

A Novel

By: Austin Grossman

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo, Paul Boehmer

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Doctor Impossible, evil genius, diabolical scientist, wannabe world dominator, languishes in a federal detention facility. He's lost his freedom, his girlfriend, and his hidden island fortress.

Over the years, he's tried to take over the world in every way imaginable, using doomsday devices of all varieties (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological) and mass mind control. He's traveled backwards in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He's commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. A fungus army. An army of fish. Of rodents. Aliens. All failures. But not this time. This time it's going to be different.

Fatale is a rookie superhero on her first day with the Champions, the world's most famous superteam. She's a patchwork woman of skin and chrome, a gleaming technological marvel built for the next generation of warfare. Filling the void left by a slain former member, we watch as Fatale joins a team struggling with a damaged past, having to come together in the face of unthinkable evil.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a thrilling first novel, a fantastical adventure that gives new meaning to notions of power, glory, responsibility, and (of course) good and evil.

©2007 Austin Grossman (P)2007 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"The realm of comic book heroes and villains gets a dose of realism in this whimsical debut....Grossman dabbles in a host of themes - power, greed, fame, the pitfalls of ego...broadening the appeal of an already inviting scenario." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Austin Grossman has a superpower himself - it's called writing. This book is a new, winning, smart and funny way of interpreting our world. It's terrific." (Douglas Coupland)

Nostalgic nod to comics we grew up with.

"Soon I will be invincible" is a basic mash up of everything we knew of super villains and super hero stereotypes crammed into a standard tail for nostalgia purposes. The story is brought together from two character perspectives. The villain Doctor impossible,  is possibly the most entertaining due to his extreme ego and goofy dramatic flare straight from an 80's cartoon. Then there is Fatale, a cyborg superhero who just got invited to join the world's most famous super club who likes to brood a lot.

As audiobooks go, it was well written and well narrated. There are two narrators for each character  perspective and listening to them get involved with the characters keep the story afloat and involving.

However, listening to this book, with it's standard comic book tropes and predictable plot that it's audience can easily recognize from endless other plots told and retold over super hero history, there is an almost implied twist expected  from it all that never comes. It is both the author's first novel and a simple loving nod to all things we loved about old comic books.

Recommended to anyone who can't get enough of comic books.

Half Great

I enjoyed half of this novel very much—the half from the POV of the supervillain. Dr. Impossible is just a great villain—a megalomaniac who fights against his need to rant about his plans as he tries for the umpteenth time to take over the world. I enjoyed every second he was “on the screen”. Unfortunately, the opposite was true when it was the heroes’ turn—most of whom proved to be jerks and none of whom inspired me.

So that’s a problem, because this is a book moving toward the ultimate confrontation between insane and “really not very nice” and I really wanted insane to win. I think it would have been fascinating to have the sequel be about learning to live in Dr. Impossible’s new world, but unfortunately, that was not to be. I don’t expect to read the next one.

Fun story, a bit slow at times, but worth it

It took me several tries to get into this story, the early sections slow as they gradually built things up, but the narration was excellent (but for an occasional odd pronunciation) and the characters well defined and clear.

I'm glad I didn't give up on it, it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Basically good.

It's not as deep as you'd like, but it does offer a strange look at superheroes and villains. The take is a lot like Watchmen, but without the interesting twists. The make actor had more character in his reading, but the female was the superior reader, so it evened out.

It was so predictable that it was unpredictable, if that makes any sense. I kept expecting more from it, and at the end, I'm not sure why we followed Fatale and not someone more interesting.

It's fun, and it fills a niche.

Really fun

This was a fun mix of action, sarcasm and and clever inner thoughts and dialogue. It moved along at a good pace and I really got into the characters.

The best in comic book fiction

This is the best comic book novel I have heard/read.
I will not argue that it is perfect, but then I don't know if any comic book fiction can be. The alternating narrators -- between an old school world-conquering super villain and a new modern age cyborg superhero just coming into her prime -- allows for great contrasting viewpoints as they describe their world and experiences.
Have you ever wondered what happens when Dr Doom is put in jail or when Lex Luthor is out of money and down on his luck? Or maybe you're curious about how a rookie superhero is able to make the big leagues? Or about behind-the-scenes stories and conflicts in the world's greatest super-team? It's all here.
Story-wise, there are a few flaws. Doctor Impossible's powers and intelligence seem to vary a bit over the course of the story. Fatale occasionally whines more than she should as a protagonist. And I prefer to ignore the chapter where Impossible meets Mister Mystic, which makes little sense. But when all is said and done, the flaws are minor compared to the fun of the story.
And like all good comic book tales, when the story ends, the future is full of possibilities.

Probably a good story...ruined by narrator.

Would you be willing to try another one of Coleen Marlo and Paul Boehmer ’s performances?

No. Maybe this just wasn't their usual material, but Boehmer's narration was almost laughable. He single-handedly ruined this audiobook for me. I couldn't get past his ridiculous tone and grandiose way of speaking. No subtlety here, whatsoever. Marlo's narration was simply passable.

First time I've ever had a book ruined by a narrator so this is a new experience for me. Maybe read this one in paperback.

A Must for Superhero Fans

It would be an oversimplification to say this book is Watchmen-lite. In a lot of ways, it would be a disservice to this novel and a complete misunderstanding of everything that made Watchmen work. There’s a fundamental difference, aside from the obvious that this is a novel and Watchmen is a graphic novel. Where Watchmen is a complete deconstruction of the superhero formula, turning our brightly-colored saviors into normal people like you or me, Soon I Will Be Invincible carries a different ideal at its core. In Watchmen, there is only one superpowered hero, who is no longer even in touch with what’s left of his humanity. In Soon I Will Be Invincible, there is only one hero who is unpowered. The rest carry the burden of responsibility of who they are and where they came from, whether they are aliens, genetic grafts, reconstructed cyborgs, or supernatural beings. The message is that even though they are different, they are still (mostly) human too, and with great power comes great dysfunctionality, which they must overcome if they are to battle the mastermind Doctor Impossible.

There are two narrators who alternate turns as Doctor Impossible and Fatale, as the book is told alternatingly from their differing perspectives. For Doctor impossible, everything is old hat. He’s been defeated time and again for inexplicable reasons, and he will finally beat the heroes. For Fatale, as the junior member of the superteam, everything is fresh and new, and not quite what she imagined or hoped for. We meet Doctor Impossible first, and this first chapter is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever been exposed to in the superhero genre, with the possible exception of perhaps Ben Edlund’s The Tick. It sets the tone for the rest of the story, and sucks you right in. Aided with the voice of the narrator, who sounds surprisingly like Maurice LaMarche, Doctor Impossible comes across as an interesting mix of Ozymandias and The Brain. Offering counterpoint to this viewpoint is the character Fatale, essentially a female version of RoboCop, who has become a superhero when the government funding needed to keep her running has come to an end. Again, the narrator for Fatale’s story is perfectly-chosen, offering a mix of strength and vulnerability.

As the story goes along, you get a concise and human (where possible) origin story for every character in the book, turning this into something every bit as complex as Watchmen on the character level. Some would say that on the literary level, it perhaps lacks the social relevance of Watchmen. Just the reverse, I think a story like this isolates exactly how alone and isolated the average comic book fan can feel at times, and why these kinds of archetypal characters resonate with audiences across decades. I won’t say it’s “as good” as Watchmen. Rather, I will say that Soon I Will Be Invincible is a great companion and counterpoint to Watchmen in most respects. It offers character development, all the classic bits with a fresh perspective, and a little something that Watchmen doesn’t have in abundance: hope. These characters, regardless of their backstories and inner turmoil, challenge us and themselves to rise to a higher level.

As one who used to collect comics heavily and then basically became jaded by the industry in the past decade, this book is a reminder of every reason of why I still love superheroes. It appeals to me on so many levels, and I think anyone who appreciates something more than the brooding, armor-clad killjoy characters will find something to enjoy here. Books like this bring back the fun to a genre that’s taken itself way too seriously since the closing days of the last century.

Underwhelming

I'm a huge fan of this genre but this novel feels like a bowl of tedious meh. It delves into the deep psyche - spoiler alert- the villian is a genius meglomaniac and the superhero is an off kilter kind of sad cyborg. On the surface it sounds compelling but the reality is like reading the therapy notes of the two main characters...

Fantastic!

Would you consider the audio edition of Soon I Will Be Invincible to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the book, so I can't say. But the audio version is one of my favorite narrations ever! I listen to audiobooks constantly, so I have a strong appreciation for good narration. Not only was the narration superb, but the writing was such that the story kept moving at a good pace, the plot was immersive, and character development was awesome. I really enjoyed learning about the characters and experiencing their personalities come out. The main character is one of my all-time faves!

What other book might you compare Soon I Will Be Invincible to and why?

The Devil You Know, by Mike Carey. The stories are nothing alike, but the character traits of he main characters (i.e. cynicism, their type of humor, strength of personality, etc).

Which scene was your favorite?

There are so many.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nothing extreme. I did thoroughly enjoy it. And I laughed quite a bit.

Any additional comments?

If you're on the fence, get it. You'll enjoy it!