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)

This is what your looking for

If the title alone caught your attention, I couldn't recommend this book more.
Sometimes the transitions between the present and flashbacks gets confusing though

There are better...

The performances were good, although they stumbled occasionally (Doctor Impossible's menacing laugh was more silly than anything else). The characters were ok, though pretty much stock superheroes, but that's kind of the point in a meta-commentary like this. Where the book really lost ground, though is in the writing. It's packed with interminable monologues about past events and internal thoughts, and the few times things actually happen they are hard to follow. Some of the fights just kind of peter out like the author forgot they were happening, and locations and times change with no warning. The "Surprise Ending" can be seen coming from halfway through the book, even for someone like me who never manages to guess plot twists ahead of time.

If you're looking for a something to put on while driving you can do worse, but don't expect anything too impressive. There are much better superhero commentaries out there, like Watchmen, Kick Ass, or even Mystery Men. Unfortunately this may be the best one available as an audiobook.

Overall pretty average.

pretty good

I enjoyed it, my only gripe is with the weird superfriends wipe between chapters. it's meant to be clever but comes off as tacky.

For a great time!

A tremendously fun book! Superhero's are real in this world, and here is their story. Funny, inspiring, and sad.
Loved the writing, made me smile on every page.

Fun story

Ha! Nice twist on the damsel in distress.

However! The audio readers mispronounce so many things. Not enough to be chronic, but enough to be annoying. Battle royale (royal, like queen). And so on.

Solid superhero/villain story

I don't have much else to say. Voices were excellent. Story was great. Enough said

good overall

The ending was pretty lame. the author even seemed to know and still kept it. otherwise good book.

Lack of character growth by the end.

also no resolution, typical superhero schlock worst part of DC comics is also present in this novel. nothing changes you put the maniac back in jail to hatch his schemes anew and even though it's from the villains perspective he has no arc.

good fun!

In a world full of superhero novels, a super villain will at times be overlooked. I greatly enjoyed this book and it was good fun through and through!

A fun listen

I listened to this book on a recent road trip with my sister. Unlike most Audiobooks, this one was more fun to listen to with someone else than alone (although it would still be fun alone). We had a great time picking out phrases and scenes from the story to discuss, repeat, and joke about later.

The voices were very well done, true to the "comic book" feel of the story, without being overdone. My favourite character was the super-villain, and I found myself anticipating his "turn" throughout the story.