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)

I want more!

I have a soft spot for super villains. I have no plans for world domination, I don't want traipse around in a mask. I have no secret subterranean lair disguised as an island. But, there is this part of me that likens super villains to underdogs. I find myself rooting for them in books. Dr. Impossible is one such evil genius. While I found his college behavior tedious, his openness that he was fixated on 'showing them' made up for it. Dr. Impossible had the misfortune of creating his own downfall multiple times, but his can-do attitude will see him through all adversity. I'd love a series, especially if it included a prequel on a fungus army. A fungus army, people. Fungus. Army. I'll admit it - I'd read that

excellent

great narrators
If you love 80s or 90s comics this is for you
it's not Watchmen but it's really fun

Heros you care about

I think anyone even slightly interested in classic comic book hero versus villain stories will enjoy this book. It's funny without ever betraying the genre.

The narration sometimes fails but a great listen

What was one of the most memorable moments of Soon I Will Be Invincible?

The coffee shop napkin. If you've read it you know what I mean and if you've not I won't spoil it.

What about Coleen Marlo and Paul Boehmer ’s performance did you like?

In one part it was hard to tell the difference between two characters but on the whole it was a fun ride.

Any additional comments?

If you like comic books or superheros you'll like this. Especially if you love villains.

Great Narrator and unique book

This book was a blast. I wish there were more superhero narratives like this to read. Modern comics have gotten so dark that it was really refreshing to find a book with such an old school fun mentality like this one.

The book has two narrators depending on the point of view. The Doctor Impossible parts were far better than the Fatale sections but hers weren't bad. The Doctor Impossible narrator gives a really bombastic larger than life take on the character, while still retaining his surprisngly human qualities. I found myself rooting for Dr. Impossible, despite him being an evil genius bent on taking over the world.

Begs for a Sequel!!

this is one of my all time favorite books. I listen to it every summer at least once. the characters are iconic representations of the genre. so much potential for this to be a series. but alas.. still waiting ..after all these years

blown away by he'll get it was

very unique well written and a super awesome book very surprised by how good it was awesome job to the author and the narrator because in my opinion the narrator is almost just as important as the story an awesome story can be told in a horrible way by a narrator so it's important

Original

Well written. Well read, very original story. Felt bad for Dr. Impossible though...the heroes needed a more significant beat down.

Bounces around but interesting

I like the story and the first person telling. It bounces around between the present and memories which I don't personally like.

Soon You Will Be Entertained

Very well done. Here's an author who clearly realizes that the best superhero stories are origin stories, so he found a structure that allowed him to give us about 20 of them in one novel. The book is told in first-person from the point of view of two characters, and both of them find plenty of time to relate to us tales of their earlier exploits and those of their colleagues. It's a clever conceit that only occasionally wears thin. But the main story itself is highly entertaining and suitably grand as well.

The audio narration is superb. Coleen Marlo does a good job with the less exciting Hero role, but Paul Boehmer's rendition of Dr. Impossible is positively a tour de force. He completely inhabits the role, and his just-this-side-of-hammy performance is note perfect and adds a huge amount of enjoyment. In terms of narration not only supporting but actively enhancing the author's words, this is right up there with James Marsters' take on the Dresden novels.

To the reviewer who noted several botched pronunciations: there were a few. For instance, I can only assume that Ms. Marlo is from Boston given how she says "Celtic". However, regarding Dr. Impossible's phrase that you mentioned: he was actually saying "coup de theatre", and as far as I can tell it was pronounced correctly.