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)

Believable characters with unbelievable powers

I don't know how I ended up with this book but I liked it. It's a super-hero book but is not childish or silly like I expected. It actually looks at characters and their motivations from a mature perspective. If it weren't for the supernatural talents the characters have, it could have been like a traditional thriller with well-developed characters.

I think that's the surprising part of it all: how believable the characters were in a book that has characters who have unbelievable abilities. And the moral isn't as light as one would think, coming from a comic book.

The narration is excellent. There are two main characters, each with their own narrator, and they were perfect for their roles: supervillain complete with the evil cackle and a thread of goodness wanting out and superhero with emotional issues and a hero-worship complex.

Dr. Impossible Rules!

I don't write many reviews but I do listen to a lot of audio books and I think this was one of the best I've ever listened to. Both narrators were excellent, one telling the story from a new heroine's perspective and the other from the villan's. The main characters had real depth despite the stereotypical superhero environment of the book.

Reminicent of Watchmen....

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

There was a lot of potential, but the story seemed a little flat. I was waiting for something more, and it never materialized.

Exquisitely delectable fun!

Paul Boehmer's performance as Dr. Impossible is so gleefully snarky, its hard to find superlatives equal to it. He is just brilliant!

Underwhelmed

The originality of the book lies in having two narrators of opposing sides telling the story - the newbie superhero and the old supervillain. I guess this is why you could never have them interacting with each other, which left me disappointed.

I honestly could not bring myself to care about either one of the narrators, and their contempt/inferiority complex about the other characters made anyone else in the story fairly unrelatable. The villain is a villain because that's what villains do; the hero is a hero because she's been given abilities and has amnesia so what else can she do but use them? Both characters' motivations are basically stereotypical and lack depth, to the point of getting cheesy.

This book left me with a general sense of meh, and no desire to learn what happens next. I think the performances were what kept me listening, especially that of Paul Boehmer, giving Dr Impossible enough maniacal megalomania to entertain me.

Great performance, terrible storyline

What did you like best about Soon I Will Be Invincible? What did you like least?

The narrators are amazing! They really captured the characters! Unfortunately, that is the only good thing about this book. I really wanted to like this book but the story line is so unbelievable predictable. I went through stages throughout this book of really liking this book, but I couldn't help but begin to cringe at most of the parts. Honestly most characters aren't likeable, although I do like Doctor Impossible and Black Wolf. This book had the potential to be very good, but unfortunately lost to bad superhero tropes.

What could Austin Grossman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

They should have stayed away from the typical superhero story lines. I mean come on! In my opinion not one character had an original story line. Unfortunately we are in an age of absolutely amazing superhero books/movies and this one falls short. The worst part about this story is that the listener can EASILY predict the ending of the book. I wanted Doctor Impossible to win but unfortunately, like most movies/books, the good guys always win.

What does Coleen Marlo and Paul Boehmer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They were amazing!

Was Soon I Will Be Invincible worth the listening time?

I might listen to it again but it is highly unlikely.

Any additional comments?

Don't stop making superhero stories! Keep trying!

Exactly what you expect.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This is a straightforward comic book superhero tale, told from the pov of the villain and one of the heroes. Every character is a standard comic book archetype. I kept hoping for a twist, something that would make this more than your standard Selfless Hero Versus Maniacal Villain tale. For example, why not make the villain's motives a desire to save the world by taking over, rather than the trite "soon they'll all see, I'll make them pay" reasoning we've seen in every four color rag printed since they started pulping wood. Maybe the supposed villain could turn out to be the hero. Why not explore the idea of godlike beings using their powers to enforce law and order? Where does their control end? What if they have no moral compass? What if they blindly enforce the laws of a totalitarian regime? I know these ideas have been explored before, but I expect a novel of this sort to be more than a simple good versus evil story. At least make it funny.

Fun but lightweight

There's nothing terribly new or original here. It was a fun, fast-paced superhero story that doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of originality or innovation. It read like an indie graphic novel in a "new universe" setting -- the characters are all a lot like those we've seen for years, just with different masks and costumes. Had this book come along earlier, it would probably have been much more popular, but there have been a fair number of superhero novels written since the 80s and 90s, and this one felt mostly like a retread. I did enjoy it, but it's nothing special and not something I would recommend except for a few hours of light escapism.

Feels like a fanfic.

The heroes side of the story is excruciating and feels as though it was written by a teenage girl. the villain side is interesting but ultimately falls short. I think the premise of the book was great but the execution was not so much

Good not great

I enjoy villans so I thought this would be a fun read. It is but I felt the characters were a little flat. the story is fun but also predictable. got it for $5 and at that price it is worth it but not full price. A good book is still good.