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Soon I Will Be Invincible

by Austin Grossman (Goodreads Author)

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 5,764 ratings · 1,143 reviews

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: doomsday devices of all varieties (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological) and mass mind control. He's tra...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published June 5th 2007 by Pantheon

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Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

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Apr 12, 2010 Ben Flasher rated it 2 of 5 stars

I bought this book based on a strong review, and was quite disappointed. Any reviewer who praises this book's imagination clearly hasn't read a comic book within the last 5-10 years. The settings, characters, and powers all seem to have been lifted wholesale out of the most dire quick cash-in books of the 90s comics boom.

I will grant that there is some amusement to be found in Dr. Impossible's story. His wry, matter-of fact viewpoint is often entertaining, and the telling of a comic book tale fr...more I bought this book based on a strong review, and was quite disappointed. Any reviewer who praises this book's imagination clearly hasn't read a comic book within the last 5-10 years. The settings, characters, and powers all seem to have been lifted wholesale out of the most dire quick cash-in books of the 90s comics boom.

I will grant that there is some amusement to be found in Dr. Impossible's story. His wry, matter-of fact viewpoint is often entertaining, and the telling of a comic book tale from the villain's side is at least a bit unusual, if not unheard of (see Astro City: The Tarnished Angel, for one particularly fine example). Unfortunately, Dr. Impossible's side of things only occupies half the book. The rest of it is told from Fatale's perspective, and she's an absolute bore. A cyborg with a lost past, she doesn't seem to be terribly passionate about anything. The most she ever manages is some uninspired teenage-esque angst that her character seems much too old for.

In fact, the Dr. Impossible/Fatale contrast is indicative of a larger problem with the book. Grossman has some fun poking into the psychologies and histories of his villains, people with frightening powers living with the perpetual cognitive dissonance that exists between their world-conquering ambitions and inevitable humiliating defeats. He has no such insight, however, into the minds of his heroes. None of them spend any time pondering why they chose to put on tights and fight crime. Dr. Impossible wonders why he didn't choose to become a hero instead, but none of the heroes ever ponder why they didn't choose to just go rob a bank and retire to a tropical island. None of them appear to get any particular enjoyment from fighting crime, or derive any pleasure from helping others, so why do they do it? This book has no answers, so it does its best to dodge the question. Worse, Grossman attempts to substitute angst and bickering amongst his heroes in place of psychological depth. The New Champions, the super team that Fatale joins, bicker and sulk like a car full of high school students reluctantly dragged on a field trip, rarely displaying a single likable trait between the seven of them.

Worse still, this book reads more like a first draft than a published work. The writing is sloppy and inconsistent, and the whole thing seems to have been untouched by an editor. Descriptions are few and far between; it reads more like a comic book script than a novel, still waiting for an imaginative artist to draw in the undefined settings, faces, and costumes. Characters repeat observations several time throughout the book, each time as if they're new. The book is riddled with inconsistencies and dangling plot threads. Dr. Impossible sometimes talks as if he loathes magic and does his best to avoid it, and sometimes comfortably mentions incorporating it into past and future plans. Fatale observes that a hammer weighs a couple hundred pounds, then, several paragraphs later, picks it up and finds it "surprisingly heavy." Conflicts are set up, but never pay off. Other conflicts seem to appear out of nowhere. A scene in which Fatale accuses a mystical teammate of not being a real fairy comes entirely out of left field; one scene later, the conflict is completely forgotten, and is never mentioned again.

Character voices are also wildly inconsistent. Everyone sounds the same in conversation, and no one sounds particularly interesting. Dr. Impossible, an evil genius, comes the closest to having a unique voice, but even he bounces unpredictably between occasionally inspired bits and inexplicably juvenile lines such as, "Whatever. Just don't think you can stop me." Most dismayingly, the two narrators sound remarkably similar for most of the book, with the only distinct difference being that Fatale's utterly flat sections lack the occasional moments of inspiration that sparingly pepper Dr. Impossible's narrative.

This book is an "adult" take on superheroes only when compared to the simplistic comics of the 30s-50s. The story and dialog ibook don't hold a candle to the clever and insightful works of such modern-day comics writers as Kurt Busiek, Brian Michael Bendis, and Neil Gaiman. The novel format tries to sell this as a more adult and literary take on comic books, but it's ultimately just a pale and surprisingly shallow imitation of the real thing.(less)

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Jan 12, 2012 Nathan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First off, I loved the idea of this novel. And even after the disappointment of actually reading Soon I Will Be Invincible, I can still honestly say that I love the idea of it. It's just the novel itself I've got a problem with.

When I first saw this on the shelf, my mind raced frantically back to the long cardboard boxes of comic books that I still keep stored up in the attic, each comic tucked safely away into a plastic sleeve to protect its "value"--a concept that my incredulous wife mockingl...more

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Nov 03, 2011 mark monday rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comikon

some surprisingly strong writing in this oddball offering from the most gutter of gutter sub-genres. meta playfulness with the iconic figures of superman/batman/wonder woman is to be expected in today's post-post-modern world, and the novel satisfies on that level. less expected is the charmingly wry writing, the novel's melancholy tone, and the nostalgia that suffuses the thoughts of both narrators. all of this more than helps to make this surprising novel stand out. overall, this may not be ea...more

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Jun 22, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 4 of 5 stars

(Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:].)

"This morning on planet Earth, there are 1,686 enhanced, gifted, or otherwise superpowered persons. 678 use their powers to fight crime, while 441 use their powers to commit them. 44 are currently confined in Special Containment Facilities for enhanced criminals. Of these last, it is interesting to note that an unusually high proportion have IQs of 300 or more -- eighteen to be exact. Including me....more (Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:].)

"This morning on planet Earth, there are 1,686 enhanced, gifted, or otherwise superpowered persons. 678 use their powers to fight crime, while 441 use their powers to commit them. 44 are currently confined in Special Containment Facilities for enhanced criminals. Of these last, it is interesting to note that an unusually high proportion have IQs of 300 or more -- eighteen to be exact. Including me. You really have to wonder why we all end up in jail."

Well, when a novel starts like this, how in a million years could I possibly pass it up? And indeed, just about everything at first about Bay-area author Austin Grossman's debut novel, Soon I Will Be Invincible, seemingly screams out "I am for you" to the random overeducated comics-loving geek who comes across it; the Chip Kidd cover, Grossman's nerdy credentials as a videogame consultant and PhD candidate in Victorian literature, Invincible's storyline concerning weary postmodern superheroes. But there's a big problem regarding reviewing this novel, in that there are two very different interpretations one can have as to what Grossman's point is, and that my feelings regarding the book change profoundly depending on which interpretation you adopt: of whether this is a light deconstructionist comedy about freaks in tights and what makes them do what they do; or maybe if this is instead an unironic gritty "Dark Age" drama about superheroism itself.

What to do, what to do? So I'm trying something unusual today; I'm writing two mini-reviews of Invincible instead, tackling my thoughts when it comes to each of these interpretations, since it's almost impossible to know which one Grossman meant for us to have unless directly asking him. If you end up reading the novel yourself, I'll be interested to see which of the two takes you adopt, and encourage you to leave a comment at the end sharing your own thoughts on the matter.

A. Soon I Will Be Invincible as deconstructionist superhero comedy. For those who don't know, there's a rising subgenre of superhero stories out there now for those who enjoy such things, which is the ironic self-aware superhero story; where the heroes and villains in question understand just how ridiculous their entire situation is, and end up winking at the audience the entire time they're performing their heroic or villainous stunts. Think of the most well-known example of the subgenre, the 1999 Ben Stiller comedy Mystery Men -- how the superheroes in that movie live and die by their corporate sponsorships and celebrity endorsements, how most of the superheroes in question turn out to be nerdy losers once the masks come off.

And indeed, there's a lot of the same kind of humor going on in Invincible, and it's undeniable that Grossman has a natural talent for these kinds of observational jokes, such as when the main villain (a Lex Luthor stand-in) starts ranting about the flying abilities of his superhero nemesis (clearly a blonde Superman): "He didn't even have the decency to work for it, to flap a pair of wings or at least glow a little. He seemed to do it purely out of a sense of entitlement." But there's a weakness that comes with this part of the book as well, or should I say two symbiotic weaknesses: that a lot of the novelty concerning this kind of humor has worn off by now, ten years after it first started becoming popular, and that Grossman ends up directly ripping off the concepts and jokes of a whole lot of other projects that have come before his, projects that are frankly better and funnier than his.

Perhaps he...(less)

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Aug 07, 2008 Sandi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who wants to be entertained

Shelves: 2008, sci-fi, funny-stuff

Should I be embarrassed about giving "Soon I Will be Invincible" four stars? Should I even admit that I bought it because I loved the title and the cover? This a silly piece of entertaining fluff. It's dessert after a really healthy dinner. It doesn't have any hidden meanings, heavy symbolism or deep thoughts. It's just really, really entertaining. I laughed a few times and had a big grin on my face when I put it down. Even better, I can pass this book to my son without any worries about inappro...more

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Oct 20, 2008 Carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I've got to say, I really enjoyed this book. Not being a comic book geek, or even a superhero buff, I picked this up on a whim at the library. My review was probably helped in that I started reading this the day after I saw "Hancock" with Will Smith.

Anyhoo, mix a bit of Hancock, and some of Disney's Sky High Academy, with a *big* helping of Mike Myers' Dr Evil and you've got some idea of the fun of this book. I'll leave the plot synopsis to others, but I really enjoyed the viewpoint of the main...more

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Feb 13, 2008 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone with a sense of humor, comic fans or not.

Recommended to Amanda by: Aaron

I have a difficult time describing this novel. On the surface it is a very humorous plot involving superheroes and supervillains portrayed as actual people - you get a look at how annoying it can be to have to save the world when one's marriage is breaking up, for instance. You grow to understand how embarrassing it is to be a supervillain genius putting up with a misguided colleague's cheesy catchphrases and general stupidity. Beneath that highly entertaining surface is, I think, an intelligent...more I have a difficult time describing this novel. On the surface it is a very humorous plot involving superheroes and supervillains portrayed as actual people - you get a look at how annoying it can be to have to save the world when one's marriage is breaking up, for instance. You grow to understand how embarrassing it is to be a supervillain genius putting up with a misguided colleague's cheesy catchphrases and general stupidity. Beneath that highly entertaining surface is, I think, an intelligently written satire of the entire comic book milieu. A comic book fan can read Soon I Will Be Invincible and immediately pick out who is supposed to be the Superman, the Wonder Woman, and so on, and can instantly recognize the ways in which the author paints such characters against the backdrop of our own ordinary reality.

Some comic book fans who have written reviews of this book love everything about it. Others complain about the relative dullness of the hero characters, or about the fact that it seems to be a generic amalgam of all classic comic book stories with almost nothing new or innovative. These reviewers are correct in their cursory descriptions of the book, but they are also completely missing the point. If a comic reader picks up this book expecting to read a cutting-edge original tale of heroes and villains, he or she will inevitably be disappointed. The imagination with which its fans credit this book lies not in the plot or the characters themselves, but in the way they are used to tell an entirely unwritten story. Grossman is using his unillustrated prose to poke fun at the genre with the fondness unique to a genuine fan. Frankly, if he had merely set out to write a brand new comic, I imagine he would have grounded it firmly in the industry by writing in the usual comic book format instead of taking a chance on the readers of general fiction.

The reason for my difficulty in writing this review is this - I am a complete comic book dunce. I've seen the movies. I read V for Vendetta because I wanted a few plot points cleared up, and apart from a few forays into Archie as a child, I don't think I've ever read any other comic books or graphic novels or anything of the kind. My comic-fan perspectives are only conclusions I have based on the words of those who know the genre. I wish to make this perfectly clear because it is the reason for my five-star rating - even though I have no interest in the world of comic books, even though I had to have the subtexts pointed out to me by my boyfriend after failing to notice them myself, I still quite thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is a comic book in novel form that manages to be universally accessible and enjoyable. The satirical overtones naturally add to the experience, but even without them, you'll have a very good time.(less)

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Mar 11, 2009 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-and-fantasy-and-horror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I picked up this book (luckily from the library) based on a review from another website. This is not a good book, however. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

Perhaps the problem lies in reading this just after seeing the Watchmen movie. While I rather heretically think the plot for Watchmen is pretty stupid, at least there is some attempt to explain the motivations of some of the characters in a vaguely believable fashion. Soon I Will Be Invincible does not. Explanation=cliche in this book.

The book...more

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Apr 04, 2008 Alexander rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: beginning writers, those people who wish to do themselves harm

I'm considering writing an essay, in the tradition of Mark Twain, called Austin Grossman's Literary Offenses.

This book is that bad. Really.

It's so bad, I wonder what's wrong with someone that they could actually like this book. I know, that's a really mean thing to say, but if you read this book and it doesn't make you feel like the world just got a little darker and more dreary, I challenge that you aren't actually a human being, but probably some sort of text scanning utility maintained by a B...more I'm considering writing an essay, in the tradition of Mark Twain, called Austin Grossman's Literary Offenses.

This book is that bad. Really.

It's so bad, I wonder what's wrong with someone that they could actually like this book. I know, that's a really mean thing to say, but if you read this book and it doesn't make you feel like the world just got a little darker and more dreary, I challenge that you aren't actually a human being, but probably some sort of text scanning utility maintained by a Belarusian literature pirate.

My first complaint is with the book's form. While Grossman's and his editor removed all traces of typos and other rudimentary grammatical errors, they left intact all of the awkward and flailing writing that seems to form the backbone of Grossman's style. In most basic terms, this book was not edited. Writing should be clear or at least intentionally obfuscated; neither is the case here. Whole sections requiring rereading not because of their complexity, but because of their incomprehensibility.

At one point I had to stop reading to go watch TV when the author wrote “Give me where to stand, said Archimedes, and I will move the world.” That one sentence condenses everything that’s wrong with the author’s incomprehensible, cluttered style. Not enough pickled ginger in the world to scrub that out of my skull.

Beyond matters of form, we have issues of style. In this, I am hesitant to criticize, but I cannot leave this matter half finished. The best term I can think of to describe Grossman's style, once I've dispensed with incomprehensible, awkward, thick, and failing, is immature. I mean this in the sense that he seems the immature writer, still at the start of his craft.

The book alternates between the two main characters, one a hero, the other a villain. Generally speaking, you can tell which is which because you'll read dialogue where someone addresses the person by their proper superhero/villain name. Beyond that, there's basically nothing to indicate that either character is a different person. Add to this the fact that every character in the book not only exemplifies a stereotype, but in some cases proudly trumpets that fact.

This is not a good book, and you should not read it. It mystifies me how this book gets good reviews from anyone. And keep in mind that I say this as a reader, not as a comic book fan. This goes beyond what the author does to the genre, into basic errors of literature. Please, do someone some good and help them avoid this book.

If you need further coaxing, here, listen to my friend Charon:

“It hurt me in my brain-head, and I have only the one.”(less)

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Aug 04, 2008 Noran Miss Pumkin rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: comic fans of old

Recommended to Noran by: bookgrasm.com

Shelves: comics

full review to follow. supervillian 4 stars. super heroes three stars. overall 3 and a half stars. a fun read--do not regret it, just wish it was better--when you hold the making of something great in your hands, and half of it falls way short of the mark, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

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Dec 28, 2008 KJ rated it 2 of 5 stars

This world is fascinating but the writing is really unfocused -- I'm having a hard time following the passage of time, and we're really thrown into both the characters and the action. Too much of the world building is retroactive. I'm about 1/3rd of the way in, we'll see if the storytelling settles down.

Update upon finishing: I really wanted to like this book, but it never gelled for me. Too much jumping around from flashback to current timeline to hints dropped about the future, and the charact...more

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Nov 17, 2008 Raina rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up during my "discovering comic books" phase.
It has the following great quote on superherodom:

"Your powers are what you always have with you. It’s one piece of knowledge we all share here. No matter how many dossiers the government keeps on you, no matter what data your enemies have collected, no one knows your powers the way you do. Everyone has seen them on TV. For everyone else, it’s a momentary fantasy. They don’t have to take them into the kitchen, the bathroom, and the bedro...more

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Aug 01, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit, I enjoyed this book by Austin Grossman. Yes, it's about superheroes, mostly about two of them in particular (one of whom is actually a supervillain) who take turns narrating intertwining stories. One is the self-proclaimed Dr. Impossible, who is your basic super magalomaniacal genius bent on world domination. The second is Fatale, a cyborg who's a rookie at the whole superhero business. The book basically follows the stories of these two characters, which run parallel to each ot...more I have to admit, I enjoyed this book by Austin Grossman. Yes, it's about superheroes, mostly about two of them in particular (one of whom is actually a supervillain) who take turns narrating intertwining stories. One is the self-proclaimed Dr. Impossible, who is your basic super magalomaniacal genius bent on world domination. The second is Fatale, a cyborg who's a rookie at the whole superhero business. The book basically follows the stories of these two characters, which run parallel to each other as the newly escaped Dr. Impossible enacts another bid for conquest and Fatale joins a legendary group of superheroes in the wake of its own personal tragedy.

To be honest, based on the cover and word of mouth, I expected more outright satire of the superhero genre than I got out of this book. There IS satire, don't get me wrong, but it's mixed in with an actual attempt to tell a story and flesh out characters while adhering to the tenants of the whole superhero thing --with a satirical edge. I particularly loved it when Dr. Impossible mentioned how one the charges that sent him to jail after his first attempt at world domination was for breaking zoning violations when he built his sinister underground lair. Actually most of the Dr. Impossible chapters are rife with subtle parody as the mad super genius carries on the kind of inner monologue that you always thought must be there when he's not bellowing "WHO DARES OPPOSE ME?" or "INSOLENT FOOLS!" at every caped crusader that walks in on him. It's pretty funny in a "what would a supervillain's life really be like?" kind of way and I was kind of rooting for the guy all along. He had a much harder time of it than you might think.

Fatale and the New Champion chapters, on the other hand, are written with more of a straight face and a lot less of the tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink kind of tone. Instead we get to see her wrestle with what it's like to be a newcomer to an established family of legendary heroes as they try to recapture Dr. Impossible (for the 12th time). Amusingly, Fatale seems to be taking the whole confrontation with our resident supervillain a lot more personally than he is taking her, since she broods and agonizes over their supposed animus while Dr. Impossible barely acknowledges her existence. This is most evident at the climax of the book when he pauses in his narrative to merely say "Then that cyborg chick punched me for some reason."

All in all, the story isn't that fantastic, even for a novel born of the superhero comic books scene. It's just standard take over the world kind of stuff. Neither are the supporting cast of characters particularly engaging, especially if you're halfway familiar with the comic culture touchstones upon which most of them are based. You've got your Batman-esque character, your Superman-like character, your Wolverine type, your Dr. Strange knockoff, and a few others. But still, I enjoyed it for the ride and the gentle mocking of the genre.

And perhaps best of all, at just under 300 pages Austin has the sense not to let it outstay its welcome and get bloated into something it has no business being. It's fun and easy to read, and it often offers amusing insights and parody of the whole scene that the author obviously loves.(less)

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Nov 01, 2007 Dan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: never_finished

Everything started out fun enough - hearing the story from an old super villain's point-of-view. It kinda made you think of Dr. Doom by way of The Monarch from Venture Brothers. Then the book gets into a routine of switching every other chapter between the villain and a rookie hero who just got invited to join the big super team. Again, all well and good. Grossman apparantly created and entire world, mythology, and history for all the heroes and villains. Problem was, he REALLY wanted to make su...more

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Oct 23, 2007 K rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone, esp. people who like Venture Bros.

Picked up this book because Jackson Publick, creator/writer of the Venture Bros. series recommended it on his blog.

A superhero novel that switches narrative viewpoints b/w supervillain and new superhero. It is more melancholy and internal than comic/action-packed, though all those aspects are present.

Had following emotional reaction
15% - admiration for Grossman's approach to these old themes
15% - amusement at cleverness
15% - outright snickering
20% - sadness
25% - not reacting because nothing t...more

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Oct 17, 2007 Eric Kelderman rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting and well written first novel about the perils and promise of superpowers -- a thinly disguised exploration of the nature of good and evil and, more importantly, how none of us ever really gets over high school. (Interestingly, Meg Greenfield's book "Washington" about power, politics and the press in the nation's Capitol also is built on this premise!)

Grossman's uber-abled characters struggle emotionally and physically with their own abilities and limitations. None of that is parti...more

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Mar 09, 2008 Speedtribes rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Comics fans, DC Universe fans

Shelves: contemporary-leeeeterature

Good points: I loved how the DC Universe archetypes were turned sideways. Namely Batman, Superman and Lex Luthor. I loved the thorough walk-through of how genius can become a sort of insanity, and gave me a better appreciation of the original crazy-scientist Lex Luthor. (I've preferred the Machiavellian businessman version.) Look! It's the Justice League! Also, Superdickery! Acknowledged superdickery!

The Bad: While there is a very strong in depth view of Dr. Impossible and his world -- where he...more

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Nov 26, 2007 Peter rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who dig comics

This book was good. There it is, with out adjectives. Just plain old good. With seemingly every newspaper, magazine and Joe Schmoe reviewer rushing to proclaim the brilliance of every book these days we don't ever see dust jacket quotes that say "this booked is good".

So, such a review might came across as damning.

Damning is certainly not the intent.

Soon I will be invincible took me a long time I read. It isn't a dense or complex book and at 287 pages it isn't a lengthy book. It took me a long ti...more

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Aug 13, 2007 Maggie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Superheros/Narrative Dialogues

A video game consultant goes to UC Berkeley to study Victorian and Romantic Literature. He then sits down and writes a book about supervillans/heros. Essentially the text on the dust jacket said "For Maggie. You should totally read this."

I adored this novel - devouring most of it on a flight home. Chapters alternate between Doctor Invincible, a has-been villan on his way back up to the top, and Fatale, the newbie good guy who has everything to prove. Each character presents their own thoughts on...more

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Sep 01, 2007 James rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: only hardcore comicbook fans with nothing better to do

This book wasn't terrible, but it was ultimately pretty disappointing. I picked it up because I'd seen a very positive review of it on The Onion, and it sounded great--an ironic, comedic take on the superhero stories I enjoyed so much as a kid. Unfortunately, this book ended up just being barely enjoyable enough to justify finishing it.

Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel alternates between two narrators--the evil villain, who is supposed to provide the book's comic relief; and the new heroine,...more

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Sep 17, 2008 xJane rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: comic book fans, students of myths

Recommended to xJane by: Kati

This is a great story about two super-people; a hero and a villain. Every other chapter is written in their own point of view, and the general plot is predictable. Villain escapes from jail, threatens world, and is recaptured. There are some twists that make it a little more complicated than that, but the major reason I enjoyed it was the glimpse into the superhero and supervillain psyche. Their fears, their doubts, their inner most thoughts as they meet and battle, plot and plan, search and hid...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Johansolo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cf

Me ha gustado bastante.

La novela tiene como protagonistas a un veterano supervillano ultra inteligente y a una cíborg novata en el mundo de los superhéroes.

Es bastante divertido ver el punto de vista del supervillano, con el que no puedes evitar empatizar mientras va recordando escenas de su creación y fechorías anteriores.

La cíborg es algo menos interesante, pero está muy bien su punto de vista de casi intrusa dentro del mayor grupo de superhéroes.

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Dec 26, 2007 Bryce Wilson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

Recommended to me by a friend who usually has great taste.

The "Aren't superheroes screwed up." stuff was done much better in Watchmen and about a million other books, and the supervillian who is always a day late and a buck short was stolen wholesale and half as well from The Monarch in The Venture Brothers.

The story does offer some chuckles and twists, but it doesn't build to anything, and the big twist doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Disapointing.

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Apr 01, 2009 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Every comic-book cliche in this witty, stunning debut is lovingly embraced, then turned inside out" is what Wired Magazine had to say, and they put it right on the cover of Soon I Will Be Invincible.

I found it kind of disappointing, but overall kind of enjoyable. Austin Grossman tries to bring a more human face to the world of superheroics (and supervillainy), and if you haven't read a comic book since 1975, you might be surprised at this. I don't think he does an especially stunning job in thi...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

Austin Grossman, Berkeley grad student, game designer, and comic-book connoisseur, offers a fresh take on the hidden realm of contemporary superheroes. Critics compare the novel favorably to Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude, the prime-time, sci-fi soap opera Heroes, and the animated big-screen hit The Incredibles. Although the plot and Grossman's sense of humor wear thin for some critics, Soon I Will Be Invincible is certainly a worthwhile diversion, a flight of fancy with heart, and the p

...more

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Jan 14, 2009 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of "Heroes"

"Soon I Will Be Invincible" begins strong, but can't maintain it's initial momentum throughout the course of the entire novel.

Narration bounces back and forth between Dr. Impossible (the fourth smartest mad scientist on Earth) and Fatale, a half woman/half cyborg who has recently been recruited to join The Champions, Earth's greatest team of heroes...when they're not arguing amongst themselves.

The story itself is predictable, but it's the characters that keep things interesting. Specifically, t...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars

This novel had such a great concept as a base that I expected a lot from it. Ultimately, I was disappointed. It seemed like it would have a lot of action and tension and clashing of strong characters, but everything in the narrative that would fit those descriptors essentially happens “off-screen” and is recounted after the fact. Dr. Impossible and Fatale spend more time wallowing in their respective uncertainties and depressions than going through things in the present. I’m all for introspectiv...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Melissa Proffitt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, contemporary-fiction, action-adventure, suspense

I'm not sure why I've rated this three stars (probably closer to 3.5) because there was a lot I liked about it. I'm very fond of superhero stories, particularly ones like this, and I actually liked that the villain's perspective alternated with the hero's perspective. Actually, that's misleading; the "villain" has some sympathetic traits, and the "hero" is a newbie who's just been invited to join the number one super-group in the world. Both of them have doubts about what they're doing, but not...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Kent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

I've actually met the author Austin Grossman at a game industry event (although he probably doesn't remember me). So that made me want to get this book. When it started, I thought "OMG, he sounds like Dr. Horrible." But it's a lot more developed than that. It's an attempt to create a sympathetic (if somewhat sad) evil overlord, along with a sympathetic (but not as well developed) superhero to counter him. It's told as two interleaved first-person accounts. My biggest complaint about it is that b...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Valerie Derbyshire rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you haven't read this book as yet, and you are a fan of comic books/superhero ripping yarns, then run, don't walk, but run to your nearest purveyor of quality books because you do not want to miss this one.

Set in a world which is oddly not dissimilar to our own and yet quite naturally populated with a breed of superheroes and super villains who are out to save/destroy us according to their own particular whims, this is a witty and very comic (in more than one sense of the word!) novel. Told f...more

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About Austin Grossman

Austin Grossman graduated from Harvard University in 1991 with a plan to write the great American novel; instead he became a video game designer at Looking Glass Studios.

He has since contributed as a writer and designer to a number of critically acclaimed video games, such as ULTIMA UNDERWORLD II, SYSTEM SHOCK, DEUS EX, and TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND, and has taught and lectured on narrative in video gam...more

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Books by Austin Grossman

Postmortems from Game Developer: Insights from the Developers of Unreal Tournament, Black & White, Age of Empire, and Other Top-Selling Games

Ultima Underworld II Labyrinth of Worlds Clue Book: Gems of Enlightenment

Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom

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Quotes from Soon I Will Be Invincible

“There's a fine line between a superpower and a chronic medical condition.” — 30 people liked it

“When your laboratory explodes, lacing your body with a supercharged elixir, what do you do? You don't just lie there. You crawl out of the rubble, hideously scarred, and swear vengeance on the world. You keep going. You keep trying to take over the world.” — 24 people liked it

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