Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman

One-line summary: A superhero novel with its heart in the right place, but it's a weak and outdated tribute to the genre.



Reviews:

Goodreads: Average: 3.64. Mode: 4 stars.
Amazon: Average: 4.0. Mode: 4.5 stars.

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 traveled backwards in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He's commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. Fungus army. Army of fish. Of rodents. Alien invasions. 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 to be 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 the notions of power, glory, responsibility, and (of course) good and evil.

( A superhero fanboy grew up and wrote a novel. It's not bad. It's also nothing superhero fans hadn't seen twenty years earlier. )

Verdict: This is meant to be a superhero novel for grown-ups, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more as a teenager. It's entertaining enough if you don't find superheroes too silly to take seriously in the first place, but for a veteran comics fan it brings nothing new to the table, especially when you aren't already invested in the world.

This was a nice light read before I dive into something more substantial, and speaking of which, let me take the opportunity again to pimp books1001. I have 49 signups already, but we need many more if we're going to read and review 1001 books by the end of 2011! Come join us -- the challenge starts on January 1.

Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman

One-line summary: A superhero novel with its heart in the right place, but it's a weak and outdated tribute to the genre.



Reviews:

Goodreads: Average: 3.64. Mode: 4 stars.
Amazon: Average: 4.0. Mode: 4.5 stars.

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 traveled backwards in time to change history, forward in time to escape it. He's commanded robot armies, insect armies, and dinosaur armies. Fungus army. Army of fish. Of rodents. Alien invasions. 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 to be 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 the notions of power, glory, responsibility, and (of course) good and evil.

( A superhero fanboy grew up and wrote a novel. It's not bad. It's also nothing superhero fans hadn't seen twenty years earlier. )

Verdict: This is meant to be a superhero novel for grown-ups, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more as a teenager. It's entertaining enough if you don't find superheroes too silly to take seriously in the first place, but for a veteran comics fan it brings nothing new to the table, especially when you aren't already invested in the world.

This was a nice light read before I dive into something more substantial, and speaking of which, let me take the opportunity again to pimp books1001. I have 49 signups already, but we need many more if we're going to read and review 1001 books by the end of 2011! Come join us -- the challenge starts on January 1.