Well I enjoyed it. As a longtime comics reader who is saving all kinds of money by not buying DC's pathetic attempt at 'mature' comics (same kind of mature-audiences-only as slasher films; ie, not at all), it was nice to read something more balanced and fun. And I never hold genre books to particularly high literary standards anyway. Yes, it's all about the cliches, but I enjoyed seeing which specific ones Grossman went with. And again, it was a relief they weren't turned on their heads in gritty brutal your-hero-has-a-dark-side fashion. Interesting how some readers see the characters as obvious DC analogues and others seem them as equally obvious Marvel. The mystery elements were reasonably portioned out. I didn't entirely figure things out ahead of time but the reveals didn't come out of left field. I pictured Doctor Impossible throughout as Doctor Venture; I think that helped set a good tone. ( )

The title and premise sounded fascinating, but this book simply didn't live up to its promise. Grossman's novel follows the adventures of experienced, hyperintelligent supervillian Dr. Impossible and newbie superhero Fatale.

Following the disappearance of the world's greatest hero Corefire, Dr. Impossible breaks out of prison and prepares his latest in a series of bids for world domination. Following these events from the other team is Fatale, a cyborg newly initiated into the Champions super-team.

The Champions include Black Wolf (bearing a strong resemblance to a certain wealthy resident of Gotham), Damsel, Elphin (a holdover from faerie, the last elfish warrior), Feral (the mind of a man, the strength, agility and aggression of a tiger), Mr. Mystic, Rainbow Triumph, and Lilly (an apparently reformed supervillian—transluscent, amazingly strong and nearly impervious to harm).

The book explores the dynamics of a superhero team and the resentful inferiority complex motivating men (and supermen) such as Dr. Impossible, as well as how superheroes and supervillians may be more closely linked than we are often aware. But there seems little real reflection on the genre here and very little that comic books haven't done already. Even the surprise twist at the end (which I won't ruin for you) doesn't change the way I read the characters and situation.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is occasionally humorous, but merely taking the perspective of a bad guy is no longer an innovation, and Grossman doesn't add much to the basics of the genre. A much more interesting book along similar lines is Nobody Gets the Girl by James Maxey. If you're interested in other media, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is wonderfully weird.

Overall, I won't say this book is bad, but it's just not that good either. ( )

First heard about this book from the article "Five Movies that Joss Whedon Should Direct" by the editors at MovieRetriever.com:http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/ed...

It's light, it's fun, it's about superheroes and supervillains. But where I like idea literature, this is character literature, and it seems that it mainly succeeds by calling out the common tropes. By the end, I didn't really care what happened, and the twists were pretty easy to spot out on the horizon.

But it is fun. ( )

Soon I Will Be Invincible is an amusing parody of the comic book superhero (and supervillian). The story is told from the perspective of two main characters: Dr. Impossible, the evil supergenius, and Fatale, a female cyborg who has just joined the reigning team of superheroes. Dr. Impossible is a well-developed self-pitying, underappreciated genius turned super villian who mirrors the archetypal comic book villian. Fatale, on the other hand, is a very flat character (as are the rest of the female characters in the book) who leaves a lot to be desired. Overall, the book is amusing, but it had potential to be so much more. Many of the characters are rather one dimensional and leave a lot to be desired. I was very excited to read this when I picked it up, but it left me a bit underwhelmed. ( )