manuelte's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This story could have come out of DC's elseworlds. Entertaining and with recognizable characters, but ultimately with too repetitive prose and no surprises.
tnanz's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting book, but I feel like not being into comics made this less than 100% fantastic. Regardless, great writing and excellent plotting. I'm just not part of the audience that has the buy in to make this book a perfect ten.
tomwright's review against another edition
5.0
It was hard for me to rate this book. It's written in choppy little bits, but does well for itself. The real thing is that it made me sad. The writing provokes an emotional response, and it's surprising to me that I like the book, because the response wasn't excitement or a thrill or intrigue, but melancholy and sadness. This is a very well-written book.
As usual, I didn't care for the swearing. I wish he'd developed some of the characters further, or made room for a sequel. This is an author to keep an eye on.
Alicia, thanks for loaning me the book.
As usual, I didn't care for the swearing. I wish he'd developed some of the characters further, or made room for a sequel. This is an author to keep an eye on.
Alicia, thanks for loaning me the book.
ivo3185's review against another edition
2.0
I saw this promoted as a hard realism superhero book, suffice it to say I was disappointed. To be honest it wasn't a very enjoyable read. The timeline inside each chapter was all over the place. It was hard to follow and the style hard to like. The characters left much to be desired. The plot point wrapping at the end reminded me of the end of Psycho (the first movie, not the remake) and it wasn't satisfactory. I was expecting better
jcschildbach's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. Grossman is clearly a comics fan and knows his way around the various conventions and, dare I say, cliches of comic books, even throwing in a 1980s wedding (and later divorce) for two members of the superhero team. If anything, I would liken this most to "The Incredibles"--without the kids--more homage than satire, but definitely humorous.
What Grossman adds to the genre is the fleshing out of the interior lives of the characters--well, two of the characters. The Evil Genius Dr. Impossible, and the recently-converted-to-cybernetics Fatale serve as dual narrators. Dr. Impossible has to find his way out of prison yet again, so he can attempt to conquer the world yet again. Fatale has been invited to join the (New) Champions--a superhero team that is being reassembled/reconstituted years after it fell apart following a most comic-book-conventional offworld occurrence.
So we get the Malign-Hypercognition-Disordered scientist's perspective on his drive to work out schemes for taking over the world, making him much more sympathetic than the usual comic book villain. You almost root for him to succeed in bringing his latest brand of tyranny to the planet. And you also get a rather poignant story of the new kid trying to fill the shoes of a fallen hero in an established team rife with interpersonal dysfunction.
Ultimately, what you get is parallel stories of two people trying to figure out how and where they fit in, and how to best fulfill their potential--for good or evil--set in a world of comic-book-style geekdom--all told with wit, excellent pacing, and with enough substance to make the fluff that much more fun.
What Grossman adds to the genre is the fleshing out of the interior lives of the characters--well, two of the characters. The Evil Genius Dr. Impossible, and the recently-converted-to-cybernetics Fatale serve as dual narrators. Dr. Impossible has to find his way out of prison yet again, so he can attempt to conquer the world yet again. Fatale has been invited to join the (New) Champions--a superhero team that is being reassembled/reconstituted years after it fell apart following a most comic-book-conventional offworld occurrence.
So we get the Malign-Hypercognition-Disordered scientist's perspective on his drive to work out schemes for taking over the world, making him much more sympathetic than the usual comic book villain. You almost root for him to succeed in bringing his latest brand of tyranny to the planet. And you also get a rather poignant story of the new kid trying to fill the shoes of a fallen hero in an established team rife with interpersonal dysfunction.
Ultimately, what you get is parallel stories of two people trying to figure out how and where they fit in, and how to best fulfill their potential--for good or evil--set in a world of comic-book-style geekdom--all told with wit, excellent pacing, and with enough substance to make the fluff that much more fun.
abmgw's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the best books i have ever read.
Please, do not mistake this book as a homage to superheros or just a funny book, there is a lot of stuff going on ins this under the surface.
The 3 general Ideas in this Book are identity, origins and history. And, in this book, these are quite flexible.
The book itself is told from two different viewpoints: Dr Impossbile, a super smart evil Genius, and Fatale, a cyborg and new member of a the world best team of Superheros.
Story: Impossible escapes from prison, Superheros try to stop him. So far, so simple.
You can read this book as a simple homage on this kind of superhero stories, but then you are missing... everything.
To give you examples for this 3 different main themes:
History: Dr. Impossible has done EVERYTHING that a villian has ever done. If you look deeper, he is not just a person, her es every villien that has ever been written of.
Origin: Of cause, every Super-someone has one, and also in this book, everybody has one... but not just one. Real ones. Real reals ones. Hidden ones. Origins for history. Origins for the press. There own private origins. The origins only the reader knows...
And Identiy: Who are these characters, and why are they who they are? And if the History is changing, why not also Identity?
All that, plus: This book is written in a very prosaic mood, and thaere are a lot sad moments. Per example: Fatale has no mamores from before here operation, and now she cannot remember what her original hair color was (her hair now is platin blone nylon).
I do recommand this book more than any other i have ever read.
Please, do not mistake this book as a homage to superheros or just a funny book, there is a lot of stuff going on ins this under the surface.
The 3 general Ideas in this Book are identity, origins and history. And, in this book, these are quite flexible.
The book itself is told from two different viewpoints: Dr Impossbile, a super smart evil Genius, and Fatale, a cyborg and new member of a the world best team of Superheros.
Story: Impossible escapes from prison, Superheros try to stop him. So far, so simple.
You can read this book as a simple homage on this kind of superhero stories, but then you are missing... everything.
To give you examples for this 3 different main themes:
History: Dr. Impossible has done EVERYTHING that a villian has ever done. If you look deeper, he is not just a person, her es every villien that has ever been written of.
Origin: Of cause, every Super-someone has one, and also in this book, everybody has one... but not just one. Real ones. Real reals ones. Hidden ones. Origins for history. Origins for the press. There own private origins. The origins only the reader knows...
And Identiy: Who are these characters, and why are they who they are? And if the History is changing, why not also Identity?
All that, plus: This book is written in a very prosaic mood, and thaere are a lot sad moments. Per example: Fatale has no mamores from before here operation, and now she cannot remember what her original hair color was (her hair now is platin blone nylon).
I do recommand this book more than any other i have ever read.
abmgw's review against another edition
5.0
Das bezieht sich auf die Hörbuchausgabe. Die ist leider schlimm gekürzt. Schade drum.
viva_pugnacio's review against another edition
4.0
Soon I Will be Invincible was a thoroughly fun read. For even the most casual fan of comics, the clandex spad villains and heroes who populate Grossman's novel will be instantly familiar. Grossman's love of silver age antics and larger than life plotlines readily comes across the page. For a comic book junkie like myself, Soon I Will be Invincible was a pleasant burst of fresh air.
ifoundtheme's review against another edition
2.0
Bit too silly for my mood, might have liked it better some other time
samusiamus's review against another edition
3.0
I feel that this novel set out what it wanted to, and possibly even accomplished what it wanted to. But it went about it in a weird way. I like the slow build with the alternating chapters, and the moment we discover why it focuses on these two specific characters, but most of my qualms have to do with the character development mostly happening in the last few chapters of the book.
What I do like is that Doctor Impossible is your typical zany supervillain who thinks his ideas and motivations make perfect sense when they absolutely do not. It's funny to see someone who is probably one of the smartest people in the world act like such an idiot, because it tells us that even smart people make dumb mistakes and this is true for even the real world.
I don't know if we'll ever hear more from Fatale and see where her story goes, but I enjoyed her character the most. The story seemed to do her a disservice at times, I felt like there was going to be this big reveal/confrontation at the end and it was very anti-climactic. It was difficult to relate closely to any one character because they keep Fatale at arm's length, you learn nothing really deep or interesting about them other than an origin story. And even then, you don't get a deep dig into their origins until the ending when, for a seemingly random reason, they each talk about themselves in detail as a type of monologing exposition as though the other heroes don't know these stories already--and you would think they would since they worked together for so long, why would they suddenly be sharing their backstories now? It can't all be for Fatale's benefit, she could have just read about it. It's obvious that it's something meant for the reader, but it felt out of place.
What I do like is that Doctor Impossible is your typical zany supervillain who thinks his ideas and motivations make perfect sense when they absolutely do not. It's funny to see someone who is probably one of the smartest people in the world act like such an idiot, because it tells us that even smart people make dumb mistakes and this is true for even the real world.
I don't know if we'll ever hear more from Fatale and see where her story goes, but I enjoyed her character the most. The story seemed to do her a disservice at times, I felt like there was going to be this big reveal/confrontation at the end and it was very anti-climactic. It was difficult to relate closely to any one character because they keep Fatale at arm's length, you learn nothing really deep or interesting about them other than an origin story. And even then, you don't get a deep dig into their origins until the ending when, for a seemingly random reason, they each talk about themselves in detail as a type of monologing exposition as though the other heroes don't know these stories already--and you would think they would since they worked together for so long, why would they suddenly be sharing their backstories now? It can't all be for Fatale's benefit, she could have just read about it. It's obvious that it's something meant for the reader, but it felt out of place.