Singin Hobo
July 7th, 2007, 12:40 PM
"This sort of offer is a mere formality to a man with a PowerStaff and a napkin taped to his face."
Spoiler free review and synopsis:
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.
This book was as good a read as any other first book out there… a few problems here-and-there, but overall a great satire of superhero life with a fun story and a strong message. Think of it as The Tick but taken a bit more seriously and a situation where more than one character is an actual superhero and you’re on your way.
The characters are colorful and the themes are a lot of fun. The fun premise even melts away and goes beyond the satire and puns to provide a solid story.
I give it a 4.5/5.
Spoiler-filled discussion:
This book totally delivered. I was a bit confused by the constant switching between time-lines… I didn’t mind the switching I guess, but more the fact that I’d be halfway through a section before I realized it was supposed to be a flashback--how about a time-stamp or something? Throw me a freaking bone here.
Anybody know if that confrontation with Mister Mystic was supposed to have taken place in the current timeline or in the past? If in the current timeline what the hell happened there? Doctor Impossible was on his knees at his mercy. Oh well… what the hell.
Fatale was a great character to follow, I guess because I wasn’t really fond of her at first and she was a good character to really get to know. I’m not convinced that Grossman is the best writer of women, but perhaps that’s not so important when writing for a cyborg woman :shrug: A cool character.
I wasn’t thrilled with the resurrection of CoreFire at first, but then I considered that this is, indeed, a parody of comic book super-hero life… of course the big hero would have to come to life. I guess the finale between Doctor Impossible and a character that we didn’t really actually meet until now was sort of anti-climactic. I know Lily was the one who finished the whole thing, and for her to leave both of her lovers hanging there is pretty funny, but we didn’t even get to see Fatale really cut loose on him.
Oh well, all those little things aside I’m quite pleased with this title and look forward to any others in that rich little universe Grossman has created.
Spoiler free review and synopsis:
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.
This book was as good a read as any other first book out there… a few problems here-and-there, but overall a great satire of superhero life with a fun story and a strong message. Think of it as The Tick but taken a bit more seriously and a situation where more than one character is an actual superhero and you’re on your way.
The characters are colorful and the themes are a lot of fun. The fun premise even melts away and goes beyond the satire and puns to provide a solid story.
I give it a 4.5/5.
Spoiler-filled discussion:
This book totally delivered. I was a bit confused by the constant switching between time-lines… I didn’t mind the switching I guess, but more the fact that I’d be halfway through a section before I realized it was supposed to be a flashback--how about a time-stamp or something? Throw me a freaking bone here.
Anybody know if that confrontation with Mister Mystic was supposed to have taken place in the current timeline or in the past? If in the current timeline what the hell happened there? Doctor Impossible was on his knees at his mercy. Oh well… what the hell.
Fatale was a great character to follow, I guess because I wasn’t really fond of her at first and she was a good character to really get to know. I’m not convinced that Grossman is the best writer of women, but perhaps that’s not so important when writing for a cyborg woman :shrug: A cool character.
I wasn’t thrilled with the resurrection of CoreFire at first, but then I considered that this is, indeed, a parody of comic book super-hero life… of course the big hero would have to come to life. I guess the finale between Doctor Impossible and a character that we didn’t really actually meet until now was sort of anti-climactic. I know Lily was the one who finished the whole thing, and for her to leave both of her lovers hanging there is pretty funny, but we didn’t even get to see Fatale really cut loose on him.
Oh well, all those little things aside I’m quite pleased with this title and look forward to any others in that rich little universe Grossman has created.