A review by missprint_
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

4.0

Doctor Impossible wasn't always an evil genius, diabolical scientist, and supervillain extraordinaire. He just doesn't talk about it because it's really only the heroes who spend time worrying about their origin stories. Doctor Impossible would rather focus on taking over the world. As soon as he breaks out of prison. Again.

Over his long and villainous career Doctor Impossible has tried to take over the world in all of the usual ways with nuclear, thermonuclear, and nanotechnological doomsday devices. He's tried mind control. He's traveled backwards and forward in time. He's used a robot army, insect army, dinosaur army. Even a fungus army, fish and rodents too.

All failures. Even the alien invasion was a failure.

But that's okay. Because this time Doctor Impossible has a new plan. One that will work.

Fatale doesn't remember much about her life before she become a cyborg. She's been told she was on vacation in Brazil. Then she wasn't. And now she's Fatale: part skin, part chrome--a technological marvel meant to be the next generation of warfare until the NSA left her out in the cold.

It's not easy making it as a superhero cyborg on your own, so Fatale is thrilled when she's invited to join the Champions even if it is to replace their slain robot. The Champions used to be a rock solid team but now cracks are starting to show between the heroes--cracks that might be just the break Doctor Impossible needs in Soon I Will Be Invincible (2007) by Austin Grossman.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a charming pastiche of classic superhero plots with chapters alternating between Doctor Impossible and Fatale. (If you read audiobooks, try the audio which as two actors and is a lot of fun.)

Doctor Impossible is a classic supervillain so don't go into this one expecting a lot of depth and morally grey areas. He is definitely a villain and he definitely doesn't feel bad about it at all. Sure, he's learned some things from his rivalry with CoreFire over the years and his failed attempts at world domination. But mostly that was about what didn't work.

Fatale, in contrast, feels like she's been thrown into the deep end here and is worried her previous experience working solo has done little to prepare her to join the Champions--especially alongside Doctor Impossible's old ally Lily. If Fatale feels a little superficial compared to Doctor Impossible's big personality, blame it on the strict moral code.

Hints of clever world building and a surprise reveal about Lily's origin story at the end save this one from being too predictable. Soon I Will Be Invincible is entertaining if sometimes expected superhero fare. Recommended for comics fans looking to branch out into prose and, of course, anyone who can't help but root for the villain.

Possible Pairings: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch, The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney, Proxy by Alex London, Watchmen by Alan Moore, The Superhero Handbook by Michael Powell, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt, Vicious by Victoria Schwab