The book has all the elements one would expect from a solidly written and translated work of science fiction. The world our characters are dropped in seems unforgiving and yet very familiar at the same time. When this creature feels threatened, it quickly envelopes its prey and destroys it with a swarm mentality. This anonymous and hive mind like creature travels around in a cloud-like configuration and often comes in contact with various intelligent and non-intelligent objects along the way. The team lands on a fairly inhospitable planet and come face-to-face with a strange, complex, and rather hostile intelligence. The story revolves around a ship that is dispatched to determine the outcome of another missing vessel called The Condor. I would recommend this audiobook to nearly anyone who enjoys a good science fiction piece as you can listen and get lost in all its sci-fi goodness. It is a bit slow to start but sticking with it will reward the listener. The book is categorized as hard science fiction, yet I would call it more classic or old school science fiction. The book really is a more classic story, written in 1967 but it has many twists which were not only new and interesting at the time of its writing, but also relevant and interesting today. I will say, after listening to this work, I will be looking for more from this author. As stated on Audible, he is one of the most widely translated and best known non-English science fiction authors. This is the first piece of Lem’s work I have listened too and I’m surprised it has taken me this long to find him. The audiobook is wonderfully and flawlessly performed by Peter Berkrot.

The book is very well translated into English from the original by Bill Johnston who is also credited with translating a few of Lem’s other works. “The Invincible” is a contemporary yet classic science fiction story written by the renown Polish author Stanislaw Lem.

The invincible by stanislaw lem