Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

There are no heroes. Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.  He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

First book in The Reckoners trilogy

Young Adult/Post-Apocalyptic/Superheroes

 5 out of 5 stars
I also have a video review for Steelheart, if you'd like to watch instead of read this review.

Steelheart reads like a novelization of an action film. This makes it a quick and entertaining read. The main character, David, is that (possibly archetypal) character who obsesses over a group or organization and finds himself trying to weasel his way into it. This organization is The Reckoners, the group which lends its name to the title of the series and obviously plays a pivotal role in the story. David and the Reckoners are quite possibly the only people to stand up to the Epics in this post-apocalyptic world. At least, the only people still alive.

The first-person narration from David's POV makes this a hilarious book. This provides a bit of "comic relief" from the heavier aspects of the novel. David has a thing for metaphors, even though he's absolutely terrible at coming up with them (and he knows it). Here's an example;

"Even a ninety-year-old blind priest would stop and stare at this woman. If he weren't blind, that is. 'Dumb metaphor,' I thought. 'I'll have to work on that one.' I have trouble with metaphors."

The characters were all introduced in an easily digestible way, but Sanderson does flesh them out more throughout the story. When we're introduced to a new character, they typically had a bold personality offsetting them from the rest so as to resist confusion about who's who. Everyone has layers and backstory revealed throughout the novel, however, so we don't stick with the more cookie-cutter personalities that were introduced to us. And, of course, there is always room for surprises about who some of these characters really are.

I was left with no complaints when I finished Steelheart. Everything came together perfectly at the end, and sets us on a mysterious and fascinating path for the next installment in the trilogy. Would highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for an action-packed book! 

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