REVIEW: Steelheart

PLOT: 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.

REVIEW: This being the first time I've ever read any of Brandon Sanderson's work, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've heard that he's an excellent writer but most of that applies to his fantasy fiction, which isn't something I have found myself inclined to reading just yet. Nor was this an account of the short lived 1990's hair metal band of the same name, but I'm sure if Sanderson had written it, it would have been entertaining as well. This however, was about superheroes and of course that's right up my alley. From the very first page, Sanderson hooks you into the story of David. It jumps right into the story of how David lost his father to the Epic Steelheart, and how he knows now in the present that he will be the end to Steelheart's reign. In this world, Epics are the super-powered people who seemingly gained their abilities overnight, and not one of them used their powers for good. Stories like this, as we know them, usually have superheroes on one side and villains on the other but this one is different. This time humans have basically been subjected to the rule of Epics, Steelheart in particular, at least in Chicago, and it's basically against the law to stand up against them. After the introduction into David's life and his story of where he's come from, we're placed into the now steel covered city of Chicago, renamed Newcago. It's a new time and the world is nowhere near the same as it was when Epics didn't rule the Earth, and David plans to change that.

David admires a group of human rebels called the Reckoners as he tracks Epics on his own and tries to find himself in the right place at the right time with Epics or Reckoners. Early on he finds himself in the middle of a battle with one of the high Epics and the Reckoners, and decides that this may be his only opportunity to join in fighting the good fight. He's greeted with resistance as the Reckoners take him into custody, but as David releases more and more of his insider information on the Epics and Reckoners themselves they become more willing to allow him in assisting in their battle. Once David's story is retold to the leader of the Reckoners, they decide that teaming together to defeat the evil Epic Steelheart should be their next venture, but together. The Reckoners more or less disagree with the aggressive plan hatched to defeat Steelheart because it places them in David's hands mostly, and in danger. David wants to do anything he can and gather all the resources he can to bring Steelheart down, because he's seen him bleed, but he knows that the task could be impossible. Really I was super impressed with Brandon Sanderson's writing and how absorbed I was into this story. You wait for an ending that will be good, but the one that's given is great and I didn't see it coming at all. The ending completely sold me on this book, as I knew it was great fiction as I was reading but it wasn't yet that truly outstanding work until I hit the last 20-25 pages. Sanderson knew exactly what he was writing about when it came to super people and superhuman powers, but he added some of his fantasy elements and storytelling experience to the book and it made for all that much greater of a climax and conclusion. I can't wait for the rest of this series, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of superhero stories and/or comic books. This is also one of the first young adult fiction books that I've read that I didn't completely hate, so kudos to Sanderson. I will now have to journey into some of his other works because his writing is definitely amazing.

RATED : ( PG-13 )

WRITING : ( 10 / 10 )

STORY : ( 9 / 10 )

COVER : ( 8 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 10 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 9 / 10 )