Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Release Date: September 24, 2013

Series: Reckoners (bk. 1)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: super powers, abilities, supervillains, Chicago, Illinois

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 384 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $19.99

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “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.”

My Review: I loved this book. I was so sure I was going to be disappointed and bored just because the pages are so big with not very big type. Thank goodness this book was awesome. Probably the best all male POV I’ve read this year. The narration reminded me a lot of Percy Jackson, Daniel X or Ethan Wate of Beautiful Creatures. Humorous inner dialogue. Funny on going thoughts about bad metaphors. And David is a master of really funny bad metaphors.

I loved the setting. I’m from Chicagoland, so I love it when a book is set in my city. I can picture it so well. In this book the Chi town I know is very different. They call in Newcago. (Why not just New Chicago?) All the buildings have been turned to solid steel. All the glass, the roads, and even part of Lake Michigan because of Steelheart’s power. And also, the sky is always dark because of Nightweilder’s power. So I’m picturing Chicago as all silver gray and black. Stark and depressing at the same time. But there’s lanterns and electricity still.

This book may be set only about 15 years in the future, after Epics first appeared, but the city and world we know is so very different. And there were unfamiliar slag term. One was “Calamity.” It’s what they call the red star thing that appeared in the sky before Epics started appearing. There’s a slang word “slontze.” It’s made up and sounds like another word. It is not a real slang word used in Chicago. It does sound like a word that could’ve been used in an old gangster movie, though.

The Epics are people with superpowers. Pretty much all of them are selfish bad guys. There are no superheros. There’s only the Reckoner to fight back. And the Reckoner don’t have superpowers. They have technology, guns and their brains and wits. They only want to kill all the epics they can easily get by their weakness. They’re the good guys, but they are not superheros. They have some cool devices, like the tensors: gloves that can make holes in walls, turning steel into dust. It was awesome.

They are great characters though. Prof, Cody, Abraham, Megan and Nina are very well developed. I could picture them perfectly. Cody had the funniest personality. He’s a southern guy who talks about Scottish stuff a lot. It was very entertaining. Some of the best bantering dialogue I’ve ever read. David was confused by his humor sometimes, mostly because he never learned much about Scotland or other cultures.

The plot was amazing and fun. I read like a movie or TV show. Going out on missions, getting into bad situations. It felt like a cross between a 20s gangster movie, Xmen, and a dystopian dictatorship. I loved David’s bad metaphors and his “improvising.” He was a good actor atleast. Also, there was a little romance between Megan and David, but not nearly enough. They bantered about whether a rifle or handgun was better. They flirted a little. David thought he was in love, but knew it was probably just a crush. I was really mad at the end of part 3 of the book. WHY?!!! And then in part 4 near the end of the book I got a real surprise. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t see coming. (Except the thing about Prof). The climax was crazy and well written. And the ending was great.

I loved this book. I recommend it to people who read superhero comic. If you’re a fan of Xmen, you like this. Also, if you liked YA books by James Patterson, like Daniel X or Witch & Wizard. If you like the superhero books by Michael Carroll. Also, the humor reminded me of Insignia by S.J. Kincaid. If you love/live in Chicagoland, I recommend this. Divergent fans! READ THIS! Everyone who loves YA Sci-fi or Dystopian, please read this. The book is made of awesome. It takes AWESOMENESS to EPIC proportions! I am just fan girling about this. I NEED BOOK 2, Fightfight! Now, or I’ll use my very epical powers to get it myself.  

Cover Art Review: I love this cover. It’s metallic and the title is embossed. It looks like ripped metal and makes me think of Man of Steel or Smallville. It says sci-fi superhuman book. It’s very relevant since pretty much all of Chicago was turned to steel because of Steelheart. I really wish the city was on the cover. It needs to be there. The cover looks almost like an adult book because the way the author’s name is so big at the top.