Steelheart (Reckoners, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson

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.

• ISBN10: 057510399X
• ISBN13: 9780575103993
• Publish Date: 26 September 2013 (first published 13 September 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[KitsuneBae]

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

I almost forgot to update that I'm already finished with this book. Hahahaha. Awesome! Yeah, it may not be as awesome as Sanderson's Mistborn or Stormlight Archive but hell yeah, this is good. I adore David's geekiness and the whole story actually fitted the age group that it's intended for.

[inlibrisveritas]

Steelheart was a buddy read with my boyfriend and I couldn’t be happier with our choice. It takes a topic that we both love and turned it on it’s head. Imagine a world where super powers have become a reality but the only catch is that there are no superheros only villains. Steelheart offers a unique brand of dystopian where action is always around the corner and emotions run high.

This is my third Sanderson novel and I am convinced he’s one of the best writers out there right now. I’m use to his fantasy novels which are absolutely loaded with detail, so when I dove into this one I was surprised to see it wasn’t the same way. Even though the details are not as plentiful the world building is still fantastic. We find ourselves in Newcago, which was once Chicage but has fallen under the harsh rule of Steelheart, an epic who seems invisible. Those without money or powers have found themselves pushed to the understreets, where they must struggle to survive. I wasn’t really sure what the think of the broken world the story is set in at first. I’m one of those people who love superheroes, because there is something amazing about seeing someone with absolute power and they use it help mankind. The Epics in Steelheart are not like that at all, and I think my heart broke a bit…but Sanderson knows what he’s doing and even though the world has turned into a place with very little hope it makes for an absolutely addicting story.

Our main character is David. A young man who has seen the true ruthlessness of Epics first hand and he’s utterly determined to free everyone from their rule. I loved his outright determination, but this kid is beyond nerve-wracking. I believe the way I described him to my boyfriend was “he’s a genius in an ‘Oh my god, you’re going to die’ way”. He’s very intelligent when it comes to strategy, but when it comes to the more common sense portions well he’s on the low scoring side. Despite the amount of anxiety he caused I love him. He’s pretty fierce and he’s terrible at metaphors, which makes me love him even more. Then there are the Recokoners, a resistance group. I love most of the guys and girls in the Reckoners, though some took a while to warm up to. Cody was by far my favorite though, he’s a complete loon but I think the whole situation would have been too dire without Cody and David to lighten things up.

One of the best things about this book is the fact that you never know what to truly expect and it leaves you guessing. Sure, you might guess correctly but it’s so much fun getting to the point where you find out for sure that it’s completely worth reading. This is definitely going to be in my top reads for 2014

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Book reviews & blogging tips

OH MY GOD! This book!! Why did I not read you for like, a million years???

I swear, Steelheart and I have been playing the book equivalent of phone tag. I originally got a copy of it at BEA. I only really stood in line to get one because Eileen wanted to get one for Inky. I wasn't convinced it was really a book for me... but I got one anyway.

Then I never read it.

It sat on my shelf like a poor, lonely, abandoned book.

Then, a few months later, I suddenly wanted to read it. The problem? I was in the UK and my copy was sitting 5,000 miles away in California. Oops. Luckily there was a Kindle sale so I bought it then... but I still didn't read it for WEEKS. Then I read it during one crazy insomniac night...

I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS MISSING!

This book rocks super hard you guys! I don't know why I ever doubted it. For some reason the synopsis never screamed "Ashley book" to me, which is weird because I love the word "Epic" and I love superheroes (even if they're assholes).

Steelheart had a lot more personality than I anticipated. The main character, David, was a pretty funny guy! He was kind of like a sci-fi version of Dr. House in the sense that he kept coming up with elaborate metaphors, some of which were good, but others were slightly ridiculous. I don't normally connect with male characters all that well, but David's character was just so ALIVE! I loved seeing him drool over a girl a bit, and make himself look like an idiot, and then do something CRAZY EPIC COOL on a total whim. He was a bit of a badass! But also kind of a nerd.. but in a really cool way.

And oh damn, Steelheart will completely keep you guessing! This book has so many crazy mysteries and twists. And even though I guessed a few of them, there was still that burning desire to see if I was right! So I had to keep reading!

If you're into superheroes, dystopian books, epic badass rebels, explosions, and crazy motorcycle car chases, you NEED to give this book a go!

[kimbacaffeinate]

Sanderson introduces us to a fascinating array of characters beginning with David our protagonist. David has spent his youth gathering information on the Epics, taking careful notes and plotting his revenge against Steelheart. Steelheart is the epic who forever changed David’s life and who rules the city with fear and tyranny. David is bright, and fearless, but he is also a young and I found him endearing. His actions, conversations and metaphors, will have you giggling. He has feelings for a kick-ass Reckoner, and it was adorable, awkward and made my heart flip. I really connected with him, and loved the nickname the Reckoners gave him. The Reckoners themselves are a diverse group of individuals, and each brings a dynamic skill and mind-set to this motley team. The Epics while not fleshed out, were terrifying and unique. Their abilities sprang to life as Sanderson introduced each one. Each has a unique set of abilities from illusions to fire, but all have a weakness much like the Superheroes we all know and love. Sanderson brought the Epics and Reckoners to life keeping me completely captivated.

Steelheart was action-packed, with twists and turns that even I didn’t see coming. Sanderson provided a panoramic view of the city, and its residences . The world building was wonderfully done, without a lot of info dumps, and while I still have oodles of questions I felt confident as I read. One of the things I enjoy when reading a book in this genre is when an author makes the impossible seem probable , and I so believed from the Epics to the kick-ass Reckoners. The super abilities to the amazing gadgets the Reckoners possessed made me drool. Sanderson has a wicked imagination, and I thoroughly enjoyed the benefits. It’s a simple tale of good verse evil, man overcoming oppression and adversity. How can one not fall in love with the underdogs and root them to victory? The twists and reveals blew me away, and made me freakishly giddy as subtle clues suddenly clicked into place, and I yelled, “OMG, of course!” This was hands down one of the most intense and fascinating reads I have read this year. It’s one of those books you cannot set down, where you travel so deeply into the tale and its characters that the outside world disappears. I imagined myself sitting at the window of a war torn and abandon high tower building high above the city as I watched this tale unfold.

Copy received in exchange for unbiased review and​ full review​ originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart has all the features of a great science fiction book: creative world-building, an enthralling plot, well-developed characters, and thoughtful discussions of morality. However, its most striking characteristic may be the writing itself. Steelheart is so intricately and solidly constructed, from the phrasing of individual sentences to arrangement of the plot, that my English major’s heart was swooning. It has been awhile since I have read a book just so well-written. Sanderson’s style will impress readers from the first chapter. But his skill will hit them again and again—particularly at the moment David concludes relating his life-story for to some new acquaintances. (Seriously, read the book and just wait for the line.)

Read the rest of the review at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.