Steelheart: The Reckoners, Book 1

Steelheart, the first in a new series by Brandon Sanderson, throws a wrench into the tried-and-true superhero formula. We all know the usual clichés, an ordinary man or woman is gifted with special powers and uses them to fight crime and make society a better place, only to be confronted later down the road by a supervillain or someone who simply doesn’t possess their same sense of moral values. Where Steelheart differs from this formula is by presenting a much darker scenario; what if the heroes never rise to power but only the villains do, who would stop them? It’s akin to the graphic novel Wanted or the more recent DC comic’s event crossover Forever Evil, which depicts an entire world completely at the mercy of supervillains without a single hero in sight. The premise isn’t entirely original, in more ways than one which I will address later. Yet like most great ideas, they come through drawing aspirations from other works of fictions. While Steelheart is no exception, Sanderson manages to convey a truly entertaining tale that feels all his own while working to his many strengths as a writer.One of the most immediate aspects of Steelheart that will draw the reader into its mythology is the striking manner in which Sanderson portrays the book’s hellish world. The United States is no more; the dawning of the superpowered entities known as Epics has fractured the nation into various individual city-states that are all at the mercy of the Epic warlords, who are each vying for power over their brethren and their territory. The book itself takes place in Chicago, now redubbed Newcago due to the drastic changes it has endured under the control of Steelheart, the most powerful Epic in North America. Nearly every structure and surface has been converted into pure metal, and the entire city is cloaked in eternal night due to Nightwielder, another Epic under the service of Steelheart. Add the claustrophobia of the less fortunate Newcago dwellers living in the filthy underground tunnels and you have a chilling atmosphere that provides the book with a distinct sense of place that significantly adds to the book’s overall gravitas. It’s an astonishingly well-realized low-fantasy setting that isn’t satisfied with belonging to one genre. The technology within Sanderson’s world is so fantastical that it feels less like something from a science-fiction novel and resonates more like an amalgam of the two genres. It’s a compelling world that the reader will want to explore despite it being completely inhospitable and uninviting. The only downside to the world-building is that the dystopia aspects don’t come full-circle, or at least to the extent that I feel Sanderson wanted them to. We’re provided details about how horrific life is living under the rule of the Epics and their mandatory government protocols for handpicking humanity’s brightest to further expand their government and military police force, yet it doesn’t go far enough in conveying these themes, nor does it elaborate upon the actual process itself. A character early in the book with relations to the protagonist is introduced and then immediately dropped for the remainder of the story. His perspective would have been quintessential in further elaborating the harshness of Steelheart’s twisted dystopian setting, yet in the end it feels underutilized. It’s a blemish in an otherwise superb example of fictional world-building.Sanderson has written incredible protagonists in the past and Steelheart is no exception. The character David is comprised of a strong dichotomy that gives the book its heart in a couple of different ways. On one hand, you have a boy demanding the blood of Steelheart, which gives this revenge story a great deal of believability due to the amount of emotion conveyed and the book’s tragic prologue. Than on the other hand, he’s a lovably dorky kid who’s constantly making bad puns and trying to attract beautiful girls while failing miserably. This isn’t a detriment, rather it helps instill a sense of fun into the prose; and more importantly, a sense of humanity in the face of adversaries who seemingly have none or have abandoned theirs entirely. He’s a great character that manages to balance the lighter comic relief moments with the book’s darker undertones of revenge and civil unrest. Readers will find it easy to cheer for him from beginning to end.The supporting cast is solid but nothing spectacular. One character in particular felt more like a caricature for certain European stereotypes. However, like Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy, the strength of his characters through the manner in which they interact within the larger group rather than through their individual character traits. The banter between the characters is excellent and after a while the reader begins to feel like one of the merry band. Special notice must be given to the relationship between David and Megan. One might initially write the relationship between these two as a generic romance, yet I found that their love/hate relationship developed in a believable manner as the book progressed, quickly becoming one of the book’s highlights for me.Sanderson truly has a talent for illustrating some of the most elaborate and cinematic action scenes ever put into a fantasy novel or any genre. Like his Mistborn trilogy, a large reason why his action scenes are so impressive is due to the amount of depth he provides for how magic powers function in his world and their role within the larger mythology. Everything has a place in Sanderson’s work and it’s always galvanizing to see how each individual power or ability fits into the larger picture.By now you’ve noticed that I’ve compared Steelheart to Sanderson’s previous Mistborn trilogy quite an awful lot, there’s a reason for that. As much as I love Steelheart and believe it to be an excellent addition to Sanderson’s repertoire, it does share quite a few substantial similarities to his Mistborn trilogy to the point that I feel it needs to mentioned. Both series have humanity enslaved by a higher race with supernatural abilities all under the control of a central leader who fancies himself a god. Anyone who’s read Mistborn will understand what I’m getting at. Seeing as how Sanderson thought of the premise for Steelheart during a long car ride, it’s easy to imagine how some of his previous works may have influenced his newer ideas. There’s nothing wrong with this, yet it does provide a bit of deja vu for fans of his work since the overall story outline is quite familiar.Steelheart is an excellent book that combines various different genres with action, believable drama and excellent characterization into one incredible narrative. The book does suffer from possessing a strong similarity to Sanderson’s past work, yet it doesn’t prevent its own unique merits from shining though. Any fan of fantasy, science-fiction or comics should pick this up, there’s a lot to like.

Steelheart is superpower prose story by Mr. Sanderson that caught the imagination of readers and has gone on to become a trilogy "The Reckoners", with the final part due out in early 2016. The world is gritty, heartbreaking, and downtrodden, making Gotham City of Batman fame look positively upbeat. David Charleston grew up in this world, so all this is normal - what isn't normal is his thirst for vengeance or the fact he had seen Steelheart bleed.The book could fall into the Young Adult/New Adult category as the protagonist is eighteen and has a similar nihilist view of the world as the popular post-apocalyptic worlds of Hunger Games and Divergent, but with a male protagonist.Steelheart also has a similar level of worldbuilding. Sure, it stands up to the first level. The city has been made into steel, so ground water doesn't go away except through the amazing sewer system. A new society of elite have been born. No one in the area has seen bananas in years. Etc. But it stops there. Like the four corner box of comics, this story doesn't go beyond what the 18-year old understands or can see and there are enough holes in this world to make my teeth ache.If Steelheart was marketed as a post-apocalyptic New Adult series, I would give this four stars under the Good Reads rating / five stars under the Amazon rating because I expect to twitch at those worlds just a bit. But I know Mr. Sanderson is capable of better and this is marketed as superpower (not superhero because there is not a superpowered hero to be seen) prose, I am holding the manuscript to a higher standard.Overall Steelheart is a constant ride through a gritty, dark landscape and has some pretty interesting problem-solving happening between the constant gunfights and danger.For those that only wanted a basic review you can stop reading now. For those wondering what made my teeth ache for this story - which should not affect your enjoyment of the story at all - you can read further.<spoiler>Okay, just us nerds now? Two things kill me about the worldbuilding. One - where is the food coming from and Two - have you ever lived in perpetual night?I'll start with number two. I have lived in perpetual twilight before as part of a University of Penn study on sleep deprivation. And I can tell you those of us on the test didn't want to cheat with catching up on sleep, or over eating, or avoiding the rectal thermometer measuring our core temperatures. What killed us was no sunlight for two weeks. Not a single ray of light ... except for one little corner of the window they hadn't covered quite completely. Less than 1/2 an inch square. We didn't tell our keepers about it. We noticed it about the fourth day of no light. We were starved for sunlight by the time we left. All of us were beginning to suffer from depression from confinement and NO SUNLIGHT.There is no way, no matter how crazy the world is outside of the city was, people would flock to the city faster than people would be leaving it. Humans are just not built to live decade in and decade out with at least some UV lighting. Since UV lighting was a no-no in the city, people would leave in droves after a few weeks. Depression, suicide, and non-functional crazy would be constant among those remaining - especially if you toss in the constant presence of the Epic letting you know you are worth less than nothing. People in the northern reaches of the planet have enough problems with reduced sunlight for a few weeks. This was years.And then we have number one which hit me first and keeps throwing me out of the story. Where is the food coming from? Food to support cities the size of Newcago require a large infrastructure of growing and delivering the substance. People who spend a year dedicated to producing a crop need to know they can grow the crop and be reimbursed for the effort, or they will cut back and concentrate on growing enough for their family and developing a means to protect the food. Medieval serfs under feudalism paid protectors in food. But Epics are insanely random and in the turmoil following Calamity's appearance, food production would drop precipitously.So where is the food coming from? It is not like Newcago can grow it - remember perpetual night and UV lighting is not allowed. And if there is a place in the Fractured States to grow the food, how is it being transported reliably through the terrain of dozens of warlords? At least reliably enough to feed a city. The only way is if Steelheart regularly leaves the city for the surrounding countryside and controls dozens of smaller areas to feed into his throne. And he has about all he can do trying to keep a lid on the Epics directly under his thumb.At least in both Divergent and The Hunger Games, growing of food and transporting it were touched upon. Steelheart is a comic limited to the four panel view of Newcago and does not glimpse beyond except to mention other superpowers. Because of this I cannot conceive the greater world and do not see how it could function; and since I don't think the nearer world can function under the perpetual night and insanity that must run through the steel-encased city like rainfall, no part of this world truly works for me.So worldbuilding fail in my opinion. Mr. Sanderson took it one level, but not the next. And anyone who follows my reviews knows, I need a good world to play in. Mr. Sanderson does not provide it in Steelheart.</spoiler>

Great story. Really cool to see Sanderson take on a modern day "American" superhero.

-Brandon Sanderson, jamais à court d'idées ni d'énergie, nous a concocté ici un mélange réussi de thèmes porteurs (super-héros, monde post-apocalyptique, young adult) et de ses ingrédients habituels. Les lecteurs fidèles de l'auteur ne manqueront pas de faire certaines comparaisons (avec "Fils des brumes", pour l'organisation sociale d'un petit groupe de résistants qui œuvrent en secret, mais aussi "Elantris", je ne sais pas trop pour quelle raison, peut-être à cause de la mélancolie qui sous-tend la narration - pourtant très dynamique et humoristique). L'inventivité générale m'a souvent fait penser à Daryl Gregory, un autre de mes auteurs préférés ( Pandemonium , The Devil's Alphabet , Raising Stony Mayhall ).Malgré cela, l'ensemble m'a paru original, riche en bonnes idées et pas avare en surprises (je pensais les avoir devinées, cela a été le cas, mais pas d'une manière exhaustive, certaines m'avaient échappé !).Le décor :15 ans plus tôt une sorte d'étoile rouge est apparue dans le ciel. Sa nature demeure mystérieuse, le monde ayant rapidement sombré dans le chaos alors que l'apparition de cette étoile, "Calamity", s'accompagnait de la transformation de certains humains en êtres différents, rarement pour leur apparence, mais pour leurs aptitudes étonnantes - des pouvoirs aussi variés qu'étonnants.L'origine de Calamity et de la transformation d'humains en "épics" a donné naissance à moults conjonctures, mais personne n'y comprend toujours rien. Ces pouvoirs défient toutes les lois scientifiques, on ne peut que constater et s'adapter.La Brandon Touch :Ces super-héros ont un gros défaut : ce sont des monstres ! Ils n'éprouvent plus aucune empathie pour les humains, les tuant sans sourciller, utilisant leurs pouvoirs avec gourmandise. En revanche ils aiment dominer et régner et les plus puissants, comme Steelheart, règnent sur une ville qu'ils ont choisie (Newcago pour Steelheart), épaulés de quelques épics moins puissants.Les épics ne sont pas immortels, mais leurs pouvoirs sont tels qu'ils pourraient tout aussi bien l'être (du moins jusqu'à l'heure de leur mort naturelle, ils vieillissent lentement mais vieillissent tout de même) s'ils n'avaient pas chacun un talon d'achille - secret qu'ils cherchent par-dessus tout à protéger...Le monde est ainsi terrassé par ces monstres et survit plutôt qu'il ne vit. L'espoir est presque mort, les humains sont résignés à leur sort. Plus personne ou presque ne croit encore qu'une nouvelle génération d'épics, des bons ceux-ci, viendront combattre les méchants et sauver l'humanité.L'ensemble des ce paramètres décalés, que je ne vous détaillerais pas plus ici, a été soigneusement pensé et tourne très bien. Rien n'a été oublié et c'est bien agréable dans ce genre de monde inventé qui fonctionne le plus souvent sur trois pattes, pendant que l'auteur se concentre sur l'action / la romance / les affreux tourments qui rongent les personnages principaux / l'intrigue. L'amenée des choses est très satisfaisante, bien intégrée à la narration, toute en légèreté. La manière dont la trame est enchevêtrée permet également de nous faire participer à un jeu de déduction, très distrayant.L'ambiance est assez ambivalente : il y a beaucoup d'humour, dans la voix off du narrateur (un garçon de 18 ans - merci BS de n'avoir pas essayé de la jouer en fille ^_^ - qui manie bien l'auto-dérision et qui est parfois d'une fraîcheur désarmante), dans les dialogues (un personnage haut en couleur, une jeune fille super-combattante-super jolie-mais qui ne rigole pas) et dans certaines situations. L'action est centrale, à la fois par l'enchaînement de scènes d'action proprement dites (la raison de ma restriction d'étoiles, ces descriptions d’actions m'ennuient, je n'arrive à les ingurgiter que si l'auteur est doué, comme ici, mais je ne les apprécie pas pour autant) que pour l'histoire en elle-même : celle de la préparation d'une attaque.Ce que j'ai sans doute préféré dans ce livre, d'une lecture agréable et addictive par ailleurs est, comme toujours chez cet auteur (et certainement l'unes des raisons pour lesquelles je lui reste aussi fidèle) la profondeur sous la narration ludique : celle-ci, riche en action, rebondissements et situations drastiques, permet parfois d'exposer quelques idées très pertinentes. De même, la réflexion de fond sur la raison d'être de sur-humains devenus monstrueux, alors qu'ils devenaient d'une puissance anormale, est intéressante - sans être jamais moralisatrice. Enfin, certains profils stéréotypés nous échappent-ils soudainement, pour devenir consistants, voire même d'une complexité inhabituelle dans ce genre de roman, j'ai été très surprise à un moment, alors que cela ne m'arrive plus qu'exceptionnellement.At last but not least, cerise sur la gâteau : ce roman, qui annonce clairement une suite, a tout de même une fin propre !J'ai refermé ce livre sans frustration, mais avec la détermination de sauter sur le tome suivant dès sa sortie - as usual pour chacun des livres de l'auteur, il me faut bien l'admettre... PandemoniumThe Devil's AlphabetRaising Stony Mayhall

The Lunatics are running the asylum.It’s been a while since a Fantasy novel has truly engrossed me, but Brandon Sanderson is a magician amongst mere mortals. It’s usually within pages that I will be able to determine whether a novel is going to submerge me within its world, whether I mould between its pages…I was a goner by page two. Brandon Sanderson had my heart beating at a staccato rhythm and my imagination on red alert. He is the master of foreshadowing, a breaker of wills and the puppet master of emotion. This book was all kinds of awesome. Why on earth has it taken me so long to read Brandon Sanderson’s work?Calamity has visited the earth and brought with its cataclysmic effects. It has in its wake created Epics, an evolved human if you will. They have superpowers, there is no rhyme or reason to the who or the why, but these epics are not the heroes the world is expecting. They use their powers for bad…they use it to control and manipulate. Their rule is absolute, and it’s done with an iron fist. Life is drastically altered for the average human being. They no longer have the luxuries and things they took for granted is no long gone. Things will never be the same again. The rule and policing from the United States Government has collapsed like a deck of cards. In its wake we have super epics making the rules and controlling the fractured states, some doing a better job of it than others. One such fractured state is the destroyed city of Chicago, now known as Newcago, ruled by an extremely powerful Epic, called Steelheart. This Epic has a mysterious past with non-epic human, David who will spend years plotting his revenge…I have seen Steelheart bleed.David has witnessed Steelheart at his most destructive and soul-less. The death of his father was at his monstrous hands. Killing him was nothing, no guilt, no remorse. It was necessary. After all, his father was the only one to make Steelheart bleed. David has dedicated ten years of his life researching the Epics powers and what can kill them. His research is the only thing that he cares about. He dreams that one day he will be the one responsible for ending Steelhearts vicious rule. He acquaints himself with a vigilante group, known simply as the reckoners – they have one job – to kill every Epic they can get their hands on, to provide hope, and faith to humankind that this rule can end. The group is made up of five members – Prof, Tia, Cody, Abraham and Megan. An intriguing group made up of the very existence of the human condition. They are fuelled by emotion, strength, an iron will and a badass attitude.Just how do you kill an all-powerful being seem to defy physics and time. Epics than can create illusions to confuse their enemies. Epics that can power entire cities with the raw power they can harness. Epics that can harness the darkness to kill its prey. One thing that David continues to prove time and time again though, is that they all have a weakness. That one thing that can be used to kill them. But, how do they discover what that is?David’s dogged determination is what gets him taken into The Reckoners fold. He has lived for nothing else but to take down Steelheart. The fact that he has seen him bleed has their immediate attention, no one has known why Steelheart got that scar, not even his right-hand men. Not everyone is enamoured with the new member but what is the reasoning behind it?“Sometimes, son,” my father said, prying my fingers free, “you have to help the heroes along.”A True David vs. Goliath story. The story encapsulates pedal to the metal. This is exactly how Young Adult should be written. The ending ensured I was in this for the long haul.Share this:

My score: 3.5 out of 5Imagine a world full of super-humans. But instead of great power bringing great responsibility, it only brings corruption . . . and evil. Only a dedicated band of humans, calling themselves the Reckoners, work to find a way of defeating them; the Epics.David is the only person alive who has seen Steelheart, the Epic who rules over Newcago, bleed. He hopes that secret will be his passport to joining the Reckoners. He has spent the last ten years studying the Epics for a chance at vengeance, a chance to make Steelheart bleed again and avenge his father's murder. However, David didn't fully understand what that would entail until he is caught in the middle of a hit on an Epic. David must survive long enough to prove his worth to the Reckoners and somehow convince them that he can defeat the most powerful Epic in the world; Steelheart.This is essentially a revenge story set in a post-apocalyptic world caused and now ruled by superheroes. Whilst there seems to be a good effort to classify and explain the various superpowers on display, it lacks the hard edge theoretical science to be true SF. The characters themselves comment on this by stating that no one really understands why these people have become supers, though it is alluded to that a huge red comet stuck in the Earth's orbit has something to do with it, and that the powers and weaknesses are somewhat illogical. The story is entirely contained within Newcago, formerly Chicago until Steelheart, in a rare display of his powers, caused most of the city to turn into metal. Steelheart rules his domain with an iron-fist, destroying anyone who defies his rules, with the highest crime being acts of attrition against any Epic. However, in comparison to other parts of the world, Newcago is a veritable haven, with people generally protected from attack from anyone other than Steelheart's inner circle, plus running water and electricity and a police force to ensure law and order. The ground level and the high-rises are reserved for Epics and those humans that serve them, e.g. accountants, scientists, engineers, etc. Most of the rest of humanity live underground in subterranean levels burrowed out by people "gifted" with the ability to burrow through metal. "Gifting" is one of the cooler innovations Sanderson has attributed to a rare few Epics. Its kind of the reverse of David Farland's Runelords, or if you like, the opposite to Rogue's (X-Men) powers, i.e. an Epic can gift one of his abilities for a limited time to a normal human being.The story is told in the first person, with David as the viewpoint protagonist, filling in the reader with his encyclopedic knowledge of Epics. David has been shaped by the traumatic experience of watching his father murdered before his eyes by Steelheart and then spent the next ten years of his life gathering as much intel on Epics, whilst trying to keep his head low and working in a weapon's factory becoming an expert in guns. The supporting cast is made up of the Reckoners, with Megan, a red headed femme fatale that favors pistols over rifles, Cody, a Scotsman from Tennesee with a penchant for wild stories, Abraham, a French-Canadian who provides the voice of reason and superior marksman skills, Tia, a tech wizard with a sweet-tooth for Cola and Prof, the enigmatic leader of the Reckoners.The writing and dialogue is solid and functional, telling the story well enough with little artistic flair. But perhaps that isn't so important in the bigger picture of presenting an interesting take on the superhuman mythos. The plot really does come into its own after David has become a fixture within the Reckoners. I found some of the twist perdictabe, nevertheless the execution of these twists and the pacing is faultless, with the big reveal at the end still worthy of the time invested in the book by the reader.Sanderson supposedly developed the original idea in 2007, but it is difficult not to draw parralells with the plot of Injustice: Gods Amongst Us, in which Superman is tricked into killing Lois Lane by the Joker (just like Herucles was tricked by Hera), who then kills the Joker in cold blood, then goes on to establishing his dominion over the world and all the other superheroes and villains. The Reckoners sound a lot like a dispersed and under-funded version of Batman Inc, with the Prof even doing a good impression of the Bat in his black lab coat and apparell. There are even a few nods in the story to Superman, with David's dad wearing a Superman tshirt when he is killed by Steelheart, who incedently could be a dead-ringer for the last son of Krypton, and Abraham wears an "S" shaped locket around his neck. Despite these similarities and homages, Steelheart still comes across as an original take on the superhero mythos and will definitely appeal to fans of Tom Reynold's Meta and the Double Helix series by Jade Kerrion. There is a good chance that Steelheart will be picked up by Hollywood and will grace the silverscreen in the not to distant future. What I would like to see is a video-game adaptation of this book. Would I read the inevitable sequel? Most definitely, yes.

It's just super from the moment go. From the concept to the narration, the plot and finally, the finale. Everything just fits in.

As far as ideas for novels go this book has a fairly original concept. The general premise is that some form of possibly natural phenomena has occurred that is generally referred to as `the Calamity'. Over time this has caused certain individuals to manifest various powers. There are certainly parallels to be seen with the `storm' in the programme `Misfits'. But where Sanderson's ideas gain there most originality is in that he sets the events of his novel ten years on from the instigation of super powers where the world has been carved up and ruled over by those that possess these powers. It is a sad outlook for humanity that no one appears to use these powers for good but only for their own selfish gains. What this philosophically says about humanity is probably the highlight of the book.Like several of Sanderson's novels the story is concentrated within one particular city and almost all the action is city based. The city, Newcago, is envisioned as some type of post-apocalyptic Chicago where the eponymous Steelheart has consolidated his own personal empire. The city is a believable creation with every non-living thing transmogrified into steel, the people living in cramped underground dwellings and the city kept in perpetual darkness by one of Steelheart's lieutenants, Nightwielder. The tense and depressed atmosphere that would be in such a city is readily apparent through the writing.This is another example of Sanderson's ability to create very believable and fully dimensional worlds. Usually he produces fantasy lands or alternate magical worlds to our own. However, this book offers a possible future for our own modern world. It is every bit as rich and thought out though. Like many of Sanderson's invented worlds it is interesting enough to want to know far more about. Hopefully this will happen in later books.The small group of leading protagonists are all fairly well characterised but all require more development and growth. The events of this novel are over too short a time for the reader to really get to know them and often they appear to be a little like stereotypes of military or revolutionary figures. Hopefully this will be improved in later books of the series. Certain characters do become immediately more interesting within the closing stages of the novel.The lead character's use of clumsy metaphors is annoying, however, and distracts a lot from the enjoyment of the story. They seem unnecessary and out of place. They are obviously an effort to provide some light entertainment but this feels wrong considering the serious atmosphere of the book. Although such things would easily be at home in some of Sanderson's other work; just not this one.Overall it's a promising start to a new series.