Review: SteelHeart by Brandon Sanderson
PUBLISHER:
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a review.
SteelHeart is a hard book to review because all I really want to do is type a whole bunch of !!!!! and SO GOOD!! OMG OMG!! In fact if I hadn't received this book for review I would have just wrote this:
BUY IT!
(mike drop)
But since I didn’t purchase this book myself I want to persuade you to buy it .
The Super Good
Brandon Sanderson has a reputation for writing Epic stories and for quite some time his work has been on my to buy list . This book is an excellent introduction to Sanderson’s writing and a wonderful start to a new series.
The world of SteelHeart begins loss and blossoms into a drive for revenge all centered around a young man named David and the worst day of his life. A day early in the Calamity, the aftermath of the debut of a number of super powered humans. David and his father witnessed one of the most startling debuts when the Epic Deathpoint storms into a bank and begins killing its patrons. SteelHeart intervenes and when David’s fathers attempts to help the Epic kills him and covers up the scene of the crime in cold steel.
David is the sole survivor but only by chance because what he witnesses that day shows him that SteelHeart can be stopped, that he can bleed.
For ten years David makes it his life's work to catalog all he can about Epics. He learns their patterns and weaknesses waiting for his chance at revenge.
David’s chance comes when he insinuates him self into a hit on an Epic organized by a group called the Reckoners a group of humans offering the only resistance to the Epic’s world domination. Prior to coming to Chicago the Epics only focused on lower level powered beings, but David convinces the band to go for a bigger fish Steel Heart himself!
Character Connections
I was a fan of David immediately and was really impressed with the journey he takes in this book. Though David’s vengeance may be justified the Reckoners show him how not to fully lose himself in the process. That there is more to life than revenge.
I also loved how each of the Reckoners had unique attributes that made them stand out just as much as David. Cody with his combination of emotional Zen and kick ass armament, the Professor: team leader , brilliant scientist and extremely driven to remove humans from the Epic’s oppression. There are also to magnificent female characters: Tia the teams logistics expert and computer genius who also has a gentler side for David and Megan a stunning and powerful fighter who spends a great deal of time disliking David.
I especially enjoyed Megan and David’s relationship. David has an immediate respect for her yet is horrified by the increasing number of times he fails verbally around her. Megan is a little bit more complex. She is a very strong fighter and is surprised to find her emotions vacillating so much due to David, He irritates her and yet gets to her emotionally at the same time . Brandon had my heart the minute he described Megan throwing off her heels and strategically ripping her dress before powering into battle. Ah! how happy that made me! To finally read a story where a woman makes logical decisions for the situation.
This first book focuses entirely on the groups quest to take SteelHeart down. There is great action in suspense in every chapter and a lot of surprises that I didn't see coming as David is able to implement his plan all leading up to the final confrontation with the man that ruined his life.
This was one of the most satisfying reads I’ve had in quite some time, 5 stars A+++. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series .
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