Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Reckoners #1

Book Summary via Goodreads:

       "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."

Well that was one hell of a ride. This is my first time reading a book by Sanderson, and I do not know why I waited so long. This book was amazing.

The idea of super-powered people only being the villains is not something done very often. And it sure is a really interesting idea, and something closer to reality if people started getting powers, people in general kind of suck, and if they are gifted with immorality then of course they are going to use it to be a dick.

David was a great protagonist, he was funny, smart, had a good head on his shoulders. And his character quirk was entertaining. His motivations maybe started out a little selfish, but as soon as he meets the Reckoners, he finally gets the bigger picture of what needs to be done.

The Reckoners were all really great and, obviously, well written characters. Cody with all his humor, Abraham with his calm demeanor, Tia was kind of the glue and kept them organized, Prof was the unofficial-official leader, and Megan was, at first, mostly just a solider.

Then there were the Epics. Well the ones that pertain to the story. Steelheart being the big bad, as the title kind of gives away, while we only see him a couple times through out the book, never once felt like a background character. His presence always felt like it was there and he was always a threat. Much like how I assume the characters felt about him. Nightweilder was a really interesting character and even though he hardly ever talked, he still felt pretty developed. And Firefight was a mystery most of the book. (And after finishing this book, I am really excited to read the book about that Epic).

The writing and the pacing of this book make it really easy to finish in a short amount of time, but because I have to be an "adult" I wasn't able to sit down and read this book in one sitting. There was one reveal near the end that I kind of saw coming, but the fact that I kind of predicted it, didn't take away from the reveal for me, the other reveal on the other hand. That was a surprise.

This book was amazing, and I really want to go buy the sequel, asap.