Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Book 4 started, book 4 finished

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
published by Delacorte Press (Random House), 2013

I’m not sure how this man writes so much and continuously puts out such high-quality books.  Every time I turn around, there seems to be another book or series by Brandon Sanderson.  I hope he doesn’t become like Stephen King for me and instead of quality, I start to just see indulgent hack.  We’ll see.

But, that is so not the case with this book.

Steelheart is based on a fairly common theme in Superhero fiction where some event suddenly imbues people with super powers.  The powers appear apparently at random, they cover the standard range of powers, we’ve come to know, they range in intensity from invulnerable to just some guy with a neat power and love from decades of comics and some become heroes and some become villains.  The difference, in this world, is after the event, called the Calamity, is that they all become villains.

A little ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ and we’re off.

It is ten years after the Calamity and the dystopian world we find is a patchwork of different fiefdoms run by dominant Epics and their lesser strength Epic henchmen and assorted other lackeys.  It’s a messy world but we see little of it outside what was once Chicago.  Newcago is run by Steelheart and consists of an upperworld of gangsters and bureaucrats and an underground world of gangs, child labor factories and beggars.  It’s a pretty bleak place but also presented as one of the better run cities.

The story itself is listed as one for grades 8 and up.  I didn’t notice that until after I was finished.  It was centered on an 18yo boy, David, but it didn’t read like a book geared towards junior high aged boys.   He wants revenge on Steelheart for killing his father and tracks down a group of Reckoners, normal people fighting back against the Epics, and convinces them to take on a scheme to take down the head Epic in Newcago.

It’s a bit of a coming of age novel, a bit of an adventure thriller and a bit of a superhero novel turned on its head.  The book is fast paced, well-written and fun.  It’s not going to win any literary awards but I’ll definitely read the next one on the series.

3.5 stars.