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A review by jolietjane
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
5.0
I didn't like Mistborn, my first toe dip into Brandon Sanderson. It was enough to leave me suspicious of his work and un interested in trying more.
A co worker of mine passed on an old arc of Steelheart. "Its YA but you know, it's pretty good"
It took me a year to actually read it. I wish I had sooner.
TLDR TROPES:
- "we are gonna need a crew"
- espionage
- no romance
-anti superhero
- gadgets
- urban "fantasy sci fi" setting
- dystopia
Steelheart is The Boys meets Hunters. When David is a kid, a worldwide disaster occurs that gives birth to "epics"- super powered humans who use aliases. Epics seem to lack all empathy and humanity. The only thing they do want is to rule over humans- converting our cities into their own and completely disrupting all law and order.
David's father is killed by an epic- and not just any Epic. Arguably, one of the most powerful. David survives the attack with a thirst for revenge, and devotes his life to studying epics to find their weakness and murder them. Many years later, David ends up crossing paths with a team of Epic hunters, which is where our story begins...
One of the most admirable things about Steelheart is it's lighting quick pacing. Its a case study on how to move a plot along with urgency without skipping out on meaningful details. I don't love action scenes, but I was gripped by every second of them in this book. equally so, I was taken in by all of lore- any time the team studied up on a new hero and discovered their weakness or how their power worked, I was begging for more. Steelheart gives you all the details you want with none of the filler, making it a fast and enthusiastic lead.
The characters are fine, but a lot of them were being built up in this book for some really interesting development in book two. That being said, while "fine" would typically be a knock, in this case, each character played their part perfectly and still brought something valuable to my reading experience- they aren't anything to write home about, but absolutely added to my overall enjoyment.
The Epics...oh wow. Their lore, "magic system", and how all of that factors into their treatment in humanity...I wanted to learn so much more. As much as I would consider this a straight action series, there is so much intrigue and mystery, and it's so hard not to put this book down and just google every spoiler I can find.
It's hard to express my love for Steelheart specifically because of HOW I loved it. As a characters over world building person, how do I express that in this case, the opposite enchanted me? This book was the exact opposite of my taste, yet managed to charm me in a way I never expected. I have no idea why people gush all over Brandon Sanderson and don't bring his Reckoner series up, because it's an absolute stand out.
A co worker of mine passed on an old arc of Steelheart. "Its YA but you know, it's pretty good"
It took me a year to actually read it. I wish I had sooner.
TLDR TROPES:
- "we are gonna need a crew"
- espionage
- no romance
-anti superhero
- gadgets
- urban "fantasy sci fi" setting
- dystopia
Steelheart is The Boys meets Hunters. When David is a kid, a worldwide disaster occurs that gives birth to "epics"- super powered humans who use aliases. Epics seem to lack all empathy and humanity. The only thing they do want is to rule over humans- converting our cities into their own and completely disrupting all law and order.
David's father is killed by an epic- and not just any Epic. Arguably, one of the most powerful. David survives the attack with a thirst for revenge, and devotes his life to studying epics to find their weakness and murder them. Many years later, David ends up crossing paths with a team of Epic hunters, which is where our story begins...
One of the most admirable things about Steelheart is it's lighting quick pacing. Its a case study on how to move a plot along with urgency without skipping out on meaningful details. I don't love action scenes, but I was gripped by every second of them in this book. equally so, I was taken in by all of lore- any time the team studied up on a new hero and discovered their weakness or how their power worked, I was begging for more. Steelheart gives you all the details you want with none of the filler, making it a fast and enthusiastic lead.
The characters are fine, but a lot of them were being built up in this book for some really interesting development in book two. That being said, while "fine" would typically be a knock, in this case, each character played their part perfectly and still brought something valuable to my reading experience- they aren't anything to write home about, but absolutely added to my overall enjoyment.
The Epics...oh wow. Their lore, "magic system", and how all of that factors into their treatment in humanity...I wanted to learn so much more. As much as I would consider this a straight action series, there is so much intrigue and mystery, and it's so hard not to put this book down and just google every spoiler I can find.
It's hard to express my love for Steelheart specifically because of HOW I loved it. As a characters over world building person, how do I express that in this case, the opposite enchanted me? This book was the exact opposite of my taste, yet managed to charm me in a way I never expected. I have no idea why people gush all over Brandon Sanderson and don't bring his Reckoner series up, because it's an absolute stand out.