A review by isabellarobinson7
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
So. I come to the predicament once again. Do I compare Brandon Sanderson's non-Cosmere books to his ones set in the Cosmere? Do I knock them down because they are not part of the epic fantasy universe I have come to love? To I give them slack because they are YA and therefore have to appeal to a younger audience?
In general, I prefer adult fiction to YA. When I first realized this, it was an immensely overdue realization, as my main complaint with the majority of YA books I had been reading for the past two or three years was that they were full of whiney teenagers and saturated in every kind of romance trope on the face of this earth. Then, one day, it occurred to me, "Hey, since adults usually read about people their own age, then books written for their age group would have no whiney teenagers!" My long awaited epiphany lead me to one of the best reading years I have had basically my entire life. But, the only problem now is that when I do end up reading the odd YA book every now and then, I very rarely like it.
Steelheart is YA. Does that affect my rating? To some extent, yes, it does. But, this is Brandon Sanderson, so it doesn't affect my rating terribly. His awesome "magic" system was there. His explosive ending was definitely there. His world was toned down for a different age range, and his characters weren't as strong as I feel they could have been, but all things considered it was a good book.
The cursing was strange though. I didn't understand why characters would curse by saying "Calamity!" Like yes I get that Calamity was the big thing in the sky that was giving people magic powers, but how long had it been there? Barely a decade. In Mistborn, they use the Lord Ruler's name as a curse, and in Stormlight they say "Stormfather" but those powerful beings were around for literal centuries to warrant their names usage in such a way (like people didn't just turn up saying "oh my God" a couple of years after Jesus left). That's just me being picky that's all.
And last bad thing: Megan and David. That was weird. A reminder why I (basically) quit YA in the first place.
One thing I did enjoy about Steelheart is that Brandon Sanderson didn't shy away from making his bad guys real bad guys. All too often in YA (every age range really) we see villains who say they are undefeatable and super powerful and then they are tapped once by our protagonist and conveniently fall and die. The Epics in Steelheart were brutal people. They slaughtered children in mother's arms just for the fun of it. One guy bashed someone's skull in with the palm of his hand. These aren't nice guys! And that's the way it should be. It wouldn't make sense if they were any other way.
The stakes were also maintained throughout the book because of this. Some of those Epics were mighty powerful, and seemed impossible to beat. Knowing Brandon Sanderson as an author, I knew none of the characters were really safe, but even if I wasn't well read in his books, I wouldn't be so sure all the main characters would make it through Steelheart.
And the ending of course was incredible (better than the ending of this review which is going to be horribly haphazard), as all Sanderson endings are. We got our epic fight (see what I did there? Epic fight), we got our plot twist, (which I actually did see coming for once, but that didn't affect my enjoyment at all) and it finished by creating twice as many questions as it answered. I also read the novella that goes between books one and two from this series, Mitosis, and although it isn't necessary in order to continue on with the series, it was a fine addition to the world Brandon Sanderson had already established. Rest assured, I will be reading book two.
So in terms of Brandon Sanderson's YA books, I prefer Skyward than Steelheart, but I still love the Cosmere books way more.
So. I come to the predicament once again. Do I compare Brandon Sanderson's non-Cosmere books to his ones set in the Cosmere? Do I knock them down because they are not part of the epic fantasy universe I have come to love? To I give them slack because they are YA and therefore have to appeal to a younger audience?
In general, I prefer adult fiction to YA. When I first realized this, it was an immensely overdue realization, as my main complaint with the majority of YA books I had been reading for the past two or three years was that they were full of whiney teenagers and saturated in every kind of romance trope on the face of this earth. Then, one day, it occurred to me, "Hey, since adults usually read about people their own age, then books written for their age group would have no whiney teenagers!" My long awaited epiphany lead me to one of the best reading years I have had basically my entire life. But, the only problem now is that when I do end up reading the odd YA book every now and then, I very rarely like it.
Steelheart is YA. Does that affect my rating? To some extent, yes, it does. But, this is Brandon Sanderson, so it doesn't affect my rating terribly. His awesome "magic" system was there. His explosive ending was definitely there. His world was toned down for a different age range, and his characters weren't as strong as I feel they could have been, but all things considered it was a good book.
The cursing was strange though. I didn't understand why characters would curse by saying "Calamity!" Like yes I get that Calamity was the big thing in the sky that was giving people magic powers, but how long had it been there? Barely a decade. In Mistborn, they use the Lord Ruler's name as a curse, and in Stormlight they say "Stormfather" but those powerful beings were around for literal centuries to warrant their names usage in such a way (like people didn't just turn up saying "oh my God" a couple of years after Jesus left). That's just me being picky that's all.
And last bad thing: Megan and David. That was weird. A reminder why I (basically) quit YA in the first place.
One thing I did enjoy about Steelheart is that Brandon Sanderson didn't shy away from making his bad guys real bad guys. All too often in YA (every age range really) we see villains who say they are undefeatable and super powerful and then they are tapped once by our protagonist and conveniently fall and die. The Epics in Steelheart were brutal people. They slaughtered children in mother's arms just for the fun of it. One guy bashed someone's skull in with the palm of his hand. These aren't nice guys! And that's the way it should be. It wouldn't make sense if they were any other way.
The stakes were also maintained throughout the book because of this. Some of those Epics were mighty powerful, and seemed impossible to beat. Knowing Brandon Sanderson as an author, I knew none of the characters were really safe, but even if I wasn't well read in his books, I wouldn't be so sure all the main characters would make it through Steelheart.
And the ending of course was incredible (better than the ending of this review which is going to be horribly haphazard), as all Sanderson endings are. We got our epic fight (see what I did there? Epic fight), we got our plot twist, (which I actually did see coming for once, but that didn't affect my enjoyment at all) and it finished by creating twice as many questions as it answered. I also read the novella that goes between books one and two from this series, Mitosis, and although it isn't necessary in order to continue on with the series, it was a fine addition to the world Brandon Sanderson had already established. Rest assured, I will be reading book two.
So in terms of Brandon Sanderson's YA books, I prefer Skyward than Steelheart, but I still love the Cosmere books way more.