Book Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Steelheart
Reckoners #1
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genres: Science Fiction | Dystopian
Released: September 24th 2013 (originally)
Review Source: Random House

Pre-order the sequel—Firefight—today!

Brandon Sanderson, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Words of Radiance, coauthor of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, and creator of the internationally bestselling Mistborn Trilogy, presents Steelheart, the first book in the Reckoners series, an action-packed thrill ride that will leave readers breathless.
How far would you go for revenge if someone killed your father?
If someone destroyed your city?
If everything you ever loved was taken from you?
David Charleston will go to any lengths to stop Steelheart. But to exact revenge in Steelheart’s world, David will need the Reckoners—a shadowy group of rebels bent on maintaining justice.
And it turns out that the Reckoners might just need David too.
Look for book two in the Reckoners series, Firefight, available in 2015.

This was the first of Sanderson that I have ever read, and I really didn’t fall head over heels for the story. It isn’t a genre that I typically read, but the book as a whole didn’t even leave me wanting more until the very end.

The story is about how this group of people called Epics basically take over the world. They have powers, but are far from being the protagonists. David, the narrator, had his father killed by an Epic, Steelheart. He has intended on getting vengeance since then. That’s when he heard stories about a group of people called “Reckoners” who go around the country killing Epics, and has made it his life’s mission to join them. When he does finally get involved and joins their team, it’s not exactly smooth sailing from the beginning. He, as do the rest of the team, go through their struggles to accomplish an ultimate goal. there is a very subtle love interest throughout the story, but it’s obvious that is not the mission of the book. It is packed full of action and scheming and weaponry. There is a cliffhanger at the very end that actually left me wanting to go on and read the next book in this three-part series.

I just found myself losing interest and feeling like the story had dragged a bit. There were some really good parts and chapters of the book, though. When those did come along, I found it hard to even put it down. So, I have mixed emotions. It’s definitely not in my top five, but it was worth reading to venture out into a different genre. I will be reading book 2 (Firefight), to see how the rest of the story unfolds.