Steelheart

A guest review by Charles Anderson, in Mr. Greenbaum's English 9 class.

Sanderson, Brandon. Steelheart. Book 1 of the Reckoners series. 2013. 386p. ISBN 978-0-449-81839-8. Available both at FIC SAN on the library shelves and as an eBook from Overdrive.

            A red sun called Calamity burst into the sky out of the blue. When Calamity rose no one knew what to make of it. But after Calamity’s arrival, strange things began to happen to people all around the world. At random people were gaining extraordinary powers from the new star. Powers strong enough to topple world governments. They were called Epics. At first governments tried to adapt and keep these Epics under control. But they quickly realized that they couldn’t force Epics to follow the law when they didn’t even follow the laws of physics. All world governments fell and each of the most powerful Epics claimed their territories. Everyone without powers avoided the Epics, and if they came across one they would do absolutely anything they said. No one dared resist them or else they would be killed. That is until the protagonist named David Charleston came along.

David was 8 years old when Calamity rose. He was in a bank with his father working out their finances, when the Epics appeared. The first was Deathpoint who could incinerate anyone he pointed at. He began to incinerate everyone in the bank for the fun of it. David and his father hid behind a desk and hoped that they wouldn’t be seen. Then Steelheart appeared. Steelheart has unbreakable skin, super strength, he can fly, shoot blasts of energy from his hands, and turn everything to steel. Steelheart is the most powerful Epic in North America, and the bank that Deathpoint was destroying happened to be in Steelhearts territory of Chicago. David’s father, mistaking Steelheart as a good guy grabbed a pistol from a deceased guard and fired at Deathpoint in order to protect Steelheart. He missed and hit Steelheart right in the cheekbone. Somehow, the bullet ripped off a chunk of Steelheart’s cheek, even though a nuclear warhead can’t penetrate his skin. Steelheart, having been injured by this weak man, went into a rage and killed everyone within the bank. Even Deathpoint was dispatched in a single blow. The only one who escaped was David. When the rescue workers pulled him from the rubble he wasn’t brought to the hospital, he ran and hid in an alley. When he turned and looked back, Steelheart was at the bank and he sank the entire place into the earth, with all the rescue workers inside.

           When David was 18 he joined the last group of people who are left resisting the Epics, the Reckoners. Each epic has one weakness that will negate their powers when they are exposed to the weakness. The Reckoners exploit that singular weakness and then they will assassinate that Epic. When David joined the group he was able to convince them that they needed to target stronger Epics and that he had seen Steelheart bleed. From then on their new target became Steelheart. David is closer than he has ever been to getting his revenge against Steelheart but first he must face the unbearable odds facing him. He doesn't know what was special about his father that allowed him to injure Steelheart, nor is he equipped to take on Steelheart’s army of men and minor Epics. Will David be able to vanquish the most powerful Epic in North America and free the citizens of Chicago from their oppressive ruler?