Sunday, August 25, 2019

Off the Bookshelf: STEELHEART, by Brandon Sanderson

Audiobook.
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
Book 1 of The Reckoners

Who are the Reckoners?

Well, they're people who are out to destroy Epics -- the name for what are essentially mutants or superheros. But in this dark world created by Sanderson, they are nothing near heroic.

The Reckoners are the heroes -- kind of.

The narrator, David, is a little boy when his father is killed by Steelheart, a new Epic who has the ability to turn anything that isn't living tissue to steel. Every Epic has a weakness, and that day, totally by accident, David's father made Steelheart bleed. Ever since, David has been trying to figure out Steelheart's weakness, so he can get revenge for his father.

Then he meets the Reckoners, who have come to the perpetually nighttime city of New 'Cago (Chicago), which Steelheart has made his kingdom. David wants to work with the Reckoners, share all the research he has done, and persuade them that the plan he has created to destroy Steelheart can work.

Nearly 13 hours of listening time -- compelling, and will leave you aching for the ugly, fear-filled, grim world David and the Reckoners live in. By the time the end comes, the surprises can take your breath away. But Sanderson lives up to his reputation as a master storyteller and worldbuilder, because every surprise makes sense. I have a good backlog of books waiting in my Audible app, but I'm really tempted to buy the next book in the series just because I gotta know what happens next.

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