Starting this week's Saturday Pages I have a review of one of those books that I really wanted to read last year but kept postponing for two reasons: hype and then my physical copy was stolen by my SIL, so I couldn't read it till I returned to India in February for my vacation!
It's also part of two of my challenges, the 2014 TBR Pile challenge and the Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!!
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had heard many great reviews for this book, many of them from bloggers that I trust and with a taste that helps me figure out if I'd like a book or not, but it was after Octavia from Read Sleep Repeat told me I just HAD to read it that I finally got to it during my vacation time!
I was quite intrigued by the premise of this book since having people with superpowers that are evil instead of the super heroes we are more used to.
As soon as the book started, I was hooked! We read about the beginnings of the reign of Steelheart in Chicago and the start of David's hate and revenge plot against him. Everything started when Calamity appeared in the sky, and some people started getting super powers and began abusing them left, right and center. They are known as the Epics.
David witnessed the death of his father at the hands of Steelheart, but he also witnessed his only weakness, so he spent all his time growing up amassing information about the Epics and about Steelheart and his system in Chicago. He's also being following the Reckoners, a group of humans that are fighting and taking down Epics, and that seem to very well be humanity's last fighting chance.
He manages his dream of joining the Reckoners and he starts learning how they work but also makes his own contributions to the team, with all his information and research. He somehow manages to make his personal vendetta the next mission for the Reckoners, even if some of the team members are not totally convinced. Everything will change if they can pull this off, cause taking out one of the most powerful Epics out there would be the lynchpin for a change on the status quo.
The world building is fantastic, even if we have many questions unanswered, but we know what the characters know, what it's know in this fractured world and that's something that makes it feel more real and genuine. I'm hoping we'll be getting a broader look at the bigger picture on the next books though.
David is a great character, even if he's to be too driven by revenge and doesn't even seem to realize he's too young to define his life just by one goal. He does a lot of growing up in this book, even if half the time he just makes it up as it goes. Which is both a blessing and a curse cause he can bluff his way out of almost any situation but also can compromise a mission by improvising too much.
The rest of the characters are also very well crafted and have much more to them that what we see in the surface, so much that we get a few big shocks and twists coming with some of them. And though I had suspected some, I only did maybe a page or two before it was revealed.
By the time we reach the end of the book we have a lot of our assumptions pretty shaken and we've gone through one hell of a ride. We are left just begging for me, even if we're not exactly left with a cliffhanger.
A brilliant read, full of action and food for thought. 4 to 4.5 stars!
View all my reviews
It's also part of two of my challenges, the 2014 TBR Pile challenge and the Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!!
Steelheart by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had heard many great reviews for this book, many of them from bloggers that I trust and with a taste that helps me figure out if I'd like a book or not, but it was after Octavia from Read Sleep Repeat told me I just HAD to read it that I finally got to it during my vacation time!
I was quite intrigued by the premise of this book since having people with superpowers that are evil instead of the super heroes we are more used to.
As soon as the book started, I was hooked! We read about the beginnings of the reign of Steelheart in Chicago and the start of David's hate and revenge plot against him. Everything started when Calamity appeared in the sky, and some people started getting super powers and began abusing them left, right and center. They are known as the Epics.
David witnessed the death of his father at the hands of Steelheart, but he also witnessed his only weakness, so he spent all his time growing up amassing information about the Epics and about Steelheart and his system in Chicago. He's also being following the Reckoners, a group of humans that are fighting and taking down Epics, and that seem to very well be humanity's last fighting chance.
He manages his dream of joining the Reckoners and he starts learning how they work but also makes his own contributions to the team, with all his information and research. He somehow manages to make his personal vendetta the next mission for the Reckoners, even if some of the team members are not totally convinced. Everything will change if they can pull this off, cause taking out one of the most powerful Epics out there would be the lynchpin for a change on the status quo.
The world building is fantastic, even if we have many questions unanswered, but we know what the characters know, what it's know in this fractured world and that's something that makes it feel more real and genuine. I'm hoping we'll be getting a broader look at the bigger picture on the next books though.
David is a great character, even if he's to be too driven by revenge and doesn't even seem to realize he's too young to define his life just by one goal. He does a lot of growing up in this book, even if half the time he just makes it up as it goes. Which is both a blessing and a curse cause he can bluff his way out of almost any situation but also can compromise a mission by improvising too much.
The rest of the characters are also very well crafted and have much more to them that what we see in the surface, so much that we get a few big shocks and twists coming with some of them. And though I had suspected some, I only did maybe a page or two before it was revealed.
By the time we reach the end of the book we have a lot of our assumptions pretty shaken and we've gone through one hell of a ride. We are left just begging for me, even if we're not exactly left with a cliffhanger.
A brilliant read, full of action and food for thought. 4 to 4.5 stars!
View all my reviews
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! :D:D:D:D:D
ReplyDeleteAt the start of this year, I wrote a list of a few books that I should allow myself to buy when a rainy reading day and this was one of them. i saw the synopsis and it looked epic (see what I did there ;D)
I am really glad you enjoyed this one. The one thing I worry about with fantasies is that the is off. I can be so picky!
again, I am glad you liked this. So gonna get it soon! :)
Also , the covers are stunning! :)
Thanks for sharing, Pili! :) xxxx
Alex @ The Shelf Diaries
You really need to check this one, Alex!!
DeleteI've read so many exciting reviews about this one, my coblogger also really recommends it so I think I have to hurry up and get on the bandwagon. I love that you mentioned the character improvising, I don't think I've read much of that. Most of the time, the characters are born leaders who know exactly what they are supposed to do and we don't see much of the internal strife. Great review.
ReplyDelete-Mari
Thank you, Mari! All characters have flaws here, and even though you feel like rooting for them, there are no perfect heroes in this one at all!
DeleteEPP!!! I'm so happy you enjoyed it!! I loved how there wasn't "technically" a cliffhanger but we were still left yelling "but what happens next?!" at the top of our lungs!
ReplyDeleteFantabulous review my dear and oh how I have missed dropping by here!
Octavia!! *waves and hugs* Yeah, I just cannot wait for the next book, it was such an awesome ending!!
Delete