I don’t know what I expected from this book, but it wasn’t a dystopian urban sci-fi action-packed adventure story. In what was once the city of Chicago, supervillains called Epics have taken over, the government is no longer in control, and one Epic named Steelheart has killed David’s father. David vows vengeance on Steelheart and that’s basically where this book takes off.
I was a little nervous going into this book—in fact, I kept putting off starting it for months—because it doesn’t seem like my genre and I didn’t think I was going to like it. But Brandon Sanderson wrote it so obviously I had to read it. And I should have known not to doubt him.
I hate to be stereotypical, but this felt like such a “guy book.” Action-packed superhero story, full of guns and fight scenes and near-death escapes in an urban setting, most of the characters male except for the one BA hot female of the group. I think Steelheart would make an amazing movie. This is totally different from anything else Brandon Sanderson has written, and I much prefer his epic fantasies and cosmere stories, but this was still surprisingly good.
There is some pretty sweet technology and weaponry in this book. I have to give it up to Sanderson for coming up with it all because it’s quite unique. He always has great technology uses in his books, which I love.
David’s a pretty cool protagonist, but his metaphors are consistently so bad. SO bad. They don’t make sense most of the time, but that’s the point. Sanderson writes quite a bit of humor into this book and I appreciated it because it kept me entertained.
I have to admit that I didn’t really care for the book at first, but the story grew on me. I shouldn’t have doubted Sanderson; even in a style of book I don’t normally reach for, he still managed to make me enjoy the story and care about the characters.
Steelheart was an incredible and fun read. There was lots of action, great banter, and super sweet technology, which was my personal favorite part. While I do think this book is geared toward teenage boys, I also think it can be enjoyed by a wider audience as well, as is evidenced by my liking it. I really did not expect to love it as much as I did, but I can say with certainty now that this is a new favorite and that I’m so excited to continue on with the series because I was worried I’d have to push myself to read the other two installments, but now I know that I’ll enjoy them.
I gave it four instead of five stars because I struggled to get into the book and connect with the story or characters during the first third, but the action scenes throughout and that crazy ending more than made up for it because holy cow was that a ride.
It’s very interesting the revelation they make about Epics at the end. I can see threads of that idea throughout the story now that I know what I’m looking for. Sanderson is so good at foreshadowing his reveals and I love that I never see the clues until I know the ending and then go back and pick apart the story; he still gets me every time.
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