Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
This was a light, entertaining read but I never got that into the story. The writing was good, but the content was not engaging enough for me. There was too much action (it felt like I was watching an action movie of car chase after car chase), in my opinion, and not enough character development. This book just did not have enough depth to me. It felt like a book meant for 12-year-olds.
I like Brandon Sanderson's books, usually. He does an great job of world-building and inserts great characters into them. I did not like this book like I do most of his. The world-building was spot-on - superb, and the supporting characters were interesting. I did not like David. When he wasn't busy being perfect and amazing, he was being annoying - that mostly when he was pining after the girl. The pace of this book reminded me of those animated cartoon series on TV (Spiderman, et al.) - fast, gung-ho, and excited. I suppose that makes sense, given that this book was geared more towards the young adult market. This book was just not my cup of tea. Not gonna continue the series, unless Sanderson writes one about the rest of the Reckoners - excluding David.
I'm pretty convinced by now that Brandon Sanderson is the best author out there. For one thing, he writes really well. His books are interesting, and I haven't read a bad one yet (and I've read them all).
Sure, there are plenty of other authors out there who also write really well, but they take years to write those good books. Brandon Sanderson doesn't suffer from that problem. It's possible that somewhere along the way, he made a deal with the devil, and that's how he's able to write so often and so well.
As for reviewing this particular book, it's really good. The whole time I was reading, I was thinking I could totally picture this as an action-packed movie. So I wasn't too surprised to see, in the acknowledgements, that they were working towards making it into a film.
The pace never really slowed down, and although I thought sometimes the characters were a little too quirky, I didn't hate any of them. Except the bad guys, of course.
I would definitely recommend this book, and I think it would be a great one to get your teen or pre-teen boy reading, if they aren't already.
Sure, there are plenty of other authors out there who also write really well, but they take years to write those good books. Brandon Sanderson doesn't suffer from that problem. It's possible that somewhere along the way, he made a deal with the devil, and that's how he's able to write so often and so well.
As for reviewing this particular book, it's really good. The whole time I was reading, I was thinking I could totally picture this as an action-packed movie. So I wasn't too surprised to see, in the acknowledgements, that they were working towards making it into a film.
The pace never really slowed down, and although I thought sometimes the characters were a little too quirky, I didn't hate any of them. Except the bad guys, of course.
I would definitely recommend this book, and I think it would be a great one to get your teen or pre-teen boy reading, if they aren't already.
Rating 4.5 Stars
I really enjoyed this book. It was a different take on superpowers and how they can be used for evil and not good.
This book is about David who lives in future Chicago. The world is ran by people called Epics that have superpowers. David father was killed by the one that runs Newcago, SteelHeart. David has made it his mission to learn everything he can about the Epics and to eventually kill SteelHeart.
There is a group of rebels called the Reckoners that spend their time killing Epics. David wants to find them to help them with that mission. Maybe even convince them to help him kill SteelHeart.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a different take on superpowers and how they can be used for evil and not good.
This book is about David who lives in future Chicago. The world is ran by people called Epics that have superpowers. David father was killed by the one that runs Newcago, SteelHeart. David has made it his mission to learn everything he can about the Epics and to eventually kill SteelHeart.
There is a group of rebels called the Reckoners that spend their time killing Epics. David wants to find them to help them with that mission. Maybe even convince them to help him kill SteelHeart.
Not his best.. A bit cliché and predictable at times, but it's Sanderson!
3.5*
i maintain that brandon sanderson is not funny and also his main characters invariably suck and are incredibly fucking annoying, but... this plot. we're on a SUPERPOWER kick right now.
i maintain that brandon sanderson is not funny and also his main characters invariably suck and are incredibly fucking annoying, but... this plot. we're on a SUPERPOWER kick right now.
Solid book. I decided to give Brandon Sanderson another try to bridge the gap between my book slump from Crescent city three without wanting to get too deep into another fantasy series and it totally hit the mark. I started reading it before I went on a trip, and it was engaging enough, but I was not distracted by wanting to read on my vacation. Per typical Brandon Sanderson, there were some great twists and turns in the last fourth of the book. I’m excited to read the rest of the series and see if it holds up. I’d recommend if you like more modern fantasy. The world building is interesting, especially if you live in a major US city. Has more of a dystopian rather than high fantasy vibe.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very disappointing. Read the Mistborn Trilogy and loved the first book so much. This book has the same plot as The Final Empire with new characters and new powers, but it isn't as good. There's an invincible tyrant that our heroes must defeat. This is a fine plot base, and it's used in a lot of books that I love. But there are more similarities than just than that. The rebel group-protagonist dynamic is the same. I'm not saying that David and Vin are the same character. They're not. They just have the same function in the two stories. There are so many identical plot points and devices, it's ridiculous. (I won't list any specific examples here in the interest of keeping this free of spoilers.) It's almost as if Sanderson wrote this book to see if anyone would notice that he'd already written it. That's the only reason I can think of for his writing it. Or maybe he thought of a really cool world to write about, but he couldn't think of a new plot. Maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't already read Mistborn.
Wait, I have one more thing to whine about. The narrator David wasn't great with metaphors, and this became a running joke throughout the book. There were pages of David trying to perfect his shitty metaphors. I didn't think this was funny. I was so annoyed.
Woops, I just thought of another similarity between Steelheart and Mistborn. I was excited for Brandon Sanderson to become one of my favorite authors, but I honestly don't know if I'll ever even read another one of his books.
Wait, I have one more thing to whine about. The narrator David wasn't great with metaphors, and this became a running joke throughout the book. There were pages of David trying to perfect his shitty metaphors. I didn't think this was funny. I was so annoyed.
Woops, I just thought of another similarity between Steelheart and Mistborn. I was excited for Brandon Sanderson to become one of my favorite authors, but I honestly don't know if I'll ever even read another one of his books.