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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
This was pretty fun, and a good start to what should be a very entertaining series. The various powers and mystery behind the Epics were well fleshed out and the dark, dystopian world of their ruling over America. The world building didn't feel quite up to snuff of his adult fiction, but it was still very detailed and fascinating as I'd expect from Sanderson. I did find this has a lot of similar tones to Mistborn--a group of underdogs going up against an all-powerful being that rules a city shrouded in darkness with a tyrannical fist.
Plenty of interesting characters in here, especially Prof and Megan. All of the supporting cast was pretty good about having a variety of personalities and history, but those two rang a bit truer as people with a more troubled history. David was actually the weakest character of the bunch--he was a bit too much of a perfect hero. Granted, he had spent 10 years researching Epics and how to kill them, but I'd like to have seen him with more faults other than being headstrong and bossy.
I'll be looking forward to more, especially with some of the interesting twists towards the end.
Plenty of interesting characters in here, especially Prof and Megan. All of the supporting cast was pretty good about having a variety of personalities and history, but those two rang a bit truer as people with a more troubled history. David was actually the weakest character of the bunch--he was a bit too much of a perfect hero. Granted, he had spent 10 years researching Epics and how to kill them, but I'd like to have seen him with more faults other than being headstrong and bossy.
I'll be looking forward to more, especially with some of the interesting twists towards the end.
This was a fun superhero story— except there really aren’t any heroes, since everyone with powers (“Epics”) is invariably evil. We follow the story of David who is trying to take revenge on the Epic who killed his father. Just an engaging adventure story.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Re-read March 2017
The final book in the series has come out so I decided to re-read this book and then finish the series. I love/hate the power Sanderson has to inject horror and comical whimsy into his stories. I laughed and was disgusted, what to do :) I enjoy the characters and the plot is very compelling and I'm excited to finish the series.
I'm a bit torn. I loved the concept, those with super powers are the bad guys and the regular guys are the ones who want to stop them. This is crazy, because when I was 14 I wanted to write a story with that plot but have not the skill, imagination, or ability to carry it out. This is like... my idea realized. It's kind of awesome. But to be super honest, in the prologue there was one part where an infant is killed and it totally tainted this book for me. It was so sad and disturbing. It's always been my problem with his books, the over the top, graphic violence, and again it just took the joy out of it. But then there was more humor in this offering, which lightened things a bit. I really liked David, how much he blushed, how nerdy and sweet he was. That was good.
But unlike most of his other books, I saw the ending of this one a long way off. Except for Steelheart's weakness, I had guessed the other surprises. Which is surprising. I'm usually surprised by him. Now I feel like a birthday cake in a freezer, or something (it's a joke, like, you'll get it if you read the book). Anyway, this was a fun read, and I recommend it, but I just hope the sequel, Firefight, won't have any descriptions like the ones in the beginning of this book. There's so much awful stuff in the news about kids in particular, I'm just not entertained by it.
The final book in the series has come out so I decided to re-read this book and then finish the series. I love/hate the power Sanderson has to inject horror and comical whimsy into his stories. I laughed and was disgusted, what to do :) I enjoy the characters and the plot is very compelling and I'm excited to finish the series.
I'm a bit torn. I loved the concept, those with super powers are the bad guys and the regular guys are the ones who want to stop them. This is crazy, because when I was 14 I wanted to write a story with that plot but have not the skill, imagination, or ability to carry it out. This is like... my idea realized. It's kind of awesome. But to be super honest, in the prologue there was one part where an infant is killed and it totally tainted this book for me. It was so sad and disturbing. It's always been my problem with his books, the over the top, graphic violence, and again it just took the joy out of it. But then there was more humor in this offering, which lightened things a bit. I really liked David, how much he blushed, how nerdy and sweet he was. That was good.
But unlike most of his other books, I saw the ending of this one a long way off. Except for Steelheart's weakness, I had guessed the other surprises. Which is surprising. I'm usually surprised by him. Now I feel like a birthday cake in a freezer, or something (it's a joke, like, you'll get it if you read the book). Anyway, this was a fun read, and I recommend it, but I just hope the sequel, Firefight, won't have any descriptions like the ones in the beginning of this book. There's so much awful stuff in the news about kids in particular, I'm just not entertained by it.
adventurous
challenging
funny
fast-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
An exciting, fast-paced, and fascinating vision of superheroes built on a nightmarish set-up: what if everyone with powers became evil? The result is a compelling read that blends elements of comic books, action movies, revenge dramas, and dystopian literature into a story I didn't want to put down.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Sanderson does the lazy, offensive, and othering white-as-default writing style that ONLY describes a character's skin tone if they are non-white. Examples - a character's "Asian features" (what does that even mean?) or a character's "dark skin and somewhat French accent". Beyond the offensive writing, this book is also needlessly and graphically violent for the intended age group. One battle scene describes a character getting his head smashed until his eyes are squeezed out and there are many depictions of execution style shootings. Also, there's essentially 1 1/2 women in this book and they're only seen through a relatively misogynistic and leering male gaze. I know many kids that love this but I'm too critical to like anything that's happening here.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes