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toggle_fow 's review for:
Steelheart
by Brandon Sanderson
This was very... alright.
You could still tell it was Sanderson from the:
Some things were interesting. The twist on the usual superhero narrative where using your superpower inherently corrupts you is a unique one. I have to admit that I would have a really rough time choosing to not use my superpower in a world like this. Like? Not gonna lie, I'm sure I would tell myself "look, it's just once, what could it hurt?" one too many times and end up completely evil before I knew it.
Everything else was aggressively mediocre. The characters especially.
David, as a main character, was okay but definitely on the annoying side. His comic relief especially was grating, and so was that wacko Scottish-not-Scottish guy. I wish he would just stop talking. Nobody else but the Professor really even stood out, and even he seems sort of bland. (HOW many times can you call random youths "son" before they put you in jail just for being irritating??) The romance was underbaked, which was good, but unfortunately I'm sure there's more to come in further books.
I am interested in the next installment in the series MOSTLY to find out about plot details. What is the Calamity? What caused it? Was there really mass experimentation on Epics, and what did it reveal? Why is that one energy guy still totally mild-mannered after using his powers all day every day for years? Outside of that, this book falls squarely in the forgettable middle of the YA bell curve.
You could still tell it was Sanderson from the:
• Worldbuilding-as-plot. The process of bit-by-bit discovering what created the Epics and what makes them tick is what drives the story forward, athough to a much lesser extent than his adult fiction. There's a much more generous amount of sheer action here.
• Really really awkward fake swears.
Some things were interesting. The twist on the usual superhero narrative where using your superpower inherently corrupts you is a unique one. I have to admit that I would have a really rough time choosing to not use my superpower in a world like this. Like? Not gonna lie, I'm sure I would tell myself "look, it's just once, what could it hurt?" one too many times and end up completely evil before I knew it.
Everything else was aggressively mediocre. The characters especially.
David, as a main character, was okay but definitely on the annoying side. His comic relief especially was grating, and so was that wacko Scottish-not-Scottish guy. I wish he would just stop talking. Nobody else but the Professor really even stood out, and even he seems sort of bland. (HOW many times can you call random youths "son" before they put you in jail just for being irritating??) The romance was underbaked, which was good, but unfortunately I'm sure there's more to come in further books.
I am interested in the next installment in the series MOSTLY to find out about plot details. What is the Calamity? What caused it? Was there really mass experimentation on Epics, and what did it reveal? Why is that one energy guy still totally mild-mannered after using his powers all day every day for years? Outside of that, this book falls squarely in the forgettable middle of the YA bell curve.