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A review by obr
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
I remember reading this one back in the day, around the time Firefight was about to hit the shelves. I absolutely adored it for being a subversion of the superhero tropes. Re-reading it now, I found it harder to connect with. Perhaps because nowadays that idea's probably lost some of its shine for being done to death in other mainstream media. Perhaps because I'm older, crankier and less tolerant of irritating "quirky" YA heroes and ~boy~ book cliches. Don't get me wrong, Sanderson is a chuffing genius and I really liked the book for what it was and still is: a rip-roaring YA dystopian story that's never quite sure how seriously it should take itself and that is essentially a Hollywood blockbuster aimed at young males in particular in readable form.
Take David, our protagonist. He's a bit [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)|Ernest Cline|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500930947l/9969571._SY75_.jpg|14863741]; that geeky kid with poor social skills and a habit of filling airspace with weird comments to show us his personality. Instead of overt pop culture references (though there are a few ever-so-slightly more subtle ones) we get his twin obsessions: guns and bizarre metaphors. You'll either love that quirky tone of voice, or be nettled by it. I kinda wished it was a little more toned down at times, but hey, every YA hero needs something to make them stand out and at least he's not a raging ball of sarcasm. (One tiny little thing though? All those "metaphors" that he makes up and/or praises from others? They mostly aren't metaphors, they're similes and no one calls him out on it. My inner English teacher is headdesking.) His awkwardness does make him more relatable, even if his super luck skills combined with fighting skills and knowledge gathering abilities do stray close to that cliche of the hero being good at everything except that one thing... Well, maybe two. He's not great with words, and he sure isn't great with girls.
I do feel a little saddened at the female representation here. It's why I say this is a "boy" book, although I don't want that to mean anything terrible. There's no overt sexual themes and the ladies aren't reduced to mere body parts or trophies with no personalities. They're just... Less important than the male characters. The only one of real note, Megan, is the kick-ass love interest whose only real defining features are that she can kick ass and make David act stupid because he fancies her. To be fair there is more going on with her, but it never feels quite as explored in a character sense (ie without being related to David's feelings for her) than for the character of, say, Prof.
As expected of all Sanderson's books, the action/adventure, world building and atmosphere is just what's needed. My only reservation comes when right in the first chapter we have a baby murdered it its mothers arms in a very distressing way. For a book that goes on to be standard Hollywood levels of YA, it's a jarringly dark thing to just toss out there there doesn't match the rest of the series at all.
These days I'm a more critical reader, so of course I'm going to nitpick. I still really like the twists and turns, as formulaic as they now seem. David may grate at times, but he's got the YA tone of voice to push the story along. I'll raise an eyebrow at female representation, but am glad that it's more your slow-burn awkward boy meets kick-ass girl that doesn't turn the girl into a damsel or the boy into a hormone-fest.
The most important thing is it's weirdly fun in a YA way. It might not be the freshest any more, but it's still a solid first in series that totally would make an *ahem* epic movie.
Take David, our protagonist. He's a bit [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)|Ernest Cline|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500930947l/9969571._SY75_.jpg|14863741]; that geeky kid with poor social skills and a habit of filling airspace with weird comments to show us his personality. Instead of overt pop culture references (though there are a few ever-so-slightly more subtle ones) we get his twin obsessions: guns and bizarre metaphors. You'll either love that quirky tone of voice, or be nettled by it. I kinda wished it was a little more toned down at times, but hey, every YA hero needs something to make them stand out and at least he's not a raging ball of sarcasm. (One tiny little thing though? All those "metaphors" that he makes up and/or praises from others? They mostly aren't metaphors, they're similes and no one calls him out on it. My inner English teacher is headdesking.) His awkwardness does make him more relatable, even if his super luck skills combined with fighting skills and knowledge gathering abilities do stray close to that cliche of the hero being good at everything except that one thing... Well, maybe two. He's not great with words, and he sure isn't great with girls.
I do feel a little saddened at the female representation here. It's why I say this is a "boy" book, although I don't want that to mean anything terrible. There's no overt sexual themes and the ladies aren't reduced to mere body parts or trophies with no personalities. They're just... Less important than the male characters. The only one of real note, Megan, is the kick-ass love interest whose only real defining features are that she can kick ass and make David act stupid because he fancies her. To be fair there is more going on with her, but it never feels quite as explored in a character sense (ie without being related to David's feelings for her) than for the character of, say, Prof.
As expected of all Sanderson's books, the action/adventure, world building and atmosphere is just what's needed. My only reservation comes when right in the first chapter we have a baby murdered it its mothers arms in a very distressing way. For a book that goes on to be standard Hollywood levels of YA, it's a jarringly dark thing to just toss out there there doesn't match the rest of the series at all.
These days I'm a more critical reader, so of course I'm going to nitpick. I still really like the twists and turns, as formulaic as they now seem. David may grate at times, but he's got the YA tone of voice to push the story along. I'll raise an eyebrow at female representation, but am glad that it's more your slow-burn awkward boy meets kick-ass girl that doesn't turn the girl into a damsel or the boy into a hormone-fest.
The most important thing is it's weirdly fun in a YA way. It might not be the freshest any more, but it's still a solid first in series that totally would make an *ahem* epic movie.