---
product_id: 6224167
title: "Steelheart: The Reckoners, Book 1"
brand: "brandon sanderson"
price: "€ 12.33"
currency: EUR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.ie/products/6224167-steelheart-the-reckoners-book-1
store_origin: IE
region: Ireland
---

# Steelheart: The Reckoners, Book 1

**Brand:** brandon sanderson
**Price:** € 12.33
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

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- **What is this?** Steelheart: The Reckoners, Book 1 by brandon sanderson
- **How much does it cost?** € 12.33 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Great New Series Despite Some Deja Vu
  

*by H***0 on Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2013*

Steelheart, the first in a new series by Brandon Sanderson, throws a wrench into the tried-and-true superhero formula. We all know the usual clichés, an ordinary man or woman is gifted with special powers and uses them to fight crime and make society a better place, only to be confronted later down the road by a supervillain or someone who simply doesn’t possess their same sense of moral values. Where Steelheart differs from this formula is by presenting a much darker scenario; what if the heroes never rise to power but only the villains do, who would stop them? It’s akin to the graphic novel Wanted or the more recent DC comic’s event crossover Forever Evil, which depicts an entire world completely at the mercy of supervillains without a single hero in sight. The premise isn’t entirely original, in more ways than one which I will address later. Yet like most great ideas, they come through drawing aspirations from other works of fictions. While Steelheart is no exception, Sanderson manages to convey a truly entertaining tale that feels all his own while working to his many strengths as a writer.One of the most immediate aspects of Steelheart that will draw the reader into its mythology is the striking manner in which Sanderson portrays the book’s hellish world. The United States is no more; the dawning of the superpowered entities known as Epics has fractured the nation into various individual city-states that are all at the mercy of the Epic warlords, who are each vying for power over their brethren and their territory. The book itself takes place in Chicago, now redubbed Newcago due to the drastic changes it has endured under the control of Steelheart, the most powerful Epic in North America. Nearly every structure and surface has been converted into pure metal, and the entire city is cloaked in eternal night due to Nightwielder, another Epic under the service of Steelheart. Add the claustrophobia of the less fortunate Newcago dwellers living in the filthy underground tunnels and you have a chilling atmosphere that provides the book with a distinct sense of place that significantly adds to the book’s overall gravitas. It’s an astonishingly well-realized low-fantasy setting that isn’t satisfied with belonging to one genre. The technology within Sanderson’s world is so fantastical that it feels less like something from a science-fiction novel and resonates more like an amalgam of the two genres. It’s a compelling world that the reader will want to explore despite it being completely inhospitable and uninviting. The only downside to the world-building is that the dystopia aspects don’t come full-circle, or at least to the extent that I feel Sanderson wanted them to. We’re provided details about how horrific life is living under the rule of the Epics and their mandatory government protocols for handpicking humanity’s brightest to further expand their government and military police force, yet it doesn’t go far enough in conveying these themes, nor does it elaborate upon the actual process itself. A character early in the book with relations to the protagonist is introduced and then immediately dropped for the remainder of the story. His perspective would have been quintessential in further elaborating the harshness of Steelheart’s twisted dystopian setting, yet in the end it feels underutilized. It’s a blemish in an otherwise superb example of fictional world-building.Sanderson has written incredible protagonists in the past and Steelheart is no exception. The character David is comprised of a strong dichotomy that gives the book its heart in a couple of different ways. On one hand, you have a boy demanding the blood of Steelheart, which gives this revenge story a great deal of believability due to the amount of emotion conveyed and the book’s tragic prologue. Than on the other hand, he’s a lovably dorky kid who’s constantly making bad puns and trying to attract beautiful girls while failing miserably. This isn’t a detriment, rather it helps instill a sense of fun into the prose; and more importantly, a sense of humanity in the face of adversaries who seemingly have none or have abandoned theirs entirely. He’s a great character that manages to balance the lighter comic relief moments with the book’s darker undertones of revenge and civil unrest. Readers will find it easy to cheer for him from beginning to end.The supporting cast is solid but nothing spectacular. One character in particular felt more like a caricature for certain European stereotypes. However, like Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy, the strength of his characters through the manner in which they interact within the larger group rather than through their individual character traits. The banter between the characters is excellent and after a while the reader begins to feel like one of the merry band. Special notice must be given to the relationship between David and Megan. One might initially write the relationship between these two as a generic romance, yet I found that their love/hate relationship developed in a believable manner as the book progressed, quickly becoming one of the book’s highlights for me.Sanderson truly has a talent for illustrating some of the most elaborate and cinematic action scenes ever put into a fantasy novel or any genre. Like his Mistborn trilogy, a large reason why his action scenes are so impressive is due to the amount of depth he provides for how magic powers function in his world and their role within the larger mythology. Everything has a place in Sanderson’s work and it’s always galvanizing to see how each individual power or ability fits into the larger picture.By now you’ve noticed that I’ve compared Steelheart to Sanderson’s previous Mistborn trilogy quite an awful lot, there’s a reason for that. As much as I love Steelheart and believe it to be an excellent addition to Sanderson’s repertoire, it does share quite a few substantial similarities to his Mistborn trilogy to the point that I feel it needs to mentioned. Both series have humanity enslaved by a higher race with supernatural abilities all under the control of a central leader who fancies himself a god. Anyone who’s read Mistborn will understand what I’m getting at. Seeing as how Sanderson thought of the premise for Steelheart during a long car ride, it’s easy to imagine how some of his previous works may have influenced his newer ideas. There’s nothing wrong with this, yet it does provide a bit of deja vu for fans of his work since the overall story outline is quite familiar.Steelheart is an excellent book that combines various different genres with action, believable drama and excellent characterization into one incredible narrative. The book does suffer from possessing a strong similarity to Sanderson’s past work, yet it doesn’t prevent its own unique merits from shining though. Any fan of fantasy, science-fiction or comics should pick this up, there’s a lot to like.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    New Adult Post-Apocalyptic world - without the worldbuilding to sustain a city
  

*by E***N on Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2015*

Steelheart is superpower prose story by Mr. Sanderson that caught the imagination of readers and has gone on to become a trilogy "The Reckoners", with the final part due out in early 2016. The world is gritty, heartbreaking, and downtrodden, making Gotham City of Batman fame look positively upbeat. David Charleston grew up in this world, so all this is normal - what isn't normal is his thirst for vengeance or the fact he had seen Steelheart bleed.The book could fall into the Young Adult/New Adult category as the protagonist is eighteen and has a similar nihilist view of the world as the popular post-apocalyptic worlds of Hunger Games and Divergent, but with a male protagonist.Steelheart also has a similar level of worldbuilding. Sure, it stands up to the first level. The city has been made into steel, so ground water doesn't go away except through the amazing sewer system. A new society of elite have been born. No one in the area has seen bananas in years. Etc. But it stops there. Like the four corner box of comics, this story doesn't go beyond what the 18-year old understands or can see and there are enough holes in this world to make my teeth ache.If Steelheart was marketed as a post-apocalyptic New Adult series, I would give this four stars under the Good Reads rating / five stars under the Amazon rating because I expect to twitch at those worlds just a bit. But I know Mr. Sanderson is capable of better and this is marketed as superpower (not superhero because there is not a superpowered hero to be seen) prose, I am holding the manuscript to a higher standard.Overall Steelheart is a constant ride through a gritty, dark landscape and has some pretty interesting problem-solving happening between the constant gunfights and danger.For those that only wanted a basic review you can stop reading now. For those wondering what made my teeth ache for this story - which should not affect your enjoyment of the story at all - you can read further.<spoiler>Okay, just us nerds now? Two things kill me about the worldbuilding. One - where is the food coming from and Two - have you ever lived in perpetual night?I'll start with number two. I have lived in perpetual twilight before as part of a University of Penn study on sleep deprivation. And I can tell you those of us on the test didn't want to cheat with catching up on sleep, or over eating, or avoiding the rectal thermometer measuring our core temperatures. What killed us was no sunlight for two weeks. Not a single ray of light ... except for one little corner of the window they hadn't covered quite completely. Less than 1/2 an inch square. We didn't tell our keepers about it. We noticed it about the fourth day of no light. We were starved for sunlight by the time we left. All of us were beginning to suffer from depression from confinement and NO SUNLIGHT.There is no way, no matter how crazy the world is outside of the city was, people would flock to the city faster than people would be leaving it. Humans are just not built to live decade in and decade out with at least some UV lighting. Since UV lighting was a no-no in the city, people would leave in droves after a few weeks. Depression, suicide, and non-functional crazy would be constant among those remaining - especially if you toss in the constant presence of the Epic letting you know you are worth less than nothing. People in the northern reaches of the planet have enough problems with reduced sunlight for a few weeks. This was years.And then we have number one which hit me first and keeps throwing me out of the story. Where is the food coming from? Food to support cities the size of Newcago require a large infrastructure of growing and delivering the substance. People who spend a year dedicated to producing a crop need to know they can grow the crop and be reimbursed for the effort, or they will cut back and concentrate on growing enough for their family and developing a means to protect the food. Medieval serfs under feudalism paid protectors in food. But Epics are insanely random and in the turmoil following Calamity's appearance, food production would drop precipitously.So where is the food coming from? It is not like Newcago can grow it - remember perpetual night and UV lighting is not allowed. And if there is a place in the Fractured States to grow the food, how is it being transported reliably through the terrain of dozens of warlords? At least reliably enough to feed a city. The only way is if Steelheart regularly leaves the city for the surrounding countryside and controls dozens of smaller areas to feed into his throne. And he has about all he can do trying to keep a lid on the Epics directly under his thumb.At least in both Divergent and The Hunger Games, growing of food and transporting it were touched upon. Steelheart is a comic limited to the four panel view of Newcago and does not glimpse beyond except to mention other superpowers. Because of this I cannot conceive the greater world and do not see how it could function; and since I don't think the nearer world can function under the perpetual night and insanity that must run through the steel-encased city like rainfall, no part of this world truly works for me.So worldbuilding fail in my opinion. Mr. Sanderson took it one level, but not the next. And anyone who follows my reviews knows, I need a good world to play in. Mr. Sanderson does not provide it in Steelheart.</spoiler>

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Sanderson Does it Again
  

*by J***A on Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2023*

Great story. Really cool to see Sanderson take on a modern day "American" superhero.

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