With a lot of superhero films being released this year and the summer blockbusters coming out in cinemas, I thought now would be a good time to recommend a book all about people with superpowers, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson.
Steelheart is the first book in The Reckoners series and is set in a world similar to our
own, except in that world there was a cataclysmic event called, well… Calamity. This event caused some people to gain incredible superhuman powers. Every Marvel and DC fan’s dream, right? Except, the people that became superhuman, called Epics, went power crazy and basically took over the world. Now only a small group of humans, called the Reckoners, are determined to bring down the Epics and doing whatever it takes to stop them.
Its a really interesting premise, after all how would you defeat someone with powers like Superman or Professor X? It is very much an underdog fight, which I particularly love. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a Brandon Sanderson fan, simply because he takes a concept like superheros and poses the question, what if they didn’t use their powers for good?
Steelheart has a bit of a rebellion theme to it, very similar to Sanderson’s The Final Empire, as both involve a rag tag group of misfits trying to defeat a greater power; but I feel that Steelheart is a little more cinematic in its descriptions, making me thin kit could make a good film adaptation. Either way, there are three novels and a novella in The Reckoners series, which just improve as the series progress, but you will need to start with Steelheart to understand what is going on.
So if you love superheroes, over powered villains or a group of rebels facing almost insurmountable odds, then Steelheart maybe the book for you.
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