Steelheart
Ratings389
Average rating4.1
Really liked this book, and feel the series could be taken in many different directions to make it even better.
A different and exciting book, with an ending that I couldn't guess. I'm definitely interested in the next book of the series.
SpoilerI thought that the concept of the Epics was pretty interesting. The name “Newcago” was pretty funny. I kept guessing about Steelheart's weakness but I was surprised. I did think it would be something about David's father himself that did it, and perhaps David could do it too. It was that David's father didn't fear Steelheart, so it was something about the man, but not what I expected.
I was somewhat surprised that Prof turned out to be an epic. I was kind of expecting, near the end of the battle with Steelheart, for someone to say “Ha! He wasn't an epic at all. He was just a regular man.” So that was a little disappointing, but it made sense when it was explained that he gifted his power to keep himself from being corrupted by it. I liked the backstory that everyone thought he was a scientist that worked in some kind of high-end lab, but really he had just been a fifth grade science teacher. I do wonder, though, if he was the one that destroyed his school.
Comflux was interesting. Perhaps since the nature of his power is to give it away when he powers things, that keeps him from being corrupted?
I was very interested that Megan was Firefight, the epic illusionist. I guess she's the subject of the next book!
I liked the ending and I especially liked the potential of it, but overall I spent quite a lot of time being annoyed by this book.
There are two female characters in this. One is barely in it, and whenever the other one is there the main character just can't stop thinking about how hot she is. That's fine, it really is, but every damn time? Really? It made me dislike his character as well as her character because that was nearly all there was to her. Until the end of course, which kind of made me curious and I haven't decided if it was worth getting through all that yet or not.
I didn't really get attached to any of the other characters either though. Except Cody. I loved that guy.
But as I said, I liked how it ended and I liked the revelations there were, so I am pretty curious about the follow-ups, so I might as well check those out eventually.
Esse livro foi um looping (pra mim).
O primeiro (e os últimos) capítulo é algo surreal de tão bom! A apresentação do mundo é um pouco confusa e tem bastante informação sobre fatos que guiam os pensamentos lógicos das personagens - como nome de épicos, das eras, seus poderes, estudos... E assim por diante - que quase me fizeram pegar um papel e bolar um fluxograma.
O meio foi um pouco lento. Megan me irritava (bem como as atitudes suicida/assassina dela, bem explicados depois, é claro. porém, meio forçadão o David ver encantamento em tanta bipolaridade na menina) e David tentando se mostrar, e as muitas piadas forçadas e comparações ruins quase me fizeram pedir, “Por favor, chega. Vamos matar o cara ou não?”.
Mas seguimos firme e forte, pois como sempre, todos os personagens possuem uma identidade única e vida, como característica das personagens do Sanderson.
E é claro, me apeguei demais a eles (mesmo achando que poderia haver mais detalhes sobre o passado deles, o que com certeza será deixado para o restante da série).
Achei formidável o pensamento dos executores; e principalmente, que nem sempre o planejamento dá certo e temos que improvisar. E que cenas de ação! Dava Formigamento e torcia para que eles sobreviverem a cada página. (#aquelaQueSeApega)
E QUE FINAL MARAVILHOSO ! ! !
Acho que se eu não tivesse lido Mistborn antes, teria sido mais proveitoso esse universo. (Mistborn é masterpiece, convenhamos). Mas quero saber mais sobre como as coisas irão se desenvolver, nessa nova era.
(oia que coisa... demorei exatamente um mês. Não havia percebido)
waaaa!! qué onda ese final :O!!
[Actualización]
Me entretuvo mucho este libro :3. La historia transcurre en Chicago Nova, luego de que apareciera Calamity (que es como un cometa rojo) y empezaran a aparecer los Épicos. Los Épicos eran humanos corrientes que tras la aparición de Calamity comenzaron a manifestar poderes. Algo así como superhéroes, solo que en este caso serían supervillanos, porque los Épicos no se dedican a salvar a las personas corrientes, sino que intimidan, matan y someten a la gente, pelean entre ellos para alcanzar el poder y así gobernar a la población. Es por eso que nadie se atreve a enfrentarlos, excepto los Reckoners, un grupo de “rebeldes” (gente corriente) que se dedica a exterminar Épicos, porque, si bien se piensa que estos últimos son invencibles, la verdad es que cada Épico tiene un punto débil.
David es un chico de 18 años que quiere unirse a los Reckoners, ya que odia profundamente a los Épicos, sobre todo a “Steelheart”, porque vivió una experiencia terrible cuando tenía 8 años. David es un friki de los Épicos (algo así como Midoriya de BnH jeje), se ha dedicado a estudiarlos y conocer sus poderes y debilidades y planea una venganza en particular, ya que él es el único que ha visto sangrar a Steelheart...
Me gustó bastante la historia, definitivamente tiene mucha acción. Además, muy al estilo de Sanderson, tuvo un par de plot twist muy interesantes. Si bien no hay mucha profundización en los personajes, creo que es entendible en este primer libro, ya que la historia se centra más en la acción que en los personajes, pero sí me gustaría que en los próximos se desarrollaran un poco más (me gusta mucho Cody jiji). Algo un poco aparte... pero quería decir que fue inevitable imaginarme al Profesor como el Profesor de la Casa de Papel y me dio mucha rabiaaa jajaja porque sentí que no pegaba, pero de verdad que no podía sacármelo de la cabeza jaja
So we finally get a book from Brandon which rates below 4 in my scale. Three stars for the pace but definitely a big minus for the writing which has strangely no depth. It looks like a dumped down movie script completely catering to pre-teen fans. The magic system usually the core of his books is not really satisfactory and one is left with a very superficial explanation of each of the epics power's. All things considered may not be a series I will follow to its conclusion. let's hope his focus is firmly on the storm light archive and this was rush job.
I've been wanting to read this book for sometime but haven't gotten around to it which was a mistake. I read this in one day and it was a great, fun read.
3.5⭐
Bien entretenido, pero el personaje principal no me terminó de convencer jaja aunque el final es maravilloso, como todos los de Brandon jajaj caótico. Lo que de viene para la secuela me deja con hype en todo caso
Read a book you've been meaning to read
More of a 3.5 star book but I'll round it off to 4 because the premise was very interesting.
Aku blm pernah membaca karya Sanderson. Ketika mengecek buku ini ada 562 halaman. Jadi spt biasa hanya ada 2 kemungkinan 562 halaman penuh siksaan atau 562 yg bikin penasaran. Hasilnya 562 halaman yg seru & bikin penasaran. Pdhl awalnya skeptic ak bakal enjoy sm seri ini.
Perpaduan antara sci-fi, fantasy & dystopia. Plot twistnya...terbuka di bab2 akhir. Dan ada juga twist yg lebih mengejutkan di bab plg akhir. Gk akan ak ungkapkan disini, spoiler men... Intinya seri ini layak koleksi & penuh aksi. Romancenya ada tp bkn spt romance YA fantasi biasa, krn romance di buku ini menyangkut perasaan David kepada orang2 yg dia sayangi (ayahnya) & tim reckoners.
Yep, I loved this book.
I remember picking it up in Barnes & Noble, thinking about how good the rating was for it and all of the positive reviews. I was a bit wary after finishing Alice in Zombieland (let's not talk about that...), that Steelheart wasn't going to live up to my expectations.
It did. Heck, it outlived them if that's a thing.
In the opening scene of the book, I thought, “Woah! Well, that's a heck of an opening scene!” The opening scene of Steelheart was filled with action, and I was instantly hooked. Yes, the book did slow down for some time, but overall it had a quick pace that was exhilarating and made the book difficult to put down.
All in all, the characters were wonderful. I adored David, even in his rough moments, in a way that I haven't adored a main character in quite some time. Even with his terrible “metaphors”. Prof, Megan, Cody, Abraham, and even Edmund Sense were also very quirky and memorable characters. And they interacted very well with on another.
I found the romance both enjoyable and amusing. The thing is, David basically falls instantly in love with Megan. No, it's not insta-love. After all, Megan is oblivious to, or ignores it. Either way, David is basically drooling over Megan for the majority of the book without her showing any signs of even noticing his mega-crush on her.
Steelheart is an awesome book, and a thrilling read for my action-seeking friends out there! wink wink
Steelheart is a novel that should be better than it is. From my perspective, I thought that this book should have been amazing, as it had interesting powers, a main character who I liked, and a gritty world for our characters to inhabit. Sadly, the characters were all flat, the villain is very generic, and the story is all too predictable at points. All of these facts are true...and yet I still really liked this book.
Perhaps why I liked this book is because the writing is sharp and works well. For a thriller, there has to be not only moments of true suspense and action, but also moments where the pacing slows down in order to get us time to breathe and look at the characters, situation, and environment. This novel has a level of writing that makes all of this feel effortless and important. Not a scene is wasted and it all works toward the final climax that is riveting and works well given the rules of the world, for the most part...but more on that later.
Another interesting fact about this novel is that I like is the main character, David. He is smart, dedicated and worthy of the readers sympathy. He, along with all of the other characters, thinks before they act. This allows us to see their motivations for doing anything and that is essential in a story like this. The other characters are given small amounts of background info as well through dialogue and different descriptions in the narrative. I also enjoyed the little mention of education in the book, where David gets just enough wrong on the test so he doesn't work for Steelheart, but gets enough of them right so he gets a good education and doesn't appear to be stupid.
Sadly the good points about this book end there. Most of the time the characters I mentioned are there only to serve the plot and little else. They serve as the stereotypes one has seen in countless action movies and books, and they rarely deviate from that plan with the exception of a few times, which were major spoilers that I could see coming from miles away. I also felt that Steelheart is a weak villain in terms of his writing. We should have seen him be built up more. Also, trying to take down all of these minor villains felt like video games levels to me and there were some scenes that were clearly Michael-Bay-Levels of bad writing.
And despite all this...I still loved this book. Call it a guilty pleasure, but this novel was one that I enjoyed all the way through despite its flaws. I honnestly feel that this book is best served if given to a teenage boy who is in middle school. I believe that is the market that was targeted, and that is who will enjoy it the most, me notwithstanding. For sheer enjoyment alone, I give this book a four, out of five.
A bit unimaginative. Also reads like Sanderson is using all his tropes from previous books in a different setting. On top of that, this is awfully similar to The Boys (the comic books are around 7 years older).