Steelheart

Steelheart
by Brandon Sanderson

From the publisher:
"Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge."

Here I am playing catch-up on books I read over the summer but never blogged about. 

I waited way too long to review this, so I'll just touch on some of my feelings while reading. This is definitely not a book I would normally read, but I wanted to find some more books to recommend to my middle school boys. I'm very glad I read it, because it was really unique and clever. What if superheroes used their powers for bad and not for good? What an exciting concept for a book. I really liked it, and I think middle school boys will love it.  And after 3 or 4 months, I still find it a fascinating concept and think of it whenever I watch a superhero movie.   Well done, Brandon Sanderson! Areas of concern: Once again, hard to do this after so much time has elapsed since I read it.  I don't remember any bad language.  No sexual situations.  There is a great deal of violence (obviously), and a young boy witnesses his father's murder. Suggested ages: Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+ School Library Journal - Grades 8+