Steelheart by Brian Sanderson

This is a definite Gateway read for me.  My library’s print copy has been checked out since the beginning of the school year.  I bought myself the Kindle version so I wouldn’t have to compete with the students. 

David’s ability, or lack of ability, to make bad puns made me giggle.  It helped to lighten the rather somber mood that sometimes threatened to take over the story.  The world building is well done and yet there is so much more to come.  There is a lot to see outside of Newcago, in my imagination, and I am intrigued to see what Sanderson shows us next.  As the start of a series, it’s a great one. An ending is there, but the set-up for the sequel is ready.  We’ll be waiting! 

Goodreads summary: 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.