2013 book 291

Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart
At Comic Book Book Club last month, the conversation turned to novels about superheroes (b/c dang, I love novels about superheroes) and one of the group members recommended this book to me. Of course, it's not really about superHEROES, but about superpowered individuals who have taken over--particularly one Steelheart, who rules over what I think is near-future Baltimore with an iron fist. Well, actually, more like a steel fist. Anyway--it's a superpowered dystopia! The protagonist is teenage David, whose father was killed by Steelheart a decade ago, and David's been planning his revenge ever since. He's determined to join up with a group of non-powered rebels to bring the powered villains down! I did like this a lot, but wish that David's crush on hot Megan (hotness is her main personality trait, unfortunately) had been a little more downplayed. Nothing is more annoying than a teenager pining over someone when he should be fighting bad guys with superpowers! Sanderson does bring a couple of interesting twists, though, and though there is a nice conclusion, there's room for a sequel that I'd definitely read. B+.