Rosie Reviews: The Reckoners Series by Brandon Sanderson

My Year of Reading Sanderson continues with The Reckoners series. I read the first book years ago but received the full set of books at Christmas and have been reading around one a month since.

The series is set in a world 10 years after a mysterious star appeared in the sky, triggering a number of humans to develop super-powers. However, these powers bring a dark side, a predilection for domination and control, and disdain for those without. The story begins in the city of Newcago, a city turned to steel by the reigning ‘Epic’ there: Steelheart. David has spent his life researching Epics and how to bring them down, with Steelheart at the top of his list, after witnessing Steelheart murder his father as a child. This research leads him to The Reckoners, a rebel group with the goal of taking down Epics.

The series is a young adult series, but I think could be enjoyable by all ages (except maybe the youngest ones). It is fast paced, with a variety of characters and different powers and scenarios they have to overcome. It’s not my favourite Sanderson series, but it is a lot of fun from start to end, with lots of interesting angles explored, and is certainly a series for the super-hero fans out there.  

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson – 4/5 (paperback)

Having read Steelheart before, I knew a bit more what to expect so I was able to jump right in to the book and engage with the story. The prologue of the book is one of my favourite prologues – high action, suspense and expectations being turned on their heads. With the series being for a younger audience than usual Sanderson books, the writing and world didn’t feel quite as fleshed out. A few of the characters are a touch caricature-esque with certain quirks that dominated their personalities (David’s in ability to understand metaphors being a big one) and I found the Megan-David relationship difficult to get my head around. That being said, diving back into this world was a delight. I loved the ideas that were explored in this book and it was very easy to keep the page turning.

Mitosis – 4/5

Mitosis is a short story companion to the main trilogy and, while isn’t necessary to read, is still a great addition. It sees David and the gang deal with a new Epic that’s appeared in Newcago who can duplicate himself to create countless copies. With limited time, the group must find a way to defeat him before he does untold harm to the people of the city.

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson – 4/5

We see David and a couple of the team head out of Newcago to another city also wholly changed by its Epic leader. We meet more Reckoners and new chilling threats. I really enjoyed seeing the different Epics outside of Newcago and their different approaches to dominion and city takeover, as well as seeing a little more world-building. A different team also made for some interesting dynamics, although I did miss the original characters who didn’t come along for this ride. I felt David was a more substantial character in this book, particularly as he starts to question his own beliefs around Epics. A strong second book.

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson – 4.5/5

Going into the final book of the series, I had some trepidation as I’d seen that there were some mixed feelings over this book. I can see where those feelings come from, but ultimately I had a great time reading it. The pacing was fast, I felt some of the discordance felt reading was true to the situation the team were in and I really enjoyed meeting the new characters introduced and learning more about the Epics and their origins. I do wish this had been a longer book – a lot of the ideas introduced felt like they needed a bit more time and detail to fully be explained. I also, despite it being a central part in all books, really don’t find the core romance to be believable and would have been better left out. Calamity was, however, a wild story with some edge-of-the-seat moments and some surprisingly emotional ones!

A Year of Reading Sanderson: Part 1

This year, I have set myself the challenge of catching up on my backlog of Brandon Sanderson books, those that I own but haven’t quite had the time to read yet. This includes the various secret projects released last year, a couple of the series I’ve started but haven’t finished (The Reckoners, Skyward) and the short story collection Arcanum Unbounded, which I’ve been dipping in and out of since it came into my possession. I am making steady progress already, having nearly completed The Reckoners series, but here are some of the standalone books I have finished as well so far this year.

Long Chills and Case Dough by Brandon Sanderson – 4.5/5

The first Brandon Sanderson I read this year, this was also the last book I got my hands on – it came in the Year of Sanderson loot boxes as a ‘Sanderson Curiosity’ and contains a short story he wrote before he was published. I simply really enjoyed reading this. It was short and light – ideal for kickstarting a reading period after a gap where I only really finished audiobooks. The introduction was needed to explain the concept as it was a slightly bizarre take on a noir story. But it worked for me and I had great fun harking back to the noir films and stereotypes in a futuristic setting, and following the mystery it contained. The trouble is, I don’t think I can really say more without spoiling it!

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson – 4.5/5

From the last of the Year of Sanderson books to the first. Tress of the Emerald Sea reads like a fairy-tale. A fairy-tale with epic adventures on a sea of spores. It follows a young woman called Tress who lives on a rock and collects cups. When her love, Charlie, goes missing while travelling, she sets out on a quest to find him. I really enjoyed Tress’ practical character and how gentle the story feels, despite periods of peril. The characters all felt really lovable and I loved the world, particularly the concept of the spores. It felt like we were only touching the surface of potentially stories set here, so I’d be excited if other books were released in this same setting. It was a very readable book and felt like you were being told the story. The premium edition is also gorgeous – I loved the cover and internal images, and it just felt so lovely to hold.

Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson – 4/5

Arcanum Unbounded is a collection of short stories or excerpts from across the Cosmere, split up by the systems within the systems with introductions and post-scripts to each. As someone who is still in the early stages of understanding the Cosmere, the descriptions of each system was actually really helpful in putting it altogether in context, rather than abstract as I had been picturing it. I enjoyed each of the stories – there were some I was already familiar with, and following characters or settings I already knew a fair amount about, as well as completely different worlds and people. There weren’t any stories I didn’t enjoy. The only one I struggled a bit with was The Secret History but I think that was because it’s been so long since I’d read the Mistborn trilogy that I spent a lot of time try to remember references rather than just enjoying the story. All in all, a good solid collection of short stories and I’m excited to see more of these worlds and more of the Cosmere in future.