The Reckoners - Brandon Sanderson

With the furor of superhero movies and stories going around, I was a little hesitant to talk about my latest favorite series... but then I figured, what the heck? Now is as good of a time as any to let you all know about this AMAZING series!

I don't know if you are into the superhero "jive," but if you are, have you ever caught yourself watching a great superhero movie and wishing that it was a book? Not a comic book, but a novel?

Brandon Sanderson found himself asking this very question, and thus the Reckoners series was born. And it all starts with the first book in the series, Steelheart. The second book is also out, Firefight, and the third (and final) book comes out in January: Calamity. This is something I love about Brandon Sanderson. He does not keep his readers waiting when it comes to books. He tries to release 3-4 books in a year, and everything I have read from him is wonderful!

If you haven't read anything by Sanderson, I recommend the Reckoner's Trilogy as a good place to start. Sanderson is a master storyteller, and leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat right until the end. Plus, Sanderson doesn't use cursing as a way to draw attention to a scene. He relies on good storytelling, and lets your imagination fill in the world.

There is so much I would love to say about the Reckoners, but I don't want to give the story away. Instead, here is a list of things I enjoyed about the series:

• As I said, masterful storytelling. I found myself holding my breath and reading faster, just to find out what happened next in certain scenes.
• Sanderson makes fun of terrible metaphors by having his main character come up with terrible metaphors. The main character, David, loves metaphors, but is REALLY  bad at employing them. As an English nerd, this makes me happy.
• All of the characters were fun and unique. Even the bad guys were awesome, and you had to respect them.
• Twists and turns--like, a ton of them. When I finished the second book, I was so amazed at what had just happened that I kind of growled and shouted and yelled at the book for the cliffhanger (true story).
• I loved the semi-realistic feel of the land. In the first book, "New Cago" is the city--a city that has been turned to steel. The image made my imagination go wild.
• The fact that David is a nerd. I don't know why, but I appreciate when authors make the hero a more realistic person.
• Sanderson's knowledge of the weaponry he is writing about. I wrote this one for Jeremy. One of the things he hated in Divergent was the fact that Tris was always just holding a gun. No description, no type of gun, nothing. It was always just "a gun." Sanderson shows his knowledge by having a lot of weapons show up in the course of the series, but David's weapon of choice is a Rifle. That just adds a whole "wild west" feel to this futuristic setting.
• Finally, Sanderson is great at making his characters vulnerable and human. Despite precautions taken by the Reckoners, they make mistakes. They fail occasionally. But they learn from it and become much stronger in the process.

Again, there is a lot more to mention. But I LOVED this series. I don't think I have a single negative thing to say about these books, other than the third book doesn't come out for about 6 months. If you have liked all the superhero movies coming out, you are sure to get a kick out of this series. Please, please, PLEASE read this!!!