Book Review: Steelheart

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Steelheart
Brandon Sanderson

I swear, this isn’t just a Sanderson book blog. I read other things, I promise! But when two Sanderson novels are nominated for Battle of the Books, how can I not read them?

12 years ago, the Calamity happened and ordinary people ascended into Epics — the stuff of super hero comics. Except, what they did with their newfound abilities wasn’t exactly heroic… 10 years ago, a young David watched as Steelheart took over his city, murdering innocents and anyone who stood in his way with his godlike abilities — bulletproof skin, flight, super strength, energy blast fists. Only David saw something he wasn’t supposed to that day…David saw Steelheart bleed.

Overall, I found Steelheart to be a let down. The typical Read and Find Out methodology applies to the plot, but there was little substance behind his infamous plot reveals. Typically there are some grand revelations that up the ante into the next book, but even the ending felt lackluster.

The villain is largely absent, and without getting to really have much interaction with him I know I’m supposed to dislike him, but only because I’ve been told. David’s fixation on him is admirable at best, but the brief moments I got to see him as a reader held little emotional weight for me. Perhaps it was to build an air of impenetrable mystery around him, but I found it easier to paste in Omniman as a placeholder for him when he did appear since it was so fleeting. Not to mention, the powers are pretty closely aligned, and in all honesty Invincible is a better story than Steelheart, not because it’s got a bloodier body count, but it tells a more compelling story — and that comes down to the choice of protagonist.

David is reliable as a protagonist, but unappealing to me as a reader. Maybe it’s the fact that David is particularly one-dimensional, grounded in stereotypes that do nothing to erode the perception of straight men as constantly ogling any woman they find attractive. Additionally, David’s weak attempts at not being branded a “nerd” leave me to think maybe Sanderson was working out some of his childhood trauma through him — which is fine, writing is an entirely valid way of coping with things. But it unfortunately made him a shell character for a niche reader by not leaning into his weaknesses as a source of development. Something that’s been a source of keen character development in his other works. However, if it took writing Steelheart for Sanderson to eventually give us Mistborn, Stormlight, and Skyward, fine. I will make that trade, because in the end it isn’t inherently bad… it’s just not as strong as his other works.

In the same way I knew I was not the intended audience for Ready Player One, so much of the book held little interest for me. The concept of super powered people all turning out terrible was unique, to be sure, but there wasn’t a lot of room for nuance or exploration largely due to the fact that David is so single-mindedly set on vengeance. His knowledge is limited to guns and Epics’ abilities/weaknesses. He reminds me a bit of Midoriya from “My Hero Academia”, but there’s much less emotional sucker punches here.

I actually found myself googling a plot synopsis at one point because, despite having the trappings of a high octane sci-fi adventure, I felt like the book dragged along. Even with helpful time skips between chapters, tension never really came to fruition for me as a reader. Ultimately, this is entirely skippable when it comes to superhero fiction. I’ve already mentioned other superhero series to try, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Renegades as well. Unfortunately this is such a well trod arena of pop culture, and it’s been done better by other writers. Definitely try his other works though; they exceed in all the areas I’ve criticized here.