Calamity

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson is the third and final book in "The Reckoners Series" and it was a good ending.

The story start out after David, Megan, and the rest of their crew leave what used to be known as New York. Prof has gone crazy and they are trying to decide if they can save him or not. They make their way to what was once Atlanta though the city has changed dramatically. Do to the Epics that reside there, Ildithia moves, but not like you think. The city is made of salt and as one end the the town disintegrates the other rebuilds itself.

Prof has come to Ildithia and has quickly become the High Epic that everyone fears. But David and the Reckoners believe they can save Prof like they were able to save Megan in New York. But not only are they facing Prof and his abilities, but also Calamity, the bright star in the sky that appeared when people started gaining powers. Calamity is an Epic. They know Prof's mission in Ildithia is to somehow take down Calamity, but how are they going to take down the Epic of Epics?

I loved this series since the first one came out. The ideas of Super Heroes being the bad guys was interesting and fresh. Who would have thought to have a city move across country by moving salt?

The characters have always been fantastic, both the bad guys and the good. The world has changed so much from our world to theirs and he takes so many things into account that I hadn't until it was mentioned. But I like most of all the themes throughout all of the stories and weaves quietly in the background: "humans are inherently good." There are some bad eggs out there, but we are more good than we are bad. This was uplifting. There is also the more abrupt theme being that we can all face our fears and we can grow from them. Once we face our fears we can conquer whatever darkness that lies in our hearts or souls.

Again, I really love this series. It is clean; there is little gore; there is great fantasy; there are fantastic characters. And it is a marvelous read.

Firefight

Firefight  is the second of Brandon Sanderson's "Reckoners" series.

After defeating Steelheart in Newcago, they travel to Babilar (once New York City) where another Epic is terrorizing people. Obliteration is an epic who, after bathing in the sun for a while and gaining as much radiation as he needs, can obliterate the entire city. Then he'll teleport over to the next largest city he wants to visit where he'll do the same thing.

Not only is Obliteration there, but Regalia, an Epic who can control water currents, is stationed out there. She has raised the water levels of the Hudson up to the third or fourth floors of the high rises. Needless to say, New York City doesn't look like the Big Apple anymore. The city has plants growing all over it for the people to eat, because of some little-known Epic also in the city. People live on the upper floors of the high rises with rope bridges connecting each building. The spray paint that lines all the walls of the city glows in the dark and illuminates the night, much like the neon had done before Calamity found his place in the sky.

But not only are these powerful Epic in Babliar, but Megan is here. After disappearing after Steelheart was killed, she fled and David is seeking her out--though isn't telling anyone around him (though they already know it). He hopes he can save her, but does she want to be saved?

The characters--old and new to this series, bad and good guys--I think are what make this book. We find we want to know more about Obliteration and his odd biblical style speaking and quoting. Megan, whom we thought we knew, is almost a complete mystery. David is his usual odd, charming self. And now there are new things about Prof that we didn't know before.

I love these character based stories and the new scenery that is completely odd and different and wonderful makes it that much better. It is a great follow up to Steelheart and Brandon pushes the characters in fantastic ways that makes us question humanity and ourselves.

Steelheart

Steelheart is the first book in Brandon Sanderson's "Reckoners" series.

The basic concept is that Super Heroes are all bad. After the sudden appearance of Calamity, a bright star orbiting earth, people suddenly starting having superpowers. The people first thought these Epics would save them from their problems with other countries, but were soon proved wrong as the Epics were far worse than any war that the world had ever had.

In Newcago (what once was Chicago), David, after losing his father because of Steelheart, vows to make Steelheart pay. David knows Steelheart, the High Epic who runs Newcago, has a weakness. He saw the Epic bleed. There is a way to destroy all of these Epics. After years of memorizing different Epics and their powers, David finds the Reckoners, a group rebels whose purpose is to take down Epics. They hesitantly allow him into their ranks where he puts his expertise on Steelheart, their current target, to use.

There are many cool things about this book. Many turns that I didn't see that had me enable to stop turning pages. It was constantly engaging and in very few parts where I would actually want to put the book down. The premous where Superheroes are the bad guys is ingenious, where the whole city of Chicago has been completely turned into steel and it is constantly night. Working as regular people or working to take down the "God" who looms over the city can cause come difficulties that are fun to work with and around.

The characters here are individuals. Each one, though there are a few, are easy to tell apart. David, our main character, is funny. His metaphors and similes make no sense and are odd, but he's endearing.  I think the guys in the book are more full and complete as characters than the girls are. Cody has more life than Megan or Tia does. Which is kind of sad, but it is something that I'm willing to look over.

This book is a good one to start new Brandon Sanderson readers on or newbies to Science Fiction/Fantasy books in general. It is a quick read because you get sucked into this world. I'd recommend it to  most anyone. I got my 13 year old nephew to read it when he doesn't like to read anything. It has enough guns, suspense, thrills, and adventure to get almost any young boy into reading. It's a good series for anyone.

Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora seemed like an intriguing book with an interesting premise when I first picked it up. It was a recommendation from Goodreads, but it wasn't to my liking.

I didn't finish this book and, sadly, didn't get too far into it either. It had too much swearing and vulgarity for my taste. I gave it about 30 pages, but then had to put it down. I don't need any more swearing in my head. It's hard enough to get out when people around me are saying it.

So it is a DNF for me.

Setting the stage for the story is one thing, but too much is too much. Setting can be developed in different ways that are more tasteful in my opinion.

Sadly, I was interested in where it was going. :(