"Calamity" Read-Along Chapters 49-Epilogue

So, the last few chapters were pretty awesome. We got a David and Megan vs. Prof fight (which I've been looking forward to for the entire series), and we got to see the reveal of Calamity's true character. And this week? What awaits David in Calamity's space lair?

Chapter 49

He'd claimed the powers. Like Megan, he'd ripped the darkness from the abilities, and sent one sprawling away while seizing the others.
Prof's powers were now his, and not Calamity's. The motivator boxes were meaningless.

Prof is back and better than ever!

Chapter 50

"Look at a place where the Epics are free from your corruption. Look at the one who comes, the most terrible of them all. A murderer in our world, a destroyer. Look and see that here, Calamity, Steelheart himself is a hero!"

I really wanted David to be a better version of Steelheart, though.

Chapter 51

No, in this world, my father was the Epic.

What? Okay, that's awesome! I love that it's kind of come full circle, since David's dad stood up to Steelheart in the first chapter of the series.

"...it was pushing through them," Calamity whispered, looking from me to the others, "to save someone."

So the powers go wrong when people act selfishly, but when they prove Calamity wrong--when they not only face their fear but push through it to be selfless--they're no longer consumed by darkness. I love how close David has been this whole time, but he just didn't push the idea quite far enough.

There will be heroes. Just wait.
I seized the power within me.

YES!!!

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Epilogue

Look what those comic books have done to you. Wearing a symbol and everything? Sparks, he was such a nerd.
Like father, like son, I guess.

This line just makes me smile so much. I really wish we'd gotten more time with David's dad. This scene is kind of adorable and a beautiful way to end the series.

Wow, you guys. Just...wow. These last few chapters have had so much action and emotion packed into them! Kudos to Brandon Sanderson for another fantastic series! (Also, I can't believe the series is over!)
Next week will be the wrap-up/fan-cast post, where I'll share my thoughts on the series as a whole and discuss which actors I'd like to see if The Reckoners is ever made into movies. See you guys then! (And be sure to let me know in the comments who you would like to see playing David, Megan, and the others on the big screen!)

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'Calamity' Read-Along Chapters 45-48

I am so excited for this week's chapters! It looks like we're finally going to get a David/Megan vs. Prof battle...exactly what I've been hoping for ever since Prof gave in to his powers! Just...I really hope no one dies.
We're only doing four chapters today, with four chapters in the next post...and after that, a special wrap-up/fan-cast post! So comment and let me know what actors you think would be perfect for the roles of all the characters!

Chapter 45

The tensors hummed on my hands, eager. It was as if...as if the powers themselves knew I was trying to save Prof. They sang me a battle hymn.

Wow. I LOVE this. It's probably my favorite line of the entire series.

The fight felt strangely perfect, for a time. Megan and I working side by side--voicelessly, each anticipating the other's moves. Incredible powers at our disposal, weapons in our hands. Together we forced a much more experienced Epic to retreat.

I can so see this as a movie scene, and it would be so cool!

Chapter 46

I blinked against the dust and smoke as Prof emerged from the shadows--grim, bloodied, but still not afraid.
Sparks. Still not afraid.

Ooooooh no, no, no...I know I said I wanted an Epic showdown but I didn't mean I wanted David and Megan to die! I take it back! I take it all back!

"You've failed, Prof," I said.
The forcefields faded and he stumbled.
"Tia's dead," Megan added. "You failed her."

I teared up at this, guys. The whole situation here, of these two having to tear down and try to kill someone they looked up to for so long...

Chapter 47

I was in some kind of...building, or ship? With glass walls?

What? What? He's in a space station?

Sparks. I was in the old international space station, but it had been transformed into glass.

WHAT?!?

"Hello, David," Larcener said.

I knew I didn't like this guy for a reason!

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Chapter 48

"In Megan's parallel world," I whispered. "There you did leave, and the darkness never claimed the Epics. There, you remained...and you infected us somehow. Your hatred, your loathing. You turned each Epic into a copy of you, Calamity."

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My name is David Charleston.
I clicked the button.
And I kill Epics.
The bomb detonated.

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Wow. Okay. Well, that was a bit of a ride.  I'm still in a little bit of shock.
So what did you guys think of these chapters? Was the battle as Epic as you hoped? Were you surprised by the revelation of Calamity's identity?
Please don't forget to comment on this post and the next one to let me know who you would cast as the crew of The Reckoners series!

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"Calamity" Read-Along: Chapters 40-44

Chapter 40

"We're not his team," Cody said. "Not anymore. We're here to change the world; we ain't going to do that without a fight."

Hearing one of my favorite side characters say something so heroic makes me feel like a cheesy, proud parent. You go, buddy! Yeah!

Chapter 41

"Not with the explosives Mizzy left behind. Look, we could use your help. Join us. Change the world."
He sniffed and turned away.
I felt it like a punch to the gut.

A part of me is like, "Yes, Larcener. Go. Shoo. The Reckoners don't need you."
Another part of me kind of hopes he has a sudden change of heart and comes running in to save the day. But that's a very small part of me. Because I just don't like him.

I didn't seen a monster. In my mind's eye, I remembered a man who had come down through another roof amid falling dust. A man who had run for all he had--breaking through to face an Enforcement team, risking his life and his own sanity--to save me. 

Have I mentioned before that the biggest reason I love David is how he remains so hopeful and loyal to his friends? Even though he's witnessed Prof do terrible things over the last few months, he's still willing to fight to the death to save him.

Chapter 42

"Think you can hide from my all-seeing eyes, little Epic? You don't know who you're dealing with."

All I can say here is that I'm glad Knighthawk is one of the good guys.

Chapter 43

"I didn't want to push myself, or my teams, too hard. This is your fault, David. Everything that happens here is because of you."

My knee-jerk reaction is that yes, Prof is right when he blames David for upsetting the delicate balance he had with life as an undercover Epic. David himself seems to take it this way. But I think it brings up an important question--aren't we responsible for all of our own actions? Prof could've chosen a different path. But then would David even be alive? Would they still have ended up here, battling it out underground, regardless?
These are the questions that simultaneously fascinate me and hurt my brain at 3 A.M.

I panted. "I...suppose this...would be an awkward time to ask for an autograph."

The first time I read this I burst into hysterical giggles. Because that's what I do after I've been stressed.
Also, as a side note, Loophole's death is probably one of the most gruesome things I've ever read. Eugh.

Chapter 44

They'd both been forced, it seemed, to grasp for dangerous resources. Prof using his hidden teleportation device; Megan reaching further and further into other realities.

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The lights on the gloves lit up a deep green. I felt their hum course through me, a distant melody that had once been precious to me, yet one I'd somehow forgotten. I released it, reducing the stone wall nearby to a wave of dust.
"Feel like coming home," I said.

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Aaaaand if that wasn't stressful enough, we still have to see David, Megan, and Prof actually fight it out. So, anything you guys hope to see out of the big showdown?

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'Calamity' Read-Along Chapters 35-39

 

Welcome, welcome.

Chapter 35

This was what we'd lost. I struggled to hold back my emotions as the video ended. The coming of Calamity had broken this world in more ways than one. Prof should have still been there, teaching those children.

1) Prof sounds like a fantastic teacher, and 2) GEEZ MY HEART. Don't mind me while I pick up the pieces. Carry on.

"You, you are very smart."
"Was that...sarcasm?"
"Smart again," Abraham said.

Wow. New depths to Abraham!

Chapter 36

Now I recognized a hole inside me. For a short time in that drowned city, I'd known true freedom, powered by twin jets of water.

Why is this just hitting me now? Of course David liked the flying aspect of the spyril, not the water aspect. He is another version of Steelheart! Turning stuff to metal, flying... yeah. I don't know why I thought that his powers would have something to do with water—it makes way more sense this way.

"Hmm? Oh. One could force you to speak in rhyme. The other could speak in any made-up language anyone anywhere had imagined."

Quenyarin? Klingon? Dude, I want this power! (I promise I'm not turning evil. But the idea of being able to speak in any made-up language I want, right off the top of my head? Sounds fabulous.)

Chapter 37

"I don't know," I said. "Could be nothing. There were a lot of powers being flung around that room—maybe there was a leftover forcefield, or... or maybe some pocket of another reality..."

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Duuuuude. You're an Epic. Just accept it and be awesome!

"The powers are mine," she whispered. "I claim them. My burden, my task, my self. I don't know why that mattered, but it did."

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Chapter 38

I sidled up to Abraham. "The two of them are talking," I said.
"You expected maybe clucking?"
"Well, shouting. Or strangulation."

He may be brilliant when it comes to Epics, but David is remarkably clueless when it comes to how normal people work.

Could Tia have been wrong? I'd decided that she wasn't, but now—confronted with one last shot at stopping Prof—I wavered. Some thing about Prof and his powers didn't add up.
What was it Prof feared?

And we're back to that bit. Prof's weakness is certainly less easy than most of the other Epics they've faced.

"That was foolhardy," I called to him. "Stop trying to put me out of a job!"

Great. Now even Abraham, Mr. Sensible, is becoming Mr. Epic.
Gah. That makes me giddy with excitement. This is going to be the coolest throwdown ever.

Chapter 39

"You sure you don't want to pilot it, lad?"
I shook my head. "You have more experience with the tensors, Cody."

Not to mention that if they don't work for you any more, the rest of the team is going to get suspicious.

"Broke my jaw," Cody said with a laugh. "Don't poke, kid. That's what I learned." He seemed not to care much, though a broken jaw sounded like a pretty big offense to me.
But then, who hadn't wanted to punch Cody on occasion?

So we have Cody the Crazy Scot who's going to run around in the tensor suit... does that make anyone else nervous? Just me? Okay.

"Silly?" Larcener asked. "You think it isn't obvious? A man does not study, learn, obsess as you have because of hatred. No, these are the signs of lust. You have sought a father amoing the Epics, a lover among them." He stepped toward me. "Admit it. You want nothing more than to be one of us."

Gah, I wish Abraham would punch this guy in the jaw.

We're almost to the Epic showdown of the century! What are you guys hoping to see when the team finally faces Prof? (And who else really, really hopes Larcener bites it?)

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Calamity Read-Along Chapters 30-34

Another week, another few chapters! When we last left the Reckoners, their heist had just been scrambled into a huge mess, thanks to an Epic who could negate other Epic powers in a radius around her.

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Let's see how they get out of this one...

Chapter 30

Something trembled inside me, like an ancient leviathan stirring in its slumber within a den of water and stone. The hair on my arms stood up, and my muscles tensed, as if I were straining to lift something heavy.

Yeah, David! Unleash your Epicness! Show the world what a good Epic can be like.
*ahem*
Sorry, I let myself get carried away there a little bit.

Prof's eyes widened. Was that fear in his expression? Worry? Megan hadn't brought a version of him in to this world, but this was apparently close enough. Yes, he was afraid of her powers. His powers.

Chapter 31

She looked at me, angry. "Stay back, David," she growled. "Just...stay back."

Well.

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 Chapter 32

"Yes," he said, nodding. "I've noticed her. She's the one who pulls me through. Odd to think that I might have a sister, in another place, another world."

Reserving final judgment until we know a little bit more, but I think I kind of like Firefight.

I knew that figure. Dark clothing. Powerful build. Even at a distance, even in the gloom of night, I knew that man. I'd spent my life studying him, watching him, hunting him.
"Steelheart," I whispered.

Wow. Wait. A. Second. I am not prepared for a second world where Steelheart is a good guy. No way.

Chapter 33

Destruction surrounded us—floor, walls, furniture splintered, pocked, broken... all except in my immediate area. The ground here wasn't broken at all. In fact, it was glassy and reflective. A deep, burnished silver-black. Metallic.
I was alive.
Regalia's voice whispered from my memory. I have been assured that you will be... thematically appropriate.

Oh my gosh. Calamity's turned him into another Steelheart. David's spent his entire life fighting against Steelheart only to become him.

I knelt, stunned, and barely heard Prof's roar—his sudden, shocked cry of agony and regret.

What? Aw, c'mon Sanderson, not cool!

Chapter 34

"I'd say you were a super-awesome ninja thing today," Abraham said.

Okay, the phrase "super-awesome ninja thing" coming from Mizzy's mouth sounds perfectly natural. From Abraham? I can't reconcile it. But it made me laugh, which has been desperately needed after these last few chapters.

"You have them already," I said. "That's why you're so eager for Prof's cells. You've already built devices to replicate his powers."
"We built them together," he said. "He and I."

Not surprising, when you think about it.

Okay, wow... those were some heavy chapters. I think I need a blanket and some hot chocolate like Mizzy. Am I alone in thinking that David has become another Steelheart?

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Calamity Read-Along Chapters 25-29

So, I have a confession to make... I had intended to read Calamity slowly, as I wrote each of these read-along posts. Savoring the story and all that. But after I wrote the last post, the reading bug bit hard, and I just had to know how the story ended. So I binge-read the rest of the book in one afternoon.

Oh wow, you guys. Wow. There is some fantastic stuff coming up!

Chapter 25

"But this fear? It seemed to bloom alongside my powers. It's like the powers... needed something to be afraid of."
"Like water," I whispered.

That would explain why the weaknesses seem random at times.

Chapter 26

"Hmm? Oh, Loophole has executed three different pastry chefs so far for creating substandard desserts. It was in Tia's notes. The woman really like her cupcakes."
"And you didn't mention this because..."
"Not important," I said.

This book has made me severely doubt David's ability to judge what is not important. I can only imagine the look Megan is giving him at this point.

Obliteration. The man who had destroyed Houston and Kansas City and tried to blow up Babilar. The toll that Regalia had used to push Prof into darkness. He was here.

Dang it. I was really hoping he would go away.

Chapter 27

"Ah, Steeslayer," he said. "Your features may change, but your eyes—and the hunger within them—are the same."

Dang it.

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"Are you... staring at my chest?" I asked.
"What?" she said. "Stay focused, Knees."

Yes, yes, you're both very cute and lovey-dovey here. While I'd like to say "awww," I think you perhaps have more pressing matters to take care of?

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Chapter 28

Let the prize be worth the cost.

I love this line. I feel like it's been a running theme throughout all the books, even though this is the first time it's been said.

But hearing him talk to these people like he'd once talked to us... it was heartbreaking.

Awww.

Chapter 29

Our disguises were gone.

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What did you think of Prof putting together a team of Epics like he'd once run a team of Reckoners? Is anyone excited to see the teams clash?

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Calamity Read-Along Chapters 20-24

*rubs hands together* All right, let's see what David has in store for us this week...

Chapter 20

The one who created the Diggers, I wrote. Back in Newcago.

Yet another nice callback to Steelheart. Sweet! I was always curious about the Diggers and the crazy tunnels they created in Newcago. Maybe we'll get to learn a little more about them.

"I'm still surprised, sometimes, at the things that leave your mouth," he said, reclaiming his pack.

I'd like to think that here, everyone just gives Abraham a long-suffering look and says, "Me too."

I moved, noticing as I passed that the dowser had given me a negative reading, as it should. I was no Epic.

This is me, not convinced.

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Tia.

See, I knew it. I knew she couldn't be dead. What she's doing here, on the other hand, is highly questionable.

Chapter 21

Tia groaned, putting her hand to her face. "My cola?"

Ummm... didn't Prof look at that too?

"But I heard him calling for me. Pleading, begging me to help him with the darkness."

Aww, dang it. This book is going to make me cry, isn't it?

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"And so he lives his life with a great dichotomy--he takes every opportunity he can to gift his powers away, to let the team use them so he doesn't have to. But each time he does, he gives them a weapon that could be used against him."

What...did...I...just...read?
I kid you not, I stared at that paragraph for a good three or four minutes, just processing. This is insane. Incredibly, amazingly insane. What a way to go full circle. I can't imagine what Prof's nightmares must have looked like.
But this kind of blows a hole in David's theory that the phobia comes before the powers.

Chapter 22

Nightmares were directly tied to Epics and their weaknesses. If I was having a persistent one... well, it might mean something.

He's getting nightmares. The dowser took longer than it should have to register him as human. I don't care what David thinks, there is something about him that is Epic, even if he did reject Calamity's offer of outright powers.

He has to be facing it continually, I thought. Whatever his fear is, he must see it every day, and defeat it.

That would explain Larcener's lack of rages. He's certainly arrogant enough, but he seems too lazy to be an Epic. He also admits that Epics do awful things, while most of the others seem to not talk about it. He sounds a little like Obliteration, talking about how men deserved to be destroyed.
Ooh... what if that also explains some of the weirdness going on with David? Sure, he was scared of the water, but maybe Calamity miscalculated and that isn't his true fear. Maybe his fear is losing people he cares about (plausible with how his dad died, and how Prof turned evil), but every time he leads the team on a mission, he faces that fear. He's continually pushing away his own darkness.

Chapter 23

"I sent you through by accident," Megan said. "You vanished completely, until you popped back out. Sparks!"

Is it just me, or is David way too chill about this? I mean, I'm sure having a girlfriend and a mentor who are Epics would kind of dull someone's reactions to them, but seriously... he is way too calm about getting Megan to experiment with her powers. I wonder if, since he refused powers of his own, he now acts like a sort of calmer/amplifier for Epics.

How were there still Epics, if there was no Calamity to give them powers?

David. I'm certain it has something to do with David. (At this point I'm just going to blame all weird things on David. It's not his fault, of course, but it's all I've got at the moment.)

Chapter 24

In those eyes, I swear I saw it. The darkness, like an infinite pool. Seething hatred, disdain, overwhelming lust for destruction.

Honestly one of these days I wouldn't be surprised if Larcener tries to stab him in the back, because David has got to be annoying him. But what does an Epic fear enough that it keeps him from going power-mad?

Thoughts? Theories? Any bets on when David finally pushes Larcener too far?

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Calamity Read-Along Chapters 15-19

Chapter 15

Prof's power was unique--he didn't just destroy matter, he sculpted it. It was beautiful destruction, and I found that I envied him. 

Yeah, me too. I've always imagined that if I had a superpower, I'd want something similar to a firebender's powers. But I really, really like Prof's powers too.

Chapter 16

I started, turning, and found Firefight kneeling beside me. He wasn't aflame like he had been at the Foundry; right now he looked like a normal man, wearing a business suit with a very narrow tie. 

How... what? WHAT?!? I mean, I know Firefight is an apparition from another world that Megan pulls through to their world. But to have him spontaneously appear while Megan's working a totally different illusion, and to have him speak to David...
Yikes.

I didn't dare breathe. I was in another place for a moment. Another crying child. Another hushed room.

Aaaaaand gut punch. This is a fantastic call back to the first book.

Chapter 17

"I keep wondering," she whispered. "Is next time going to be the time? The time I come back and am obviously different?"

Awwww Megan. Sometimes I just want to give her a big hug.

"No, and... wait, when did I call you a hippo?"
"Last week. You were drowsy."
Sparks. Didn't remember that one.

Hahaha. For being a badass chick with a penchant for cool guns, Megan puts up with David awfully well.

"We're not moments, Megan, you and me. We're events."

Awww I think I will die from the feels right here. They are adorable and my OTP and doggone it if they die I will set fire to this book.

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Only one sentence struck me: Is it right? Three solitary words, alone in their own corner. The rest of the writing was cramped, words fighting with one another for space like too many fish in a tiny tank. But these sat on their own.

Gee, let's just cram this chapter full to bursting with feels.

Chapter 18

"That door isn't going to do at all," the man said. "Far too easy to get through. I thought you people would be capable!"

Oh good grief.

Chapter 19

"Oh?" Larcener said. "And didn't you spend your entire career doing exactly what an Epic told you?"

*glares* I don't like him. I don't trust him. Not. One. Bit.

We were specks of mud on the window; he was a giant, vengeful bottle of spray cleaner.
Extra-strength lemon scent.

David.
DAVID.
Now is not the time.

Also, my entire reaction to this situation with Larcener could best be summed up by this:

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Well. That was kind of a roller coaster, wasn't it? (Also can we talk more about how adorable David and Megan are? In their own strange, weapons-obsessed way.) Does anyone suspect Larcener of more nefarious purposes, or do you agree with David and think he's just scared and on the run?

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Calamity Read-Along Chapters 10-14

Another five chapters, another mess our heroes are in. Who's ready to see what the mythical, Epic-controlled city of Atlanta looks like?

CHAPTER 10

"Well, I spent some time drifting after killing Steelheart," I said. "I needed a new purpose in life. Figure I might as well aim high."

I... might actually be with Knighthawk on his one.

"Jonathon proved that Epics could used motivators, but occasionally we'd run into one that he couldn't operate. Same goes for two different motivators being used by the same person. Sometimes they interfere and one craps out."

So... genes that don't interact well together? I don't have a clue about any of this stuff. Way over my head. (Any science-minded folks in the audience? Help?)

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CHAPTER 11

Well, I wasn't an Epic. So it probably didn't matter.

Ermm... no, but you almost became one. I'd say that was fairly significant.

You know what galls me the most about all this? Megan sent. That my stupid father was right. All his crazy talk about an apocalypse, training his daughters to shoot, preparing for the worst... he was right.

Megan's dad was a prepper. Why am I not surprised?

CHAPTER 12

"Nah," I said. "It's hilarious. Makes people sound really stupid."

I would 100% use a filter on my phone just for this.

He sent another sequence that showed Obliteration in Kansas City, working on some kind of glowing object. It was bright, but you could still tell that it was doing the glowing, not Obliteration himself.

Wonderful. I wonder if that was Regalia's intention--send Obliteration out to destroy all the other Epic-controlled cities. I'm sure that kind of work is right up Obliteration's alley. So either he's continuing the path she set him on, or he's obeying Prof now. Either one... not good.

"It causes madness," Abraham said. Then, after a moment, "So no big changes for anyone in this particular car."

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They know about Prof, though they call him Limelight. He's been here for two or three weeks, and some of the other Epics are resisting him, the main one in charge--a guy named Larcener--included.

We really haven't seen many Epic-versus-Epic battles, so I kinda hope that we get to see Prof in action, as terrifying as that would be. (Also, I can't believe he's still using the name Limelight.)

CHAPTER 13

I'm not going to quote the paragraphs describing Ildithia, but I just have to comment on it. Because holy COW a city made of salt that regrows itself. How does this series make such goofy notions seem so COOL?

The place smelled strange. Salty, I guess. And dry.

Yeah, I can imagine. The idea makes my skin itch just thinking about it.

Green light. Of a shade I recognized.

Uh oh...

CHAPTER 14

It was filled with foodstuffs, the packaged kind you had to trade to get, that came from cities that still had factories: beans, canned chicken, soda.

Soda... wait! Tia was always drinking soda! Maybe that has something to do with Prof's fear? He didn't act freaked out or anything, but why would he have been interested in the box otherwise? Maybe it just reminded him of Tia.

So... we didn't get Epic-versus-Epic so much as Prof just being... well, Epic. Are you looking forward to seeing more of Prof as an Epic?

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Calamity Read-Along Chapters 5-9

Welcome back to another week! When we last left them, the Reckoners minus Prof were trying to break into the Knighthawk Foundry to steal Epic-derived tech. Someone just spoke to David out of the shadows...

Chapter 5

That meant I only got shot once.

Oh, yeah, like totally, nbd. Just once. In the leg. Not like that's gonna cripple you and make it hard to run away or anything. <end sarcasm>

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Firefight was looking at me, again. Through the flames of distortion, two black eyes met my own.

Okay, so that's kind of creepy too. The spectre from another world actually acknowledges the people in the world he's pulled into... I'm fairly certain that multiple science fiction books have been written about why it's a bad idea to warp realities.

Whatever she'd been fighting off when using her powers recently, it was coming for her in force.

What if... what if another world where she doesn't have David as a stabilizing influence is trying to get through to her? Or what if...
You know, I'm realizing the problem with someone who can pull alternate realities into existence--there are literally thousands of possibilities as to what's happening with Megan. And a thousand theories I could extrapolate. I think I'm going to stop now before my brain starts to hurt any more than it already does.

Chapter 6

 She didn't answer, but I knew who she meant. Calamity.

Ahhh, so even the powerful Epic that creates other Epics didn't know the connection between weaknesses and facing fears. That's interesting.

The robots, on the other hand, acted like a bunch of youthful dreams and got thoroughly crushed.

Honestly I don't have much to say here, I just... I really love this quote.

And part of being a man was learning to let your immortal girlfriend take a turn being the heroic one.

So, I want a t-shirt with this quote on it. Anyone else?
Seriously, though, this is one of the reasons I like Brandon Sanderson's books so much. Both men and women can be heroes (and we don't get a fake Strong Female Character who still can't survive unless she has a guy), and there's acknowledgment of the characters who are sometimes just better at something, whether they're male or female and whether or not it's a traditional role for that gender. It's kind of a refreshing attitude.

Chapter 7

"Sorry," I grumbled. "I'm usually more eloquent after getting shot."

Uh huh. Since when?

The man was older now, more bald and more paunched, with jowls hanging down beside his neck, like melted cheese sloughing off the top of a piece of bread in the microwave.

Dude. Stop it with the bread, already.

The mannequin continued to gesture while Knighthawk talked.

Okay, let's cut it out with the creepy moving mannequin, okay?

Chapter 8

It's not like that," I said. "I'm like a--"
"No," Knighthawk said.
"This makes sense. I am like--"
"No, really," Knighthawk interrupted. "Nobody wants to hear it, kid."

 Aww. Poor David.

 "Don't let yourself get drawn in by that. It can lead you to...difficult places."

Okay, seriously, Knighthawk? You're talking to the guy whose girlfriend is an Epic--plus, he's Steelslayer. And he turned down an offer of power from Calamity himself. I think he knows, already.

But, call me a fool, I still wanted to understand. I needed it to make sense.

Maybe this is why I love these books and identify with David so much. I get that, the driving need to understand what's going on.

Chapter 9

 "How do you get the fairies inside something that small?" Cody asked, pointing at the device. "Doesn't it crush their wee wings?"

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Cody...stop. It's gone too far now.

"Make sure everyone gets out safely, then try to save me from my stupidity if this goes sour."

 And par for the course.

So, what will Knighthawk reveal to David, if anything? Do you think it's actually possible to redeem Jonathon Phaedrus, as David seems to think?

 

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Calamity Read-Along: Prologue and Chapters 1-4

 

Aaaaand here we are again! Who's excited to dive in and see what this third book of super-villain awesomeness holds? (Hopefully redemption for Prof. And lots of... Mavid? Degan? I'll keep working on the ship name.)

Prologue:

They insist they will have me again.

I'm guessing that this is David, but it works for the Professor too... if we still cling to the possibility that he can brought back.

Chapter 1

"If anyone tries to sneak up on you, lass, I'll put a bullet up his nose."

Ah, Cody. I missed you during Firefight. *mutters under breath* He better not die, dang it.

Pre-Calamity people had been weird. Awesome, too--evidence: castle--but still pretty weird.

It's okay. We think you're weird too.

Now we were going to rob them.

Calamity opens with a heist! Be still my heart! I love heist stories!
Oh, ahem, also, yay! We finally get to see the legendary Nighthawk Foundry!

"Please tell me that's not a real word," I said, then raised my gun to follow him as he made for the opening.

Yeah, you and me both wish it wasn't.

He could be the most dangerous Epic this world had ever known.

Noooooo. Nope nope nope. I refuse to believe it. I do not accept that Prof remains evil, okay? I will be in denial until the end of this series if I have to!

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Chapter 2:

Prof or Tia could have come up with a way better plan, but they weren't here.

Where IS Tia anyway? There's no mention of Prof killing her at the end of Firefight. She's either gone to ground or--better guess--she's with Prof. Not sure if I like either possibility.

Chapter 3:

This had to be a laboratory where bodies were dissected.

Okay, CREEPY.
Also... who owns and operates Knighthawk? I'm assuming it's not an Epic, since they cut up and experiment with Epic bodies. Even though it sounds like something an Epic would think up, I'm also thinking that most Epics would just want to destroy their enemies, not give normal humans a way to emulate their powers.
Sparks. Prof knew more about tech that mimicked Epics' powers than anyone else. And he had the stuff that mimicked his powers, presumably without taking off pieces of himself to power the technology. I bet Prof is heavily involved with Knighthawk OR was at one point.

Chapter 4:

Personally, I'd have been embarrassed to create such stupid-looking robots.

Of course you would, David.

"No, I keep those in the other chest."

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Yeah, 'cause that's what we need, some creepy disembodied voice speaking in the middle of a room full of body parts. Would this seem like a weird time to say that I really, REALLY want these books to be movies? Because I want to see this scene come to life in theater. It would be a fabulous jump-scare.

So, is Calamity off to a great start? And who's excited to see who is behind Knighthawk?!?

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