Steelheart Read-Along Chapters 36-42 (The End!)

Whenever I'm reading a really good book that has a fantastic plot and incredible world-building, I always cringe as I hit the last few chapters. I always wonder what heart-wrenching, sob-inducing twists the author has in store. It kind of makes me want to abandon the book and pretend everything turned out okay and didn't end with me blubbering into a cup of tea and trying to explain to my family why I'm so traumatized by characters in a novel.

That's not just me, right?

Right?

Ahem. On to the discussion.

Chapter 36:

He'd come for me. He had a vendetta--he knew I'd been the one to figure out his weakness.

Honestly, this entire sequence with the fight between David and Nightwielder makes me want an entire book with just Nightwielder as the antagonist. With his powers, can you imagine how deliciously creepy it would be?

Eyes I knew. Megan.

That sound you heard was just my heart cracking a little. Don't mind me.

Chapter 37:

There! I thought, catching a glimpse of a forehead and eyes peering out from the far wall.

See what I mean? Perfect thriller/horror material. I might feel some fanfiction coming on.

"We need you to activate phase four. Shoot Steelheart with your father's gun. It's all we have left."

Well... great...

The illusion frowned. "I know you," she said.

Sure, Sanderson. Just rip out my heart and stomp on it, why don't you.

It was real.

What kind of evil author writes this kind of thing?

So... how is the illusion real? Is it a clone? Someone else illusioned to look like Megan?

Chapter 38:

Dared I take the shot?

You have to ask? Just take the shot! He's right in front of you!

 "You're Firefight, aren't you?

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Chapter 39:

Okay, to sum up...the Reckoners are in shambles, David just found out Megan is actually one of Steelheart's right-hand High Epics, Firefight, and now Prof is going nuts.

"I've removed him from the feed," Tia said to the rest of us. "This is bad. I've never heard him go this far. We need to pull him out somehow or we'll lose him."

I'm with Cody on this one. Confused, irritated that Prof could be so irrational. Prof said that the tensors were invented after studying Epic powers, so I wonder if they're addictive or somehow mimic the Epic curse.

He fired. I raised my left hand, the one with the tensor. I did it almost by instinct. It was tougher to make the song this time, and I didn't know why. But I made it work. I left the song out.

He just stopped a bullet with the tensor. Yay David! Also, careful, David. If the tensor's powers are indeed what makes the Prof go bonkers, then David being so good with them is really worrisome.

"I still haven't tried phase four," I said...

I kind of want to smack him on the head because he's being dumb, but at the same time, he's the narrator, so he's got to be all right even if he does chose to confront Steelheart. Right?

RIGHT?

I swear, I'll probably die from a heart attack induced by my stressful reading habits.

Chapter 40:

He studied me, his hand glowing. "Ah yes," he said. "The child in the bank."

He's dead. Oh great, he's dead...

Sunlight. Nightwielder was dead. The sun was rising.

Sunlight? Is that his weakness? Please be sunlight, please be sunlight...

He could only be killed by someone who didn't fear him. He had pulled the trigger himself. He had caused the detonation himself.

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Chapter 41: 

Someone groaned behind me. I spun to see Prof sitting up. His clothing was covered in blood and he had a few scratches on his skin, but his skull was whole... "Prof's an Epic, I thought. Prof's an Epic.

Just so you know, it drives me nuts that we find this out with only a few pages left in the book. I want to know more NOW.

"My mind changes," she whispered. "When I die, I am reborn out of light a day later."

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 Epilogue:

Only now, with Steelheart's skull in my hand, did I realize that I hadn't been fighting for vengeance, and hadn't been fighting for redemption. I hadn't been fighting because of my father's death. I fought because of his dreams.

Wow.

That is an absolutely incredible ride! The first time I read this book, I sat in shock for about thirty minutes after finishing it. I couldn't believe the plot twists and revelations thrown into just the last couple of chapters. I wanted the second book immediately.

Lucky for us, we can do that, right? Next time, we're diving in to the second book in the series, Firefight!

What did you guys think about the ending to Steelheart?

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Steelheart Read-Along Chapters 31-35

Hello again! We are in the home stretch, my friends! Five more chapters to go as our heroes face down Steelheart and we get those classic Sanderson plot twists--yay!


Chapter 31: 

"Abandon the guilt," Prof said. "Abandon the denial. Steelheart did this to her. He's our goal. That has to be your focus. We don't have time for grief; we only have time for vengeance."

This actually made me a little mad, reading Prof saying this. Throughout the book, he seems like the wise old mentor-type character, and here, he's definitely not.

"I've seen it. There are troubles there you can't understand, David. Sometimes doing things we used to do reminds us of who we used to be, and not always in good ways."

This quote really makes me wonder how far back Tia and Prof go. Were they friends BC (Before Calamity)? Where did they meet?


Chapter 32:

"A battery," Edmund said. "A slave..."

So Conflux is actually just Steelheart's prisoner. I wonder who else has been coerced into working with him...


Chapter 33:

"Is it that way for other gifters?" Prof asked.

So gifter Epics can't gift their powers to other Epics. Probably a good thing.

"Not as bad as the El Brass Bullish Dude," I said... "Incredible cosmic powers do not always equate with high IQ..."

1) All I can think of with the phrase "incredible cosmic powers" is this quote from the Genie in Aladdin.

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2) OK, so maybe Limelight wasn't the worst villain name they could have thought up.

3) El Brass Bullish Dude just makes me picture this guy...

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Chapter 34:

Blackness and Calamity, burning in the distance directly above, like a terrible red eye. 

I just realized something. If Nightwielder turned the sky so dark that they can't see the sun, moon, or stars, then how does Calamity still shine through? Does Nightwielder somehow allow it through? Could he even block if it he wanted to? Do Epics need to continually be exposed to it, or at least exposed to it some of the time?


Chapter 35:

"All right, you slontze," Cody said softly to Steelheart. "Let's see if that junk was worth the trouble of hauling up here..." A shot rang in the air.

Showtime, folks.

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So...what did you guys think of this week's chapters? Any theories on how they're going to defeat Steelheart?

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Steelheart Read-Along Chapters 26-30

Another short post this week, my friends, as I'm out camping! This time, the Reckoners decide to go after one of Steelheart's minions, Conflux--but as always, there are dead-ends, complications, and unexpected twists ahead!

Chapter 26:

I picked up the gun. This was the weapon that had killed my father. Holding it felt wrong.

Hmmm...have any of you ever heard the writers' saying, "If there's a gun at the beginning of the book, it had better go off by the end of the book"?

"But I looked that up the last time you told me this story."

I think it's interesting that Tia is able to do all this research that is so widespread that it can't all be contained by books (unless the Reckoners lug a library around with them every time they go somewhere). We know the mobile network works, at least in Newcago, so there must be an Internet system too? I wonder what that looks like in this dystopian world. Is it local, or worldwide? Who maintains it?

Chapter 27:

Her tone said she was bored of our arguing. She, however, couldn't see that both of us were grinning.

David, you and Megan just finished arguing about guns. I'm pretty sure Tia is rolling her eyes and thinking, "Just get a room already."

That kind of oddity was common in Epic powers; it was one of the things that didn't make scientific sense. 

Yeah, a lot of Epic powers make me think that a five year old is in charge of handing out powers and weaknesses. Not that they aren't brilliant, but they're brilliant in that particularly weird, random, five-year-old way. (No offense, Mr. Sanderson.)

Chapter 28:

Steelheart's steel didn't rust.

Wait, so Steelheart's steel is stainless steel? (Sorry, it struck me as funny for some reason.)

Chapter 29:
ALL OF THIS CHAPTER...JUST...

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Chapter 30:

"For what it's worth, thank you for making me care about something other than Steelheart. I don't know if I love you. But whatever the emotion is, it's the strongest one I've felt in years. Thank you."

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I followed him through the tunnel, and we made our escape.

OK, hands up. Who else thinks that, while Prof is mega-cool, he's also freakin' terrifying?

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Steelheart Read-Along Part 3

Sorry for missing last time! Life, as we hardcore bookworms know, has a habit of getting in the way just as we're getting deeply engrossed in our favorite reads. ;) Now, to rejoin David and the rest of the Reckoners crew as they begin their plan to destroy Steelheart. (I'm only going to do five chapters this time because I have a lot of commentary.)

Chapter 21

Today was the day. We'd sneak in and destroy Newcago's power plant.

Yay! Don't get me wrong, I loved all the character establishing and the geeky details about Epics that we learned over the last few chapters, but now it's time for some action!

Sparking woman, I thought. Try making some sense for once.

Psst, David. Gotta tell ya, man, we rarely do. Just stop trying to figure it out and go with the flow, my friend.

But we're the good guys, I told myself, breaking open the wall and letting Megan slide through first. Of course, what terrorist didn't think he or she was the good guy? We were doing something important, but what would that matter to the family of the cleaning woman we accidentally killed?

So many action novels and movies kind of forget this point in the middle of all the mayhem, even if the hero is the sort of person who tries to keep innocent lives out of the firing line. I love how Sanderson has set David up to be the kind of character who asks these questions and cares about this kind of thing--I kind of wish he'd dug into the idea more.

 I pushed my hand hard, flat, feeling the glove shake. It wasn't just the glove, though. It was my whole hand. That had confused me at first. It seemed like I was creating the power, not the glove--the glove just helped shape the blast somehow.

Without getting too spoiler-y, this passage really makes me wonder about David. If the star Calamity creates Epics, I wonder if there's some kind of gene in certain genetic lines that is somehow activated by it. Does David carry one of those genes? Is that why he gets this feeling about the tensor gloves that no one else has mentioned? Later during the same bit, when David and Prof are talking, this exchange happens...

"You sound worried about something," I said between making handholds.

"Not troubled. Just surprised."

Despite his assertion, I do believe Prof is worried. David has theorized he was involved in studying Epics before the government infrastructure collapsed--does he know about an Epic gene? Because David can activate technology that is based on Epic powers with such ease, is Prof worried that David could become an Epic? Gah! Too many questions!

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"I don't think we should be killing Steelheart, and I don't like how you've hijacked the team to fight your own personal war against him. He's brutal, yes, but he's doing a better job than most Epics. He doesn't deserve to die."

Do you agree with Megan here? David kind of has dragged the Reckoner team into helping him with his vendetta against Steelheart. He even admits that he's out for revenge, pure and simple. But is Megan right? Steelheart did keep Newcago from falling into chaos like so many other areas. Do his victories outweigh his sins?

Chapter 22

It's too large of a chunk for me to quote, but this whole bit with the guards looking down into the elevator shaft, somehow missing David, and then Megan actually seriously considering killing him afterward (I mean, he flat out notices her hand going for her gun)...it was a weird scene.
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None of the bad guys in this book have been that stupid so far. And yeah, Megan did just get a shower of dust from the tensor blast David didn't control correctly, and yes, David annoys her, but...it's odd. Anyone have any theories as to what is going on here? (As I've said before, I know what's happening, as I've read both Steelheart and Firefight, but I'm giving you guys my reactions as I remember them from the first time I read the book, in order to create and foster discussion.)

She knelt beside me and eyed the wall and the wiring.

A seemingly unused room set to detonate already? What is Steelheart trying to hide here?

"Wow," Cody said. "Look at that. I guess some of the power cells went up."

So, the explosives that were already in the building, put there by Steelheart, were way more powerful than the ones used by the Reckoners.

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Chapter 23
  

People hadn't really paid that much money for such simple things, had they? It baffled me. Pre-Calamity people had been a strange lot.

Well...no argument from me.

"He's been bragging," Abraham said, "and making things up--only now, his ministry has to make all of his claims sound true. Otherwise he'll look foolish."

I think it's interesting that Steelheart thinks he needs to make up stories about himself. He already turned the entire city of Chicago and a good portion of the lake into steel. That wasn't good enough?

"Ten years is not so long," Abraham said. "Not in the big picture of things... The heroes will come. Someday we will have Epics that do not kill, do not hate, do not dominate. We will be protected."

This whole conversation...just...wow. Rarely do you see the heroes arguing about how their actions will affect everyone else. Everything here is pure philosophical gold, if you have that turn of mind.

Chapter 24

"No, not a test of faith or anything like that," Megan said. "I mean a test of what we'll do, if we have power. Enormous power. What would it do to us? How would we deal with it?"

A test still has to be administered by someone or something, Megan. But she raises interesting points, nonetheless. Ordinary humans, given ridiculous amounts of power...it reminds me of the Lord Acton quote, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Chapter 25

My father lay slumped against the pillar, head to the side. The bullet wound was frozen in the steel folds of his shirt. His eyes were still open. He looked like a statue, cast with incredible detail--even the pores of his skin were clear.

The entire description of the old bank vault was eerie, but the description of David's father, his body turned into a steel statue, made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

"If. in doing so, he let Steelheart live....well, Steelheart hadn't done terrible things at that point. Your father couldn't know the future. You can't be so frightened of what might happen that you are unwilling to act."

I stared into my father's dead eyes and found myself nodding. "That's the answer," I whispered. "It's the answer to what you and Megan were arguing about."

I love how this whole chapter is a turning point for David. From here on out, even though he is partially driven still by revenge, he seems to understand and perhaps even believe what most of the others seem to believe as well--that they're doing this for a good reason.

What did you guys think of these chapters? There was some pretty neat stuff discussed--any thoughts?

 See you next time!

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Steelheart Read-Along #1: Chapters 1-10

All right, so how did the first two weeks' reading go? Steelheart is a re-read for me (for the third time), but I'm still seeing little things that I've either never noticed before or didn't remember. Don't you love stories like that?

Well, let's dive in! Here are my notes and reactions for the first 10 chapters of Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson:

(BEWARE! Everything below this point may contain spoilers...so if you haven't read this book yet, please do not go any further!)

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PROLOGUE:

"I am called Deathpoint," he said. "It's not the cleverest of names, I'll admit. But I find it memorable."

Deathpoint was an interesting villain for me right at first. I thought his power scary and his nonchalance freaky, and then...and then. Sanderson upped it by having him kill a baby. I have two kids. I first read this book when my oldest was a baby, nursing him as I read on my Kindle. This made me sick and it was the first time I ever considered putting away a Sanderson book. (I think I did put the book down and return to it several hours later.)

A figure stood in the doorway to the street. He was backlight, little more than a silhouette because of the bright sunlight shining in bethind him. An amazing, herculean, awe-inspiring silhouette.

Finally! I thought when I read this part. Here's the hero! Everyone is safe! Steelheart's first appearance reminded me very much of the old Superman cartoons I loved as a kid--he came in with his cape flapping, hovering just off the floor, and ready to save the day. I was so ready for him to be a hero. Then, we get that heart-sinking twist, when he proclaims himself Emperor of Chicago and demands Deathpoint's loyalty.

As an aside, I think Steelheart's similarity to Superman is absolutely fascinating. They're so very similar, down to Steelheart building a palace out away from the city. It makes me wish I knew more about Superman, just to see if there are any more comparisons that might be drawn, and if those comparisons could provide clues to the way the story progresses. (I'm a nerd like that.)

And for those who really are reading along for the first time--I'll give you a hint that in this prologue is one of Sanderson's typical, seemingly-insignificant mentions of something that turns out to have huge implications in the story. I can't say anything more, but...just keep this chapter in mind as we read through the book. ;)

CHAPTER 1:

The only thing you can see up there is Calamity, which looks kind of like a bright red star or comet.

The first mention of Calamity, and from this moment on I have been going nuts trying to figure out what Calamity is and what connection it has to the Epics. I seriously cannot wait to read the third book in the series, which is titled Calamity.

Like the upper crust of an old-school dictatorship, these people lived off the crumbs Steelheart left behind. That meant they were almost as culpable as the Epics in keeping the rest of us oppressed, but I didn't bear them much ill will.

I find the above quote fascinating. Unlike so many other dystopian heroes, David doesn't hate the elite. He just accepted it and moved on.

But even a ninety-year-old blind priest would stop and stare at this woman. If he weren't blind, that is. Dumb metaphor, I thought. I'll have to work on that one. I have trouble with metaphors.

I love and adore a good sarcastic, snarky character as much as anyone else. But David's trouble with metaphors is what totally and completely sold me on him.

CHAPTER 2:

I'd never really practiced winking before. Could you do it the wrong way, though? It was a simple thing.
"Something wrong with your eye?" Curveball asked.
"Er, got a lash in it," I said.

Not much in this chapter, but I just had to make a note of this because I. Love. It.

CHAPTER 3:

The thing about handguns is that they're blasted difficult to aim. Even trained, practiced professionals miss more often than they hit. And if you level the gun out in front of you sideways--like you think you're in some stupid action movie--you'll hit even less often.

Thank you! THANK YOU! Someone finally said it! I know this is a minor thing, but you cannot imagine how much this bugs me when I see someone in a book or movie being super-accurate with their handgun when it's held sideways. I grew up shooting guns, okay? This does. Not. Happen. (Writers, please stop doing this. Please.)

Gun still trained on me, she raised her hand to her head, touching one finger to her ear. I could see an earring there was was probably tethered to her mobile.

Bluetooth earrings? Count me in!

Underneath she wore a low-cut tanktop and a pair of spandex biker shorts.

OK, I was as surprised as David was when I read this bit, then I started laughing. Then I again mentally thanked Brandon Sanderson for getting it right. Because again, an annoyance to me in many movies and books is when the woman chases the bad guy down while still wearing her slinky dress and heels. Please, writers, for the love of ankles everywhere, take note.

CHAPTER 4:

There was a pop, Fortuity dodged, and my windshield suddenly cracked--a bullet blasting through it about an inch from my head.

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Fortuity ran forward. I could see him glaring at me, lips curling up into a sneer. He was a monster--I'd documented over a hundred murders tied to him.

I'm not exactly sure how Fortuity planned to murder David with his wrists handcuffed.

CHAPTER 5:

Megan stood behind him, my rifle in one hand--held at the hip--her pistol in the other hand...She fired both at once, I realized. She checkmated him in the air with two shots.

Have I mentioned how awesome I think Megan is, even compared to other action heroines? No? I'll let David sum it up for you...

She can shoot like a dream and she carries tiny grenades in her top, a bit of my addled mind thought. I think I might be in love.

CHAPTER 6:

You target High Epics, and there are only a few hundred of those in Newcago. Among them, only a couple dozen have a prime invincibility, and you always pick someone with a prime invincibility.

Wow, I thought the first time I read this. He's dedicated.

CHAPTER 7:

I took a deep breath. There was only one thing left to try. "I've seen Steelheart bleed."
Prof stiffened.
That made the others pause. Prof looked over his shoulder at me. "What?"
"I've seen Steelheart bleed."

And...here we go. Up until now, David has been competent with his weapons but a bit more on the snarky, goofy side. Now, we learn just how obsessed and dedicated he is.

CHAPTER 8:

"I only shoot people when the job calls for it," she said. "You're trying to make small talk; you're simply not very good at it. That's not a shooting offense."

Ah, a girl after my own heart.

"You wrote about Epics, but what about us? What about the Reckoners?
"Of course I wrote it down," I said.

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CHAPTER 9:

"You have a plan?" Prof asked. "For killing the most powerful Epic in the country?"

I take it back. The kid's fanatical.

CHAPTER 10:

I walked to my mattress and unzipped the case. Inside was my life. Dozens of folders, filled with clippings from newspapers or scraps of information. Eight notebooks filled with my thoughts and findings. A larger notebook with my indexes.

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Have you read Steelheart before, or is this your first time? Do you like the twist of the Epics all being supervillains? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

No challenge this week! Your assignment--read chapters 11-20 and check back here in two weeks! Have a great day!

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Read-Alongs Introductory and Book #1

If you're anything like me, you're always looking for new books to read and more readers who are as fanatical about reading as you are. While I've recently been able to drag coax a few people I know in person to read some of my favorites, the more the merrier! So, I would like to introduce you to the first installment in The Fangirl Initiative Read-Alongs!

Every two weeks (as for now I'm a biweekly contributor here at TFI), I'll toss up a blog post here with my thoughts/reactions for the assigned chapters of the book I'm currently using for a read-along. Y'all are welcome to discuss the chapters with comments on the post and our Facebook page, as well as participating in the challenges I issue (and will occasionally participate in), of which I hope there to be one a month. There won't be any prizes or anything (boo! Hisssss!), but we should have a good fun time anyway!

Now, for the reveal of the first book of the read-along series! Drumroll, please…

Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart!

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A bit of background on why I chose this book first…

Simply, I love it.

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The Reckoners series, of which Steelheart is the first book, is one of my favorite series by Brandon Sanderson. (My all-time favorite, which I will probably do a read-along of at some point, is his novella Shadows For Silence In the Forests of Hell. Seriously awesome.) Steelheart has super-villains, shadowy assassins, and a quirky main character, all wrapped up in one of Sanderson's traditionally twisty story plots.

Fangirling aside, Sanderson is a fabulous writer and one of my fiction-writing heroes. So please, join along with me as I re-read Steelheart, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Here's the synopsis:

How far would you go for revenge if someone killed your father?
   If someone destroyed your city?
   If everything you ever loved was taken from you?
   David Charleston will go to any lengths to stop Steelheart. But to exact revenge in Steelheart’s world, David will need the Reckoners—a shadowy group of rebels bent on maintaining justice.
   And it turns out that the Reckoners might just need David too.

For the next two weeks, read Chapters 1-10 of Steelheart. I'll post a reactions/thoughts post on Sunday, June 26th. See you then!

And because it has one, here's the book trailer!

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