Ten years ago, Calamity came and life changed forever. The Epics arrived, superhuman individuals with amazing powers. At first, humans believed the Epics were heroes, but they quickly learned they were wrong. Epics came to rule, and they rule with an iron fist. Any resistance or even getting in an Epic’s way for a moment results in death. They regard men as tools to further their rule. No one can fight them.

But some still want to. David was eight years old the day he saw the most powerful Epic, Steelheart, up close. He and his father were in a bank when Steelheart came in and killed everyone he saw without hesitation. He didn’t see David, and David knows Steelheart’s greatest flaw: he saw Steelheart bleed. Every Epic has a fatal flaw, and only by exploiting that flaw can each be defeated.

After years of study and plotting, David is about to get his wish to fight the Epics. He works his way into a team of Reckoners, counter-terrorist humans willing to sacrifice everything to kill an Epic. David is made part of the team for his extensive Epic research and his ability to improvise. He joins Prof, the Reckoner team leader, and his crew: Tia, Abraham, Cody, and Megan. Together they plan to not only fight the lesser Epics but to take down Steelheart himself. Is there any chance they can succeed?

Brandon Sanderson has written a story straight from the world of graphic novels, if those novels used only words. He has created a new world populated with recognizable heroes and evildoers and set them in a struggle from which only one side can emerge. The words deliver a punch and the action is nonstop. This is the first book in The Reckoners series, and readers will be impatient to begin the next. Recommended for those who enjoy movies such as The Avengers or Superman and Batman.