Steelheart

Product Description <br/>The #1 New York Times bestseller that James Dashner called “fantastic,” with “relentless” suspense and an “explosive” climax from Brandon Sanderson, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Words of Radiance, coauthor of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, and creator of the internationally bestselling Mistborn trilogy. And don’t miss the rest of the Reckoners series: Firefight and Calamity!<br/>   Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary people extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.<br/>   Epics are no friends of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man, you must crush his will.<br/>   Now, in what was once Chicago, an astonishingly powerful Epic named Steelheart has installed himself as emperor. Steelheart possesses the strength of ten men and can control the elements. It is said that no bullet can harm him, no sword can split his skin, and no fire can burn him. He is invincible. Nobody fights back . . . nobody but the Reckoners.<br/>   A shadowy group of ordinary humans, the Reckoners spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in.<br/>   When Steelheart came to Chicago, he killed David’s father. For years, like the Reckoners, David has been studying, and planning, and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.<br/>   He has seen Steelheart bleed.<br/>   And he wants revenge.<br/><br/>Praise for the Reckoners Series:<br/><br/><br/>#1 New York Times Bestselling Series<br/><br/> “The<br/>suspense is relentless and the<br/>climax explosive.” —James Dashner, #1<br/>New York Times bestselling author of the Maze Runner series<br/><br/> “<br/>Another win for Sanderson . . . he’s<br/>simply a brilliant writer. Period.” —Patrick Rothfuss, author of the<br/>New York Times and<br/>USA Today bestseller<br/>The Name of the Wind<br/>  <br/> “<br/>Action-packed.” —EW.com<br/>  <br/> “<br/>Compelling. . . . Sanderson uses plot twists that he teases enough for readers to pick up on to distract from the more dramatic reveals he has in store.” —<br/>The A.V. Club<br/><br/><br/><br/>From the Hardcover edition.<br/> Amazon.com Review <br/><br/>Q&A with Brandon Sanderson (Interviewed by James Dashner)<br/><br/>Q. Brandon, you’re perhaps best known for your adult books—Mistborn, The Way of Kings, and particularly for finishing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. However, recently you’ve undertaken several projects for younger readers. Why is that? How does it feel to be entering into the world of YA fiction? How does it differ from writing for an adult audience? How do you possibly think you can compete with your friend, James Dashner?<br/>A. I've known this guy James Dashner for so long, and he was such an inspiration to me, and I thought, if this joker can do it, then I can too! The sci-fi/fantasy genre is what made a reader out of me, and it has a long history of crossing the line between YA and adult fiction. For example, you mentioned The Wheel of Time. In the early books, the main protagonists are all teenagers. Are these books YA? The publishers don't classify them that way. They’re shelved with the adult fantasy books. Books like that have influenced me in that some of the stories I tell fit into the mold that society says will package well as YA books. Other stories I tell—that are a thousand pages long—don’t seem to fit that mold. But I don’t sit down and say, “I’m writing for a teen audience now. I need to change my entire style.” Instead, I say, “This project and the way I’m writing it feels like it would work well for a teen audience.”<br/>Q. In previous interviews, you’ve mentioned that you come up with characters, worlds, and magic systems independently and then fit them together to create a book. How is that different when writing a YA book like Steelheart? Are certain worlds or magic systems more suitable for YA readers? And how in the world did you get so smart?<br/>A. Ha! I do a lot of talking about the process of writing. That makes it sound like I’m doing it more consciously than