CALAMITY (THE RECKONERS, BOOK 3) REVIEW

AUTHORS:- Brandon Sanderson

PUBLISHED:- 16 February 2016

PAPERBACK:- 448 Pages

SUMMARY:- When Calamity lit up the sky, the Epics were born. David’s fate has been tied to their villainy ever since that historic night. Steelheart killed his father. Firefight stole his heart. And now Regalia has turned his closest ally into a dangerous enemy.

David knew Prof’s secret and kept it even when the Reckoners’ leader struggled to control the effects of his Epic powers. But facing Obliteration in Babilar was too much. Prof has now embraced his Epic destiny. He’s disappeared into those murky shadows of menace Epics are infamous for the world over, and everyone knows there’s no turning back. . . .

But everyone is wrong. Redemption is possible for Epics—Megan proved it. They’re not lost. Not completely. And David is just about crazy enough to face down the most powerful High Epic of all to get his friend back. Or die trying.

MY THOUGHTS:-

NON-SPOILER:-

So, the grand conclusion to the reckoners series, it was a thrilling ride up until the end but also in some ways disappointing, don’t get me wrong, I found the writing and the characters to be quite interesting, rooting, and cheering for them every step of the way but the conclusion left me wanting more. There were so many unanswered questions, so many things I wanted to see in the book, which I only got a teasing glimpse of in the end and then, POOF. So for me, it was a bittersweet experience.

To be honest, when the ‘Steelheart’ concluded with David finally avenging his father and taking down the strongest Epic on the continent, Steelheart, I felt with his primary motivation for fighting epics gone the story would lose its potency going further in.But all my doubts were laid to rest in ‘Firefight’ as we followed David, struggling with and evolving his opinions about epics, having killed a lot of them and seen the same frightened and desperate look in their eyes as any regular human would have. So I picked up 'Calamity' with high hopes for the story.

SPOILER:-

In this book, Calamity was revealed to be an Epic, and Regalias failed attempt (Air Quotes) at trying to turn David into an Epic plays an important role in the story,not as important as I would have preferred but it's alright. The budding romance between Megan and David was a welcome distraction from all the death and destruction in the first book, and It only became a sure thing in Firefight and continues in ‘Calamity’, but it never is in the forefront of the story which I really appreciated. I tend to skip the books where the main motivation of the characters to do anything is ‘the love of their life'.

The character growth is a strong point of this book as the characters are forced to get out of their comfort zone time and again. David emerges to be a decent leader in the absence of Prof and Tia, as Prof turned evil, using his epic abilities in earnest to save Babilar from 'Obliteration' in the last book, and Tia is missing, presumed dead by everyone.

The story moves to the mobile city of Atlanta, and by using his serious skills of world-building Sanderson again shows us that he's really worth his salt(That’s a pun,you'll get it when you read the book).

We enter a world of alternate realities as Megan gets more control over her powers. The action scenes are detailed, captivating, and exhilarating. Something happens during one of these action scenes which points to David having manifested Epic powers but not talked or elaborated upon up until the end.

The ending I found a little disappointing because it left me wanting more and with so many unanswered questions, I only wish there was another trilogy after this series. So some of you may be disappointed as the story doesn’t really deliver the anticipated 'BANG' it had been building up to, but by the end of it all it felt like answers were more necessary than action.

So, if you enjoyed Steelheart and Firefight I would not recommend missing the conclusion, as it is quite exhilarating and beautifully written.

CHARACTERS:-