My Thoughts: Firefight, by Brandon Sanderson

• Age Range: 12 and up 
• Grade Level: 7 and up
• Lexile Measure: 0770 (What's this?)
• Series: The Reckoners
• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st edition (January 6, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385743580
• ISBN-13: 978-0385743587
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"They told David it was impossible--that even the Reckoners had never killed a High Epic. Yet, Steelheart--invincible, immortal, unconquerable--is dead. And he died by David's hand. 

Eliminating Steelheart was supposed to make life more simple. Instead, it only made David realize he has questions. Big ones. And there's no one in Newcago who can give him the answers he needs. 

Babylon Restored, the old borough of Manhattan, has possibilities, though. Ruled by the mysterious High Epic, Regalia, David is sure Babylon Restored will lead him to what he needs to find. And while entering another city oppressed by a High Epic despot is a gamble, David's willing to risk it. Because killing Steelheart left a hole in David's heart. A hole where his thirst for vengeance once lived. Somehow, he filled that hole with another Epic--Firefight. And he's willing to go on a quest darker, and more dangerous even, than the fight against Steelheart to find her, and to get his answers."-Goodreads

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My Thoughts:
Brandon Sanderson is an author of world acclaim. He was multiple books on the New York Times Bestsellers list, has multiple awards, and is generally known for his amazing fantasy/sci-fi extravaganzas in the adult demographic. Basically, everybody loves his work. Everyone except me - who's to say - whelmed.

I'm not blown away, but by no means disappointed. It's no secret that the best bits of Firefight, are with David, Our protagonist, who's struggling to find meaning in his life, after he accomplished the impossible. Killing the high-epic Steelheart. 

"The sudden and abrupt removal of my all-consuming goal … well, it was like I was a donut, and somebody had sucked all the jelly out of me. But I could stuff new jelly in there. It would just get my hands a little sticky in the process."

 The 19 year old "Steeylsyaler" isn't given much time to wallow in self pity, seeing that he is quickly whisked to an enigmatic new city. Babilar - Newcago's watery, laid back little cousin, complete with underwater Reckoner bases, and glow in the dark fruit! As you can imagine, it was a mental carnival to visualise. But thanks to Sanderson's restrained descriptions, much of that was left for us to do.

“Enforcement had done its best to kill me on several occasions. You didn’t just get over something like that. In fact, they had killed Megan. She’d recovered. Mostly.” 

My last point is a little nitpicky, but I think honesty is important here. I didn't like most of the Epic's weaknesses in Firefight. Their revelations felt stifled, as the clues were so minute - so vague, that the reader could not remotely presume a character's Achilles Heel. Thus dampening the overall shock, I can only assume was supposed to upend me...

My Rating: 3.9/5
(Good)

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