Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

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 Prof struggled to control the effects of his Epic powers. But facing Obliteration in Babilar was too much. Once the Reckoners’ leader, 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. 

After the disaster in Babilar in the previous book, Firefight, the team is back, weakened and down a few members, but David has a plan. Sort of. He's almost certain that Epics can fight the evil tearing them apart. Now the trouble is figuring out how.

I really wanted to love this book. I certainly loved the idea of it. I've been swept up in the action, humour and fun in the first two, but unfortunately the third one lagged a bit behind. I still love the world building and the characters, but I think Calamity (the character, not the book itself) is too simple, Knighthawk is too advanced and Megan too overly achieving. I guess I just didn't quite follow Sanderson's overall plot line and how he wanted it all to pan out. It didn't quite work for me. I put the book down for weeks on end, because it just never really pulled me in, and once I finally managed to sit down and finished it, I found the ending a bit rushed. David's odd sense of humour and weird metaphors didn't appeal to me either this time around, often just making jarring halts in the flow of the story, rather than actually being funny.

All in all, a series worth reading if you're into action / science fiction / fun / supernatural abilities, but the final book is a bit of a let down, compared to the first. It's still good, but not great.

CALAMITY Reckoners #3 by Brandon Sanderson ISBN13: 9780575104839 432 pages / Published in February 2016

Review by Iben Jakobsen, Borough of Books, 2016