A red burst in the sky known as Calamity suddenly knocks human society into a post-apocalyptic world ruled by evil super villains known as Epics. The series kicks off in the city of Newcago (formerly Chicago) where an Epic known as Steelheart has ruthlessly established his dominion over the inhabitants of the city, both humans and lesser Epics alike. Everyone knows that Steelheart is invincible and even the Reckoners, a group of humans rumored to hunt and kill Epics, won't mess with him. However, young David Charleston has a secret that he has kept hidden for the last 10 years. On that fateful day many years ago when Steelheart killed David's father he witnessed something that no other living person has ever seen - he saw Steelheart bleed!

David hopes to somehow use his knowledge to exact revenge on Steelheart for killing his father but he knows that he will never be able to do that by himself. This is where the Reckoners come in. David has dedicated his life to studying the Epics, and their weaknesses, and he is certain he would be a great asset to their team. The first book, Steelheart, tells the story of David Charleston and how he first meets the Reckoners and the impact that he immediately has on them. This is followed by a stand-alone short story, Mitosis, and then book two - Firefight. Firefight picks up shortly after the events of Steelheart/Mitosis and David Charleston returns to unleash more bad metaphors upon a post-apocalyptic world still struggling to survive. This time the action moves away from Newcago over to Babilar (Manhattan) where another cell of the Reckoners struggles against the High Epic Regalia. This book is more than just another episodic fight against a High Epic and it starts to shed some light on just what Calamity is and why the Epics started to appear after it arrived.

Brandon Sanderson brings the Reckoners series to a tidy end with the final book, Calamity. After the leader of the Reckoners has been consumed by madness it is up to David Charleston and the few remaining Reckoners to find a way to save mankind. At this point David is no longer motivated by revenge for the death of his father and he now realizes that he shares his father's belief that the Epics will save humanity and not destroy it. David thinks he knows the secret to turning Epics away from their evil tendencies and he plans to use this knowledge to go after Calamity and bring an end to the reign of the Epics. As the story draws to a close evidence begins to mount that David's theory is not correct and the loyalty of all the Reckoners is put to the test with the fate of mankind in the balance.

Throughout the series Brandon Sanderson weaves layer upon layer into the story and nothing is as simple as it initially seems; however, in the end it all gets revealed and explained. In true comic book superhero fashion this story is a thrill ride full of impossible situations and long odds for the good guys time and time again. Although it isn't very deep, the story kept me interested and Sanderson's characters all have unique and interesting personalities.

For the audiobook version, MacLeod Andrews is an excellent narrator and he does a great job on all the character voices. Since the superhero genre isn't exactly my favorite I was slow to start up this series but once I finished Steelheart I did not hesitate to move on to the rest. I enjoyed every one of the books and in a way I regret that Sanderson ended the series so quickly. It is a refreshing change of pace from heavier Sci-Fi/Fantasy fare and the terrible metaphors and similes that David Charleston uses throughout the books are worth a chuckle or two.

Note: if you a fan of the Ex-Heroes series by Peter Clines then I would think you would enjoy this series as well and vice-versa.