Steelheart (The Reckoners, #1)

I enjoyed the opening. I thought it was well-written and interesting, capturing the wonder and fear of the early days of the Epics. Unfortunately, things went a little downhill from there. I think mostly I felt that the book was trying too hard to find gimmicks so it would appeal its audience—the bad metaphors (and who pays that much attention to their own bad metaphors, especially when they are otherwise so completely fixated on a single goal?), wish fulfillment, and quite shallow "love story".
The story moved well enough, though, with a few hints of mysteries that ended up paying off in the end, even if they were fairly easy to guess (maybe a younger audience would be strung along a little longer).

I think my biggest disappointment is that I felt the magic system science didn't hang together. After reading so many of Sanderson's earlier works, where magic had rules and was internally consistent, I was hoping for a little more than "weaknesses can be anything" here. Again, maybe the restrictions are looser for YA books. Or maybe the structure will become apparent in future novels.

Oh, I bet the book'll make a popular movie; it's practically built for fancy special effects departments, and will give the audience lots of thrills. I'd expect it to be picked up any day now, if it hasn't already.

So, a quick, entertaining read, with not a lot of depth.