When the Epics first appeared, there were many that believed that humans with super powers would want to help everyone. But it turns out that having powers goes to a person’s head, and a massive power struggle ensued, where regular people suffered as various Epics consolidated their power.
David was there when Steelheart claimed Chicago, and David is the only person alive who’s seen that Steelheart can be hurt, because his father was the one that hurt Steelheart. But Steelheart recovered, and quickly obliterated any evidence of that day – it was only pure chance that David survived.
In the years since, David has spent all his free time trying to figure out what Steelheart’s actual weakness is (all Epics have one), and also trying to figure out how to make contact with the Reckoners – the only regular people who try to fight back against the Epics. When one of the higher ranking Epics in Newcago is taken out, David gets his chance with the Reckoners, who are duly impressed by his research, and eventually allow him to join. What happens from there is the the meat of the book, and I won’t spoil it.
I really enjoyed this story – it’s a great idea to make the superheroes bad, because really, if you had ultimate power, would you use it for good? There are also some great twists and turns to the story – I was glad I had some uninterrupted plane time I could dedicate to reading it in one go.