Epic calamity

For once I like this American cover-art best!

Brandon Sanderson presents "Steelheart", the first book in the "Reckoners series", an action-packed thrill ride.
   How far would you go for revenge if someone killed your father?
   If someone destroyed your city?
   If everything you ever loved was taken from you?
   David Charleston will go to any lengths to stop Steelheart. But to exact revenge in Steelheart’s world, David will need the Reckoners—a shadowy group of rebels bent on maintaining justice.
   And it turns out that the Reckoners might just need David too.

A different spin on the superhero story - in this post-apocalyptic world the appearance of a new star called Calamity started the rise of Epics from the human population. But the Epics are not the good guys. The Epic villians have gained super powers and a desire to rule over a cowed populace that largely accepts the fact that Epics control their lives and the strongest among them are in a constant battle for dominance. Only one shadowy group of ordinary humans called the Reckoners dare fight to eliminate them. David persuades as a cell of Reckoners to allow him join their ranks after proving he has extensive knowledge on the Epics, knowledge which could lead to their overthrow.

As a child David sees his father injure Steelheart, the most powerful of the Epics. David has made it his mission to learn all he can about all Epics. Everyone thinks they are invincible, but he knows otherwise. He knows that each one has a weakness, and he's seen Steelheart's.  Steelheart can bleed. David intends to get his revenge.

In a city which has been transferred into steel and the populace suffer a perpetual darkness, the Reckoners lurk in the undercity tunnels endeavouring to defeat the Epics one by one.

I liked the premise of the of the story, yes it is super-hero action, but we all need some escapism, so I’ll read the second in the series “Firefight” when it is published next January.