Saturday Shorts: Mitosis

From "New York Times" bestselling author Brandon Sanderson's action-packed novel "Steelheart" comes "Mitosis," a short story set in the world of The Reckoners series, exclusively available in the digital format.

Steelheart may be dead, but Epics still plague Newcago and David and the Reckoners have vowed to fight back. Quoted from Goodreads

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Such a great novella!  Honestly, one of the best parts of December this year are these great short stories that are coming out, and Mitosis doesn't disappoint.  

Warning, there will be a few spoilers from Steelheart included in this review, so be careful, but if you haven't read Steelheart yet, what are you waiting for? Seriously, I love that book, and this one just keeps that action moving.  

So, quick summary since the one above doesn't really tell you anything.  Steelheart is dead, but the city isn't safe.  While lots of normal people are flocking to Newcago and the promise of safety from epics, a lot of epics are as well, ready to fill the power vacuum left by Steelheart's demise. One of these, Mitosis, has the ability duplicate himself over and over, and whose every clone has to be killed for him to truly die.  Scary, right?

One of the best parts of this series is the crazy different powers Brandon Sanderson gives his epics.  It's not your derivative super strength and speed or lightning or anything else that's been done over and over again.  His main bad guys come with a skill-set that's different from your average, run of the mill newly created "superhero." 

I also love David.  He's strong, inventive, and horrible at similes.  His role in this story shows exactly how heroic and clever he is, while still leaving him completely human and vulnerable.

Plus, this is a complete short story in and of itself.  Sure, you do need to read Steelheart or things won't really make sense to you, but as far as this story goes, it's a true Reckoners 1.5. We get a villain that threatens the city, and David personally, all building up to a climax that was touching and kind of perfect.  It furthered the plot of the story and expanded the world.  I'm sure you probably don't have to read this for the next book to make sense, but the world Brandon Sanderson created is richer if you do.

All in all, I'm giving it a strong 4 stars.  It's the perfect novella to an amazing series.  Now all I have to do is wait for next fall to read Firefight.  It's going to be a long wait.