Mitosis

All in all, a decent fill in story between Steelheart and Firefight. It's a short one, but it was free! So that's pretty awesome :). I listened to this right before starting Firefight and liked that it showed an older and wiser David who, true to form, is still terrible at creating similies and metaphors! As always, McCleod Andrews is a wonderful narrator. I wouldn't say that this is a necessary addition, but give it a listen if you're enjoying the series!

This is set not too long after Steelheart. David and the Reckoners have wrested control of Newcago from the Epics, but now they need to convince the people of the city that they too can fight the Epics, and live free from their control. Things are not going so well, and then a new Epic comes to town: one whose power in the ability to divide and duplicate his body at will… and he's come to town specifically to find David. This was a fun story, full of action, and one of Sanderson's characteristically excellently imaginative fight scenes. I think it would work well enough on its own, although some of the background and character quirks (David's penchant for bizarre similes, for example) might be confusing to someone who hasn't read show more Steelheart. show less

This is probably the best "between books" short story I've ever read, not that I've read very many AT ALL, so take that with a grain of salt.

That being said, it is VERY short. I was honestly surprised, seeing as how Sanderson wrote it and everything he writes winds up long-ish. This took me maybe twenty minutes to read? If that? So yeah, my main complaint is that it's very short, but also that it FEELS short. It feels rushed, if you catch my meaning, and that's the main thing holding it back from five stars.

Other than that though, a fantastic in-betweener. The epic, 'Mitosis' has come to Newcago to call out the man who killed Steelheart old-west style. Mitosis has a very interesting power, in that he can clone himself an infinite show more number of times, with some important limitations of course.

The best thing about this is something I won't spoil, but in finding Mitosis' weakness Sanderson makes David, and by extension the reader, think a lot more about Epic weaknesses and their true origin. Are they truly as random as the powers themselves? Or are they embedded deeper into the person's own psychology, mirroring their fears and insecurities?

It's something to think about and I can't wait for Firefight to expound on the idea. show less

There's so much to like about Mitosis, and almost all of it comes down to one thing: Brandon Sanderson's nearly unparalleled ability to build and describe action.

Mitosis takes place in the period between the events of Steelheart and Firefight, but really is just a snap shot, a moment in time to give a flavor of the changes that are happening in Newcago and the villains that the Reckoners are fighting as they protect the city and keep it clear of the super powered villains that occasionally try to plant their flag.

Because I had read that the story wasn’t necessary in order to enjoy Firefight, and because I generally only buy books in paper form –I know, a bit anachronistic—I decided I wouldn’t read Mitosis before I read show more Firefight, if at all. I was less than twenty pages in to Firefight before I realized that even if I could get by without reading Mitosis, there were enough references to the book, and the references were sufficiently obscure, that reading it was a good idea. I put down my cash and read it on my Kindle app shortly thereafter. It didn’t take long, and I am glad I did. It’s a valuable addition to The Reckoners series.

That said, I think Sanderson would have served his series better by putting it right into Firefight, maybe as a prologue or as an opening chapter. The opening pages of Firefight seem to stutter a bit, and Mitosis provides a seamless transition between the two novels to help the story fly. show less

I'm not sure what the point of this novella was. Also the style is pretty much a clear depiction of Sanderson's faults as a writer (that his other books are excellent in spite of). Strangely one dimensional characters who feign depth by having specific things that they care about too much, interesting ideas with limited purpose, and a tendency towards resolving imbalanced confrontations with deus ex machina.

Mitosis is a novelette sequel to Steelheart (which is sitting on my shelf waiting to be read!). Brandon Sanderson is an excellent writer and he also have a very wide range of ideas he’s turned into books. I have almost all of his books, with only a couple left that I haven’t had a chance to read and I’ve enjoyed every single one.

Mitosis is in a world of super powered people. Unfortunately, all of them seem to be or turn insanely evil. A planet with supervillains but missing the super-heroes. So it took a few regular people to become regular heroes and stand up to them. This story takes place after the first successful revolt of the regulars.

It is still too early for the vast majority living in the city to feel confident that they show more are free of the super. On top of that many are afraid another one is going to show up any day and lay claim to the ‘abandoned’ city for themselves. The fledgling government has tried to think of ways to deal with such a situation by putting into place a few emergency measures.

It’s a good thing they started planning right away, because they do have a problem. Mitosis has just snuck into town and he is a load of trouble. His special power allows him to duplicate himself so he can be his own spy network, or maybe army. He’s come to town looking for the man who claims to have killed Steelheart. He plans to show it was a sham, partly to keep the non-supers down, partly to bolster his own sense of god-hood. It doesn’t look good for our little hero. show less

"Why'd ya read it, E.? Thought you hated the first book?"

You'd be right. I did hate the first book. But, you see, I got a code for the audiobook and... well, here, read this:

I read this because the Epic, Mitosis, is mentioned in the first few chapters of Firefight, which I also happened to get free through Audible. I'd seen this short story floating around on Goodreads, but figured it was a standalone deal. Then What's-his-face (the narrator) brings up the fight in the new book, so I figured it was important. It's not. I was right the first time.

The action is stolen directly from the battle between Agent Smith and Neo from the Matrix Reloaded (Revolutions? I can't fucking remember), wherein Smith keeps cloning himself and Neo whups show more their asses with a tetherball pole. Okay, so What's-his-face (Dan, Devon, Dirk... Daniel? The narrator, whoever he is) doesn't know Kung Fu, so the action is a little weaksauce. The ending is predictable. They mention Mitosis's possible weakness in the very first chapter and you're like, Okay, yeah, that would make sense: If he can have a clone anywhere, and there's an emergency broadcast system, of course they'll play music through the speakers to kill him. It doesn't exactly go down like that, though, because everyone gets together like the ending of Bill Murray's Scrooged and sings Mitosis to death, but you still knew the emergency system was going to be used to kill this fucker. And it is. It's used to get everyone in the city together. But here's the big problem with that: It's stated at the beginning that people are still hiding, that they're still in fear after Dan/Devon/Dirk/Didra/Defunct/Debutante killed Steelheart. If this is true, why did the entire city help him kill Mitosis? That was a huge what-the-fuck moment for me. At this point in the story, the Reckoners are losing. Mitosis has shot the narrator (I'm so sorry, but I can't be bothered to remember this kid's name). This Epic seems just as unstoppable as Steelheart. Logic would dictate that the residents of this city would continue to hide and not risk genocide by helping. The climax seemed forced and unbelievable. But Sanderson gets away with it because... well, because he's Sanderson.

In summation: I liked it about as much as I liked Steelheart, which isn't saying a whole hell of a lot. Nothing original here. Mediocre epic with a shit weakness and one of the most annoying protagonists I've read in a long while. "Steelslayer?" lol

*I received a free copy of this and Firefight through Audible.com because I'm a fucking idiot* show less