The Reckoners

The Reckoners is a young adult fantasy series written by American author Brandon Sanderson. Three books are planned in the series: Steelheart (published September 2013), Firefight (published Jan 2015), and Calamity (will come out February 16, 2016). The series depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which the appearance of an orbiting object has given random people superhuman powers in apparent defiance of known physical laws, turning them into "Epics". These powers have impelled most of them to prey upon or enslave the rest of humanity, causing the collapse of traditional governments. One young man orphaned by a High Epic joins an elite underground resistance movement.

Background

Twelve years ago, a object dubbed Calamity appeared near Earth and burst in the sky, emitting a strange radiation which gave a small group of humans super powers and near invincibility in apparent defiance of the known laws of physics. They all have different types of powers and weaknesses, with no apparent rhyme or reason. Dubbed Epics, these super-humans took to crime. Existing government proved absolutely incapable of controlling the Epics, the most powerful of which replaced government authority and enslaved the rest of humanity.