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Headscratchers / The Reckoners Trilogy
aka: Steelheart

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    Reckoners' Goal 

  • It seems to me that the Reckoners didn't actually fulfill their main goal: prove that non-Epics can and should fight Epics. Especially with the reveal that Prof is an Epic.
    • Two points: First, Steelheart was finally defeated by David, not the Professor. Second, the true lesson is that Epics can be redeemed, not that mortals can kill them.
    • Sure, in the book, the theme is explored that perhaps Epics can be redeemed. But I'm talking about within the details of the actual story. Prof specifically says that their goal is to show the normal humans that they can fight back against Epics, so that others will take up the fight. They go over this point multiple times. But, in the end, the Reckoners could not have succeeded without the aid of an Epic. David set the final trap, but he could never have lured Steelheart into that trap without Prof. Put another way, if Prof was taken out of the equation, then the Reckoners wouldn't have gotten as far as they had. It remains to be seen whether this will have any impact in the next book, i.e. whether it has to be kept secret from the populace, or if they embrace a new strategy like mutually beneficial co-existence of Epics with humans.
    • David acknowledges this in Firefight, now knows how to free epics from the corruption their powers cause, and has teamed up with Megan. It's likely that cooexistance will be the way of the future.

    Tensors 

  • In Steelheart, David seems to be able to switch his Tensor from hand to hand without trouble. While the Tensors themselves don't actually do anything, David thinks they do. Some gloves can be put on either hand, but if they have complex circuitry on them, there should be a "correct" palm side and a "correct" back side. So why does David put his Tensor on both hands interchangeably?
    • Because it has the circuitry on both sides. It's not like it actually matters.
    • Because the Tensor field can be shaped. Presumably, projecting the field from the palm is just habit, and a sufficiently skilled user could carve through a streetlight post with a backhand.

    Newcago not interfering with EM signals 

  • How is it people's mobiles or any kind of radio can transmit reliably in Newcago when the entire city is basically a gigantic Faraday cage? The entire city should being having serious problems being able to transmit EM signals when everything is constantly surrounded by many meters of metal. It should be the worst in the Understreets and Steel Catacombs or pretty much anywhere that a significant amount of digging into the steel has occurred and there's many meters of metal on all sides. It wouldn't bother me so much if the Reckoners weren't explicitly using mobiles/wireless communication throughout Steelheart.
    • The mobiles are epic based technology and do not actually use radio signals. During Calamity they are forced to use normal radios at one point and have serious problems with range and reception quality.

Alternative Title(s): Steelheart, Firefight, Calamity

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