Six Degrees: From Craven Fear to Steelheart

And a lovely Tuesday morning to you, dear Reader! I hope you are all feeling well and had a lovely Star Wars day yesterday (And I hope that you took great pleasure in telling people, "May the Fourth be with you!" I know I did!) I realize for many, today is Cinco de Mayo... but for us here in Star Wars Nerdom, it's REVENGE OF THE FIFTH!Which is fitting, as today I am going to be discussing a truly fantastic villain. Last week, DJ linked from Tales of the Kingdom to Hind's Feet on High Places (another all time favorite of mine) and introduced the character Craven Fear who dwells within the pages of that fantastic allegory. As the characters in that book are little more than depictions of their names and the emotion portrayed by those words, it was a bit difficult at first for me to think of a link. I believed for a bit that I was going to have to cheat and go back to The Goldstone Wood, or perhaps revisit Narnia (both places are just lovely this time of year), but then I realized I could go to a different world altogether: our own... but in a sort of fantasy-esque, sci-fi sort of way... not a bad way to visit our world, actually.The character that I thought of is much like Craven Fear from Hind's Feet on High Places. His name is Steelheart and he is the titular character of the book by Brandon Sanderson. It's also the only non-Wheel of Time book by Sanderson I have read... as the waiting list for anything else by him at the library is absolutely massive. You can read my actual review of the book HERE. Like Craven Fear, Steelheart is a bully, and he relies on people's fear of him to keep them under his control, under his thumb, and in his power. At first, he seemed to be a hero, but his true colors soon shone through and he set himself up as the tyrannical leader of Chicago (another reason I love this book... references to my home-town are always entertaining).The story is told from the point of view of a young man named David. David is the only person alive who has ever seen Steelheart bleed. He saw it happen right before Steelheart killed everyone else in the building, including David's father. This has sent David on a life-long vendetta against Steelheart with one goal: to see Steelheart bleed again. He has done an enormous amount of research on Steelheart and the other "Epics" (people like Steelheart who possess unnatural and superhuman abilities), and hopes to take it to the "Resistance" and join their cause to rid the Earth of the Epics. Smart, resourceful, quick on his feet, nerdy, and yet also young and naive about just exactly what he's getting into, David is a fantastic character to ride around with.In the course of the book, David does end up in the company of a group of freedom fighters, each with his or her own unique personality. There's Prof (aka Jonathan Phaedrus) the leader of the Resistance. He is heroic and kind, and believes that the Epics should be erased from humanity. He has created an arsenal of weapons to use against them and to undermine their authority. He knows he's fighting an uphill battle, but he truly believes that fighting back is the only way to save the human race. There are secrets in his murky past and his own hands are not the cleanest, but in the end, his heart is noble.Cody is one of Prof's closest and most trusted men. A jack-of-all trades, Cody will do any job that needs to be done. He also fancies himself to be a true Scotsman, even though he's never been to Scotland (he grew up in Tennessee) and knows very little about Scotland. He will make up phrases and attribute them to his "native land" and his passion for Scotland is pure, even if his vision of what Scotland is ... incorrect, to say the least. This definitely makes him the comic relief of the story.Then there's Tia, who is Prof's second-in-command. She doesn't fight, as she is the resident healer and scholar. Her forte is in research, and she is the only one Prof trusts with all of his secrets.And finally, there's Megan. She is a very attractive young woman in Prof's organization who is one of the team's frontline combatants. David falls for her, hard, despite the fact that she spends most of the book acting as though she despises him - they do eventually become friends. She often seems to suffer from complete personality changes, which confuses David no end, until he discovers that Megan isn't sure she believes Steelheart actually deserves to die - he has brought a certain kind of order to Chicago that other Epics have been unable to recreate in other cities.One more minor character would be Diamond, an arms dealer who sells weapons to both sides (Epics and Resistance fighters). He is extremely neutral in the "war" and thus has discovered a level of safety that most people in this realm only dream of. It is widely known that if anyone hurt Diamond, all other arms dealers would sell weapons to the side that hurt him ever again. He is a fairly straight-forward man, and holds the identities of his customers sacred, even when they come uncomfortably close to bumping into one another inside the premises of his "shop." He also has a somewhat terrifying love of explosions.There are a few more characters, but those are the ones that stand out the most. I really recommend this book, and can't wait to get my hands on the sequel: Firefight (which is now available... so... if anyone wants to get me a birthday present...)!Hope you enjoyed this week's rendition of SIX DEGREES OF KOOL BOOKS! If you would like to play along, just grab one of these characters and tell us who they remind you of in your own blog post! The link-up and more details can be found HERE. The rules are simple: Have fun! Give Credit! Share your blog post URL so we can read it! Have fun!