Calamity

This article is about the novel. For the Epic of the same name, see Calamity (Epic).

<Calamity
by Craig Shields
The Reckoners Follows Firefight
Released	February 16, 2016

Calamity is the third and final book in The Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson.

It takes place in Atlanta, renamed to Ildithia.

The title of the book is named for a mysterious red star that appeared in the sky about a year before the Epics started getting their powers. It is later discovered that the red star is actually an Epic named Calamity, and Calamity is apparently capable of giving ordinary humans Epic powers.

Cover Blurb

“From the bestselling author of the Mistborn series and Words of Radiance comes Calamity, the final book in the New York Times bestselling Reckoners series. What started in the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Steelheart and continued in the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Firefight now concludes in Calamity.

When Calamity lit up the sky, the Epics were born. David's fate has been tied to their villainy ever since that historic night. Steelheart killed his father. Firefight stole his heart. And now Regalia has turned his closest ally into a dangerous enemy.

David knew Prof's secret, and kept it even when Prof struggled to control the effects of his Epic powers. But facing Obliteration in Babilar was too much. Once the Reckoners' leader, Prof has now embraced his Epic destiny. He's disappeared into those murky shadows of menace Epics are infamous for the world over, and everyone knows there's no turning back. . . .

But everyone is wrong. Redemption is possible for Epics—Megan proved it. They're not lost. Not completely. And David is just about crazy enough to face down the most powerful High Epic of all to get his friend back. Or die trying.”

—

Summary

For a complete chapter by chapter summary, see /Summary.

Part One

Tia is missing and the Reckoners are low on resources. Knighthawk won't deal with them any more, so David leads the Reckoners on a raid on Knighthawk Foundry, which is heavily guarded by gun-toting robots and drones. David manages to make it inside and steal some vials from a freezer, hoping to acquire some Epic-derived technology. He is badly wounded and eventually captured by Knighthawk himself. He gives them some aid in exchange for the secret to keeping back the darkness. He also reveals the secret of how motivators are made and gives David a tissue sample incubator in order to collect some of Prof's tissue.

Part Two

The team heads to Ildithia which has "traveled" to somewhere near Kansas City. They arrive disguised as refugees and soon encounter Prof strutting through the city as Limelight, declaring himself as lord of the city. He is hunting for the current Epic in charge, Larcener. David and Abraham trace a shipment of cola to Tia, who already has plans to kill Prof. However, Prof has also traced her, and she gives herself up to Prof to avoid a hopeless battle. She gives a chip to David containing her plans and asks him to rescue her.

Part Three

The team uses Tia's plan and Larcener's reluctant help to infiltrate Sharp Tower, rescue Tia and make Prof face his fear. Prof discovers them and a battle ensues. He is supposedly afraid of his own powers, so Megan brings the closest match to Prof that she can find from an alternate dimension: his (and Tia's) daughter Tavi. Meanwhile, Tia is found and released but insists on staying behind to steal Prof's plans. Prof eventually defeats Tavi and orders his guards to shoot David and Megan. David successfully protects Megan with his latent powers, but Tia is killed. Prof is enraged and destroys most of the tower, sending David and Megan to the ground, gravely wounded. They have failed to turn Prof, but they were at least able to gather some of his cells in the sample incubator. Knighthawk agrees to make motivators based on Prof's powers so they can try again.

Part Four

David and Megan are healed by Knighthawk's harmsway, and David sends him the tissue sample. Megan is sick of the danger her powers bring, so she goes to Larcener to give them up. She has an epiphany instead and claims the powers as her own, chasing away the darkness for good. Knighthawk sends back motivators and equipment for Prof's powers, and they practice and plan in their new hideout.

The battle comes to them, however, when they see an entire army converging on them, with Prof killing anyone who tries to run away. The Reckoners engage him, but Prof is too good with his powers. David and Megan are the last two able to fight, and Prof leads them into a trap, disabling David. He rages on about how it's David's fault that he got to this point, that he was too reckless and risky. David realizes that Prof's true fear is fear of failure. He convinces him that he has failed many times, and his powers wink out. Larcener then comes on the scene and takes them away. Then Obliteration takes David to Calamity himself, out in space, to fulfill his promise to help David kill him.

David sees Calamity transform back into Larcerner -- he had been with them the whole time. His arrogant attitude towards humans infect anyone who receives powers from him, but he refuses to believe the darkness is his fault -- humans are inherently evil. David decides to detonate Obliteration's bomb, sacrificing himself for the human race. Calamity simply stops the explosion and tries to throw him out into space. Prof and Megan arrive to help, and David tells her to put them in the alternate world, where there are good Epics and no Calamity in the sky.

After they arrive, David is reunited with his father from the alternate world, and they have a tearful reunion. Calamity sees that the "Steelheart" of this world is not evil and is thoroughly confused. They fade back into their old world, and David forces Calamity to see the truth. He disappears. David embraces his powers as Calamity's abode plummets to Earth.

Epilogue

David, Megan, and Prof land somewhere in Australia and are forced to sit and wait for Knighthawk's helicopter. During that time they find out that Mizzy turned into an Epic and the darkness is completely gone. Obliteration comes to them unaffected by Calamity's apparent death and he still intends to blow up Toronto. Epics are now free to decide to be saviors or villains on their own. David wants to practice his kissing skills on Megan, but instead she sends him back to his father. They have the same powers, but David needs help flying. His father offers to teach him.

Behind the Scenes

Brandon started work on Calamity late during December 2014, where he put together his Book Guide. Drafting of Chapter 1 began on January 1st, 2015. He initially planned on finishing it by March 2015. However drafting took longer than expected and he instead finished during the early morning of May 6th, 2015.January and February were slow writing months for him, due to a lot of traveling and touring, only writing 5,000 and 8,000 words in each respective month. His pace picked up in March where he managed to write 30,000 words. Over the course of the final 13 work-hours he wrote 13,200 words out of the initial draft's 102,000 words, with a break in the middle to go to the cinema. The second draft was completed and turned in on May 18th. Brandon's final revisions for the book were completed during the early morning of Sep 2nd, 2015.

Cover Art Gallery

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  US Hardcover

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  UK Hardcover

Notes

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