Steelheart: Prologue–Part One

by Brandon Sanderson
In this first book of The Reckoners series, eighteen-year-old David Charleston looks for weaknesses in the supernaturally powerful Epics so that he can avenge the murder of his father and restore freedom to the city that used to be Chicago.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. girder
    a beam used as a main support in a structure
    Steelheart rose into the air a few inches, cape flaring out. He began to glide forward into the room. Arms like steel girders, legs like mountains, neck like a tree stump.
  2. subservience
    abject or cringing submissiveness
    "I will accept your subservience. Give me your loyalty or die."
  3. peon
    a laborer who is obliged to do menial work
    Steelheart turned, apparently surprised to hear anything from one of the room's cowering, whimpering peons.
  4. capitulation
    the act of surrendering, usually under agreed conditions
    Epics like him are what forced the United States to pass the Capitulation Act that gave all Epics complete immunity from the law.
  5. impervious
    not admitting of passage or capable of being affected
    Unlike Steelheart, he seemed to fear getting shot. Not all Epics are impervious to gunfire, just the most powerful ones.
  6. fateful
    having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences
    Ten years had passed since my father's death. That fateful day had become known by most people as the Annexation.
  7. furtive
    secret and sly
    There were some furtive groups of workers going to or from their jobs, thick coats and collars flipped up to hide their faces.
  8. exploit
    use or manipulate to one's advantage
    I'd spent most of the last decade among people like them, working at a place we simply called the Factory. Part orphanage, part school, it was mostly a way to exploit children for free labor.
  9. thoroughfare
    a public road from one place to another
    I passed huddled forms of sleeping beggars, then leaped over one sprawled in the street at the end of the alleyway and burst out onto Siegel Street, a wider thoroughfare that was better lit than most.
  10. culpable
    deserving blame or censure as being wrong or injurious
    Bureaucrats, officers in his army, accountants, trading gurus, diplomats. Like the upper crust of an old-school dictatorship, these people lived off the crumbs that Steelheart left behind.
    That meant they were almost as culpable as the Epics in keeping the rest of us oppressed, but I didn't bear them much ill will.
  11. opulent
    rich and superior in quality
    The opulent people suddenly began moving out of the way, making room for a man in a bright red pinstriped suit, a red fedora, and a deep red and black cape.
  12. barrage
    the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area
    His powers were so well attuned that he could avoid a machine-gun barrage, and he would also know if his food had been poisoned or if a building was rigged with explosives.
  13. entrails
    internal organs collectively
    He claimed his powers worked best when practicing an art called extispicy: the reading of the entrails of dead creatures to divine the future.
  14. vapid
    lacking significance or liveliness or spirit or zest
    Her look of concern was gone in a moment, replaced by what I realized was intentional vapidity as she turned to Fortuity and gestured onward.
  15. lackey
    a servile or submissive follower
    That meant she—and the Reckoners—now thought I was one of Steelheart's lackeys. They were always careful not to endanger civilians, but they had nothing at all against taking out a few hit men or thugs.
  16. contingency
    a possible event or occurrence or result
    Something must have gone wrong in their original plan, otherwise Fortuity wouldn't have gotten away from the woman in red. Megan? Was that what she'd said her name was?
    This was one of their contingency plans.
  17. poise
    great coolness and composure under strain
    Fortuity landed his flip with poise.
  18. complement
    something added to embellish or make perfect
    Yeah, super reflexes, a piece of my mind thought. I should have realized. Perfect complement to a precog portfolio.
  19. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    It was huge and green, imposing, with enormous headlights.
  20. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    It wouldn't be long before Enforcement was told what to look for, and the truck was rather conspicuous.
  21. render
    cause to become
    "What's a prime invincibility?" Tia asked.
    "Sorry," I said, realizing they wouldn't know my terms. "It's what I call an Epic power that renders conventional methods of assassination useless. You know, regeneration, impervious skin, precognition, self-reincarnation, that kind of thing."
  22. projection
    a prediction made by extrapolating from past observations
    "Well," I said, thinking quickly, remembering my lists and projections. "None of your teams have been active in the Middle Grasslands or Caliph lately. I'd guess your next target would be either the Armsman in Omaha, or Lightning, one of the Epics in Snowfall's band out in Sacramento."
  23. manifest
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    There was something in this man's eyes, something I didn't expect to see. A hatred of Steelheart nearly as deep as my own. It was manifest in the way he said the Epic's name, the way his lips turned down, the way his eyes narrowed and seemed to burn as he spoke the word.
  24. incorporeal
    without material form or substance
    He was a shadowy figure himself, completely incorporeal, immune to gunfire or weapons of any kind.
  25. substantiate
    establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
    "It's her weakness," I whispered. "She always avoids people who are smoking, and stays away from any kind of fire. It's pretty well known, and reasonably substantiated, as far as Epic weaknesses go."
  26. aloof
    distant, cold, or detached in manner
    And as soon as she caught me looking at her, her expression grew cold and aloof once again.
  27. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    The eye shields gave them night vision and glowed faintly green, with a strange smoky pattern that swirled and undulated across the front.
  28. adjunct
    a person who is an assistant or subordinate to another
    He'd been an adjunct at the Factory, which was a position Martha gave to senior boys—they were meant to stop the young or weaker workers from being picked on.
  29. clandestine
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    Very little was known about the clandestine High Epic who ran Enforcement.
  30. hovel
    small crude shelter used as a dwelling
    The people might live in hovels, but they all had a mobile for entertainment.
  31. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    "Lad," he said, "that was awesome."
    I blinked. I'd been expecting another berating, like Megan had given me.
  32. amiable
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    "Epics," Cody said, his voice growing amiable again.
  33. latent
    potentially existing but not presently evident or realized
    I couldn't tell if he was making me go first because of some latent mistrust, or because he liked seeing me squirm.
  34. pensive
    showing deep sadness
    I pensively sat down beside the steel table as the others gathered around the pack and began rifling through my life.
  35. rudimentary
    being or involving basic facts or principles
    Tia held up one of my notebooks. "It's rudimentary in organization," she said, "and doesn't use standard classifications. But it is exhaustive."
  36. astute
    marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
    "That's a very astute question," Cody said. "Thank you very much for asking."
  37. erratic
    having no fixed course
    "He rarely comes out in public anymore," Megan said. "And when he does, it's erratic. How in Calamity's fires are you going to—"
  38. limn
    trace the shape of
    He looked down at the city, face impassive, red light from beneath limning a strong jaw and contemplative eyes.
  39. contemplative
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    He looked down at the city, face impassive, red light from beneath limning a strong jaw and contemplative eyes.
  40. speculation
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
    My plan, clever though it had once seemed to me, depended on a lot of speculation.
Created on Wed Apr 12 16:37:42 EDT 2023 (updated Mon May 08 16:48:39 EDT 2023)

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