Book Review: Mitosis

I've been trying to get all of my book reviews written for the books I've read this year.  Then, to take a break, I read another book.  Well, novella, technically, I suppose.  Anyway, trying to get all the open-ended things closed up on the blog before heading into the new year, so appologies for a million posts in a day.  Anyway, here is another book review!

Mitosis is a fun (very) short story in Sanderson's young adult Reckoners series.  The premise of this world is that Calamity has happened and a few people of the Earth have been granted super-powers.  Which in theory sounds great, but in actuality is not so fun when you consider that only evil people get to use their powers.  An underground resistance, known as the Reckoners, have started to fight back in Newcago (the city formerly known as Chicago).

Mitosis is set between the events of the first and second books in the series, and provides a small glimpse of how life has changed for our team of evil-fighting Reckoners.  There isn't much to say about the story that won't spoil the plot, but, basically, a Reckoner's work is never done, and there is always another Epic to fight.  It is fun to see more of the Epic superpowers and weaknesses that exist - the characters haven't quite figured out the rules to the Epics' powers yet, so any extra tidbits are fun clues for both the characters in the story and the reader.

This story is very short - I was able to read it in less than an hour - but it is fun.  It was great to read it as a refresher for this world just before the second installment of the main series (Firefight) is about to be released in a few weeks.  I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read the first book in the series; firstly, because it will spoil the ending of the first book, and, secondly, because this story would probably feel a bit dry if you didn't already have a more detailed picture of the characters built up in your head.  I can't know, but I highly suspect, that this events of this story won't be required to appreciate the upcoming second book, but it was a fun quick read nonetheless, so if you are a fan of the Reckoners series you will probably enjoy this brief adventure in Newcago.