Zeroes

In this engaging new novel from Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti, super powers exist. They just happen to reside in the most unlikely of people. Enter the Zeroes – a group of misfits who banded together because of their unique abilities until dissension tore them apart. Forced to come together to help one of their own several months after the break-up, they must work through their collective and individual issues in order to truly save the world…or at least their town. However, this is more than a story about the power of friendship and collaboration. The authors raise awareness about influence and peer pressure, self-control and self-awareness – all very important topics for its target audience. The best show more part is that the story never sounds preachy; the authors wrap the lessons around a fun and thrilling plot with characters that readers will love and hate and love to hate. Zeroes is definitely an exciting beginning to what should be an impressive series. show less

Allen and Unwin review:
Don't call them heroes. But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart.
Ethan aka Scam has a voice inside him that'll say whatever people want to hear, whether it's true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn't - like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren't exactly best friends these days.
Enter Nate, aka Bellwether, the group's 'glorious leader.' After Scam's SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a show more crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.

My comments:
Loved the concept of 6 teenagers born in the year 2000 who all have mysterious super powers that turn out sometimes to be more of a hassle than they are worth.
Apart from Scam, Mob and Bellwether ( mentioned above) there is Anon, a boy with the uncanny knack of being able to disappear off people's radars and line of sight. Which is great when you are trying to be inconspicuous but awful when you are sick in hospital and your family and the doctors and nurses forget you are there!
Then there is Flicker, a blind twin who has learned to transfer her sight into other peoples' heads, so that she can "see" things from other's perspectives. And finally there is Crash, the most powerful and I believe, the pivotal character in this book. Without Crash, the girl who can "feel" her way into electronic gizmos and crash ( or repair) them, this story would have been over in no time. It is Crash who saves the day (twice) and also has an attack of a conscience - you need your superpower to do good and heal as well as destroy things!

I though Mob and Bellwether were weak characters as their powers are very similar - controlling crowds. Scam was interesting but obvious - who hasn't wanted to know an enemy's deepest secrets and blurt them out to their advantage? Nope its Flicker, Anon and Crash who are the strongest characters here and drive the story.
I look forward to more in the series. show less

Excellent story, excellent characters, excellent writing. The co-authors took the idea, "what if you had a superpower that really wasn't that awesome, and sometimes kind of sucked," and ran with it. Very recommended.

DNF 75%

I know right! I was on the home stretch. But it felt like I was looking down a long long long desert road with only the tumbleweed to keep me company. This must seriously be a case of 'this book is definitely not for me', because I have read so many positive reviews. The thing is, I felt like nothing much happened. I loved the super powers and I didn't mind the characters, it's just that the story is so deathly boring. Some of me thought about starting again because I seriously don't know where all this action is that other people seemed to have enjoyed. Oh well, that's the beauty of Goodreads right? Varied opinions.

4.5 stars
I didn't realize until I got to the end of this on audio (spacing out while they did the credits) that the reader was Amber Benson. Amber Benson! She did so many different voices, I never recognized hers. She did a nice job.
I seem to be hitting a lot of sideways takes on super power stories lately. I don't know if more people are writing them, or if that's just what I keep running into. This was a good one. The story's original, and the powers are different from anything I've seen. A couple of them are more like curses.
This is the beginning of a series, but it's a self-contained story, so readers aren't stuck with a cliffhanger trying to force them to continue the series.
It ran long, I think because they were developing 6 show more different main characters. The story itself did not warrant the length. The character development and explanation of powers was well-done, with the exception of a romance that progressed at light speed. I do like the couple and the complications their powers bring to the relationship.
The "crocodile" plot line seemed thin (why would anyone take it?) but maybe I just don't understand drug culture well enough.
Overall, it was a strong start to series I'll be sure to continue. show less

This was a decent imaging of a small group of kids with superpowers that they aren't all that good at using and that the potential to do a lot of harm. I liked the character development of Ethan as he learned to think of others instead of just himself, and I enjoyed the whole idea of Anon and how others in the group tried to find ways to remember and strengthen their bonds with him.

Teens with superpowers that are sometimes not that super, like the guy who no one can remember and the girl who can blow out any electric technology, and constantly wants to do because the feel of it hurts her. None of these superpowers is physically distorting, though, and so the racially diverse, conventionally attractive group gets to deal with a conflict between local thugs, the Russian mob, and a kid whose power lets him mouth off about anything, without knowing beforehand what he’s going to say. Solid Westerfeld if not as exciting as his best.