Swarm by Scott Westerfeld

Series: Zeroes (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal/Urban Contemporary Sci-fi

Subjects: superpowers, abilities, criminals

Setting: Cambria, California

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV rotating between 6 characters: Scam (Ethan), Flicker (Riley), Bellwether (Nate), Crash (Chizara), Anonymous (Thibault) and Mob (Kelsie).

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 448 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $19.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster: Simon Pulse

Summary/ product description: “They thought they’d already faced their toughest fight. But there’s no relaxing for the reunited Zeroes.

These six teens with unique abilities have taken on bank robbers, drug dealers, and mobsters. Now they’re trying to lay low so they can get their new illegal nightclub off the ground.

But the quiet doesn’t last long when two strangers come to town, bringing with them a whole different kind of crowd-based chaos. And hot on their tails is a crowd-power even more dangerous and sinister.

Up against these new enemies, every Zero is under threat. Mob is crippled by the killing-crowd buzz—is she really evil at her core? Flicker is forced to watch the worst things a crowd can do. Crash’s conscience—and her heart—get a workout. Anon and Scam must both put family loyalties on the line for the sake of survival. And Bellwether’s glorious-leader mojo deserts him.

Who’s left to lead the Zeroes into battle against a new, murderous army?”

My Review:  Swarm is the sequel to Zeroes. If you have not read these books, this series is about a group of six teens with unique abilities. The book is written in 3rd person POV rotating between 6 characters that call themselves Zeroes (like heroes, but not). Scam (Ethan) has another voice that he uses to get him out of situations or get him what he wants. It knows things he doesn’t know himself. It’s almost like another entity possesses him. It’s such a unique and odd ability and works better one-on-one. I really enjoy Ethan’s character the most.

The other characters have abilities that work best in crowds. Flicker (Riley) is blind but can use the eyes of people around he to see, like remote viewing. She has a twin named Lily who she relies on a lot. Bellwether (Nate), is Latino and has the ability to lead crowds. To pull attention to him, like charisma. Crash (Chizara) can sense connected technology around her and crash it. Anonymous (Thibault) has a mental memory based form of invisibility and can’t turn it off. He’s easily forgotten when people stop paying attention to him. It’s difficult to make people remember him. Mob (Kelsie) can turn a crowd into a single organism that has one mood or goal.

This is a really unique series because of these unique abilities and how they are utilized. Their powers get them into crazy situation and they try hard to do good things, but their power aren’t exactly the kind that could save the day, like super strength or speed. In this book they meet a few other Zeroes outside their group who don’t exactly use their powers for good. A girl who can warp your perception and make you lose yourself and a boy who can temporarily turn blank paper into money. They’re like a Bonnie and Clyde couple, making big scenes in crowds and causing problems. They’re running from a worse Zero through, a guy who can turn a crown into a single-minded swarm with intent to kill. Things are really getting ugly for the Zeroes and chances of survival seem slim.

I enjoyed this books because it was so much fun. It’s very fast pace. It’s best read when you aren’t busy so you can just blaze through the pages. There’s so much action, humor and cool stuff going on in the book. There’s even some romance, but I was kind of disappointed for Ethan’s sake. The ending was truly climatic and surprising. There will be another book, but at times when reading this a I though it was a sequel-finale in a duology, but Goodreads says there’s a third book in the works.

Cover Art Review: The chain link fence photo is too busy.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows (bk. 1)

Genera(s): High Fantasy

Subjects: criminals, gangs, magic, abilities, drugs, rescues

Setting: Ketterdam, Kerch and Fjerda

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV, past tense: Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Nina, and Matthias

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 462 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Henry Holt

Summary/ product description: “Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.”

My Review: This book came out last year and I finally got around to reading it because the sequel just came out. It took me about two weeks to read this book because I was so busy with school, and then my bird died, which made it hard to read. So now I’m finally done with this book. Even though it took so long, I still enjoyed it. It only took me 3.5 hours to read the last 120 pages.

This book was like a fantasy version of Suicide Squad, and I kind of want to compare Inej to Katana and Nine to Harley Quinn and Jesper to Deadshoot, and I’m not sure who the others seem like. It’s about a group of misfits, criminals from various places who came together is a city called Ketterdam, which is basically like Amsterdam. It has cannels and different districts and legal prostitution and lots of gambling dens. It has a late 1800s feel. It’s not even a decade after the event of the Grisha Trilogy and I feel like there’s lot of industrial advancement that happened.

So the book has six main characters, but it only rotates between five point of views: Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Nina, and Matthias. Wylan doesn’t get his own chapters. Kaz is a theif who uses slight of hand, he’s the leader and he also limps because his leg never healed quite right. Nina is a Heartrender Grisha originally from Ravka and she’s busty and bold and has a talent for languages. Inej, a Suli girl, is also known as the Wraith. She moves very silently and collects secrets for Kaz by spying on wealthy people. She used to be an acrobat. Jesper is a Zemeni sharpshooter who has a bad gambling habit. Matthias is a Fjerdian witch hunter who ended up in prison. Wylan is the son of a mercher, and he’s got a lot of talents.

These character are given a task that will earn themselves 30 million kruge (dollars)if completed. They must rescue the scientist who developed a drug called jurda parum from the Fjerdians. The drug make’s Grisha powers powerful beyond imagination and it’s also highly addictive and eventually fatal. The take a boat to the Ice Court in Dierholm and plan to enter and prisoner, hoping to find the scientist in a cell, but like all plans, there are quite a few bumps along the way and tons of twist and turn you won’t see coming. The book also features many flash-backs that give us more backstory on the characters.

I recommend this book to fans of fantasy who want something a little different and unique, also fans of steampunk, because this is kind of like steampunk in a way. And the Curseworkers series by Holly Black, another book about magical criminals.

Cover Art Review: I like the illustration of the crow and towers.

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld

Series: Zeroes (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal/Urban Contemporary Sci-fi

Subjects: superpowers, abilities, criminals

Setting: Cambria, California

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV rotating between 6 characters: Scam (Ethan), Flicker (Riley), Bellwether (Nate), Crash (Chizara), Anonymous (Thibault) and Mob (Kelsie).

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 546 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $19.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster: Simon Pulse

Summary/ product description: “Don’t call them heroes.

But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart. They can do stuff ordinary people can’t.

Take Ethan, a.k.a. Scam. He’s got a voice inside him that’ll say whatever you 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, a.k.a. 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. And at the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.

Filled with high-stakes action and drama, Zeroes unites three powerhouse authors for the opening installment of a thrilling new series.”

My Review:  Zeroes is a pretty cool book. I didn’t know what to expect going into it. It’s written by Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies, and I’ve met him. There are two co-authors: Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biacotti, who I’ve never heard of. Zeroes is fresh and fun. It reminds me of other books, but it feels lighter in content. The book it self it kind of long and some parts are slow. I enjoyed it enough. I’ll definitely read the sequel now that I know there is one.

The book is written in 3^rd person POV rotating between 6 characters that call themselves Zeroes (like heroes, but not). Scam (Ethan) has another voice that he uses to get him out of situations or get him what he wants. It knows things he doesn’t know himself. It’s almost like another entity possesses him. It’s such a unique and odd ability and works better one-on-one. The other characters have a abilities that work best in crowds. Flicker (Riley) is blind but can use the eyes of people around he to see, like remote viewing. She has a twin named Lily who she relies on a lot. Bellwether (Nate), is Latino and has the ability to lead crowds. To pull attention to him, like charisma. Crash (Chizara) can sense connected technology around her and crash it. Anonymous (Thibault) has a mental memory based form of invisibility and can’t turn it off. He’s easily forgotten when people stop paying attention to him. It’s difficult to make people remember him. Mob (Kelsie) can turn a crowd into a single organism that has one mood or goal. Her father is a criminal and she’s not part of the Zeroes yet.

The characters are unique an interesting. Well written and developed. My favorites are probably Flicker and Anonymous. They develop a romantic relationship over the course of the book. It reminds me of 50 First Dates because the way Anonymous affects memory. She forgets that they kissed before. I feel so sorry for Anonymous. I feel like he’s the most important character, or second most after Ethan whose voice got him in trouble and started the whole plot. Anonymous is cursed to be forgotten and he uses ideas of Zen to get him through. Anonymous is not the first character I’ve read about with his type of invisibility. There was a character in Shatter Me (Tahereh Mafi) or Glitch (Heather Anasatsiu) or both that had the same issue. There’s also Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Invisibility by Andrea Cremer.

So If you’ve enjoyed the Shatter Me series, the Glitch series, Nobody, Invisibility, Transparent by Natalie Whipple, Black Out by Robison Wells, The Darkest Minds trilogy, The Young Elites series, V is for Villain, Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs, or pretty much anything about superpowers, then read Zeroes.

Cover Art Review: Simple. It’s perfect.