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.

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.

Transparent by Natalie Whipple

Series: Standalone

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Alternate-world Sci-fi

Subjects: supernatural, invisibility, super-powers, psychic ability, abilities, organized crime, Arizona, runaways

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 350 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.
An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.
After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.
Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.”

 

My Review: I loved this book. I don’t care if people think the writing was too simple. It was clean and clear, in my opinion. It was fast and funny and exciting. I wouldn’t say it was action packed. It was more about an invisible girl excepting herself, and relationships. Finding love and friendship, and dealing with family issues. It was heartwarming. The dialogue was funny. So many great quotes. And it was also an alternate-world, sci-fi romance. It’s set in contemporary time, but back in the 50’s, people started taking a drug that cause mutations.

The main character is very unique. Her superpower/mutation is invisibility. She invisible ALL THE TIME, even to HERSELF. Which really sucks. And she was born that way, an invisible baby. Sure, there were a few recent books about invisibility, like Andrea Cremer and David Levithan’s Invisibility, and Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Both of those are very different, of course. Fiona has to wear clothes to define her shape. Kind of like the Invisible Man, except she can’t use make-up because when stuff is absorbed into her skin, it becomes invisible.

The supporting characters are very awesome and funny. They all have their own abilities, but I’m not gonna tell you for the sake of finding out for yourself. Bea and her family are very funny and do a lot of fun stuff together. Bea has a brother that hits on Fiona even though he can’t see her. It’s hilarious. Bea’s a great friend.

And there’s Brady, Bea best guy-friend, who likes Fiona sort of. And Seth, the math-loving guy who tutors Fiona. There’s no love triangle or insta-love. Fiona thinks she likes Brady, but she’s really falling for Seth. Seth is kind of a jerk at first, but he’s a jerk that really cares for Fiona.

Then there’s Fiona family. Her mom takes her to Arizona to get away from her dad, who runs a crime organization. Fiona’s dad used her as a spy and thief. Fiona has two older brothers, Graham and Miles. One’s a jerk and one’s really nice and cool.

I loved the setting because I always wanted to go to Arizona and see the desert. This is a great summer read, even if it takes place in the school year.  

I recommend this book if you liked the Curse Workers series by Holly Black, the Big Time series (adult series, Karma Girl, ect.) by Jennifer Estep, Shatter Me series, or X-Men, even.

Cover Art Review: Very colorful. I like the title type. The transparent girl is okay.