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.

Relentless by Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs

Series: The Hero Agenda Duology (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: superheroes, supervillians, abilities, superpowers, conspiracies

Setting: Boulder, Colorado

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, present tense: Kenna Swift

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 279 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Summary/ product description: “Revenge is easy, but justice is worth fighting for…

Kenna is tired of being lied to—and hunted by the very allies she once trusted. Unearthing the dark secrets of the superhero world has not only endangered her life, now her boyfriend faces execution for crimes he didn’t commit and her mother is being held captive in a secret governmental prison.

Kenna is determined to stand up for what’s right and save those she loves from unspeakable fates. It’s time for the betrayal to end. It’s time for the real criminals to face justice.

But the truth is even more terrifying than Kenna could imagine. A conspiracy threatens the fate of heroes, villains, and all of humanity. If Kenna’s going to survive, she must draw on her deepest strength: her resilience. Because when Kenna’s pushed to the limit, she doesn’t break down. She fights back.”

My Review:  Relentless is the sequel to Powerless and (probably) the finale to the Hero’s Agenda duology. If you haven’t read Powerless, I recommend it to those who enjoyed  Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, V is For Villain by Peter Moore, Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Illusive by Emily Llyod-Jones, Blackout by Robison Wells, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Red Queen by Victoria Avyard, The Young Elite by Marie Lu, or anything superhero-related. Also fans of Tera Lynn Childs’s Sweet Venom series.

Kenna in the first book had discovered that she had a power. She can control electromagnetic energy, knocking out electronics with EMPs. Also, she’s a villain and since the serum wore off, her villain mark is visible and she can use her ability. In this world, a type of virus with 2 strains, one for heroes and one for villain, gives people powers and also leaves a mark behind the ear that differentiates heroes and villains. To me it seems like there is no difference between the heroes and villain other that the mark, and it’s more prejudice than anything.

Kenna’s villain boyfriend Draven is being put on trial to be executed. Kenna and her team of “hillains” (heroes and villains working together) are there to rescue him. Kenna has disguised herself at a media reporter and her team is waiting in the wing ready to go on her mark. Everything goes haywire, and though they rescue Draven, someone else isn’t so lucky and Kenna suffers a loss so hard, that she’s not sure how she can move on. She set out for revenge, ready to defeat Rex Malone, the hero with malicious intentions, with everything she’s got. This is an action packed sequel that reads like an actual super hero movie or TV shows. It’s set in Colorado, which is a nice change of pace from all the NYC and Cali set superhero stories. And I’ve been to the Denver area in Colorado before, so that’s a plus.

I really did enjoy this series. It was very short, though. The characters are very unqiue from one another. I did have difficultly remembering the character at first since it’s been a year and Powerless was a pretty fast and short book too. I forgot who’s who and what their power or relation is. I tried keeping track, though.

Character Recap: Kenna Swift (villain) is the main character, and her boyfriend Draven Cole (villain) has memory and bio manipulation ability, and he has blue eyes dark hair. Draven is Rex Malone’s illegitimate son and cousin of Dante (villain) and Deacon Cole (villain), who are twins with wind and water manipulation powers. Nitro (villain) is British and can throw fireballs of various colors that identify what they do. Nitro’s brother is Quake (villain), who can make small earthquakes. Nitro also has a crush of Riley Malone (hero), Rex’s legitimate son who can fly. Riley’s sister is Rebel aka Rachel Malone (hero), and she has telekinetic powers. She’s also Kenna’s best friend. Rex Malone (hero), their father, is an evil SOB with super hearing and wants to control and torture villains. His wife has ice powers. Jeremy Abernathy (hero) is part of the Hillains team, and he has technopathic abilities. He’s also Kenna’s ex-boyfriend and he’s a nerd. V aka Victoria (villain) is Draven’s bodyguard hired by his uncle Anton Cole. Also, Kenna’s mom is a scientist that developed a serum to protect a person from the effects super powers. Kenna’s dad was a superhero.

Cover Art Review: Not that great of cover. I’m not sure I understand what the symbol is for. Does it represent the villains? It’s just a blah cover. The complementary color scheme is an interesting choice though.

The Hunt by Megan Shepherd

Series: The Cage (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: aliens, extraterrestrials, psychic ability,

Setting: In an enclosure called the Hunt, and also the alien space station it’s in.

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV limited and past tense, rotating between the human characters: Cora (mainly), Lucky, Rolf, Nok, Leon and Mali

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 359 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer + Bray

Summary/ product description: “They’ve left the cage—but they’re not free yet.

After their failed escape attempt, Cora, Lucky, and Mali have been demoted to the lowest level of human captives and placed in a safari-themed environment called the Hunt, along with wild animals and other human outcasts. They must serve new Kindred masters—Cora as a lounge singer, Lucky as an animal wrangler, and Mali as a safari guide—and follow new rules or face dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, Nok and Rolf have been moved into an enormous dollhouse, observed around the clock by Kindred scientists interested in Nok’s pregnancy. And Leon, the only one who successfully escaped, has teamed up with villainous Mosca black-market traders.

The former inhabitants of the Cage are threatened on all fronts—and maybe worst of all, one of the Hunt’s Kindred safari guests begins to play a twisted game of cat and mouse with Cora. Separated and constantly under watch, she and the others must struggle to stay alive, never mind find a way back to each other. When Cassian secretly offers to train Cora to develop her psychic abilities—to prove the worthiness of humanity in a series of tests called the Gauntlet—she’ll have to decide fast if she dares to trust the Kindred who betrayed her, or if she can forge her own way to freedom.”

My Review:  The Hunt is the sequel to Megan Shepherd’s sci-fi book, The Cage. Like in the Cage, we get to read chapters in 3^rd person limited perspectives of Cora (the main protagonist), Lucky, Leon, Rolf, Nok, and Mali. In the Cage, they we stuck in a large menagerie with 8 biomes (desert, tundra, mountains, ocean, farm, swamp, jungle, and grasslands), as well as a fake town with store and restaurant in which the could play games and get rewarded. The Kindred (the tall human-like aliens with metallic bronze skin, black hair and all black eye when cloaked) observed and studied their interaction and paired them up as mating partners, but Nok and Rolf were the only ones to procreate. Cassian, who had said he was their caretaker turned out to be the warden and also seems to be attracted to Cora.

In the Hunt, after trying to escape the cage and being caught, Cora is send to a different menagerie called the Hunt. It’s place where Kindred go usually for entertainment and drinks and also to experience the thrill of an African safari hunt usually synthetic non-lethal rifles. Cora is forced to sing and interact with guests. Cassian has deemed this menagerie to be the safest and most private option for him and Cora to talk and make plans.

Cora feels betrayed by Cassian because he used the escape to push her or “break her.” He wanted to see her potential to use psychic abilities that could help humans evolve into “intelligent” beings. He’s part if a secret movement called the Fifth of Five, trying to free humans from slavery and oppression by the four intelligent alien races. He wants to train her in perceptive abilities so she can run the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is a computer run test of physical abilities, intelligence, morality and perceptive/psychic abilities. Other humans have tried and failed to succeed, often losing their mind or even dying. This would be a huge risk for Cora, but Cassian believes she has the potential to succeed.

Lucky and Malia are also sent to work in the Hunt. Leon is working with Mosca black-market traders because unlike the Mosca, he can crawl through tunnels and also they have alcohol. Nok is pregnant with a girl, who she wants to call sparrow. Nok and Rolf are sent to live in a dollhouse with one missing wall that kindred can watch their interactions though. Nok is afraid that her baby will be taken from her.

This was a really great sequel. It feels very unique. We get to see a lot more of this alien space station than the first book. The characters are all unique and different from each other. They’re very diverse since they’re different nationalities and races. I love all the sci-fi stuff, and especially the psychic abilities. There’s even a little romance. I’m not a big fan of 3^rd person perspective, but Megan made it work well. She’s the author that wrote a historical fiction series I actually enjoyed, so I can’t wait to see what she write next. I can’t wait to read the 3^rd and final book in the Cage trilogy. There was a bit of a cliffhanger ending in the Hunt.

I recommend this book to fans of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, The Taking by Kimberly Derting, Gone by Michael Grant, and The 100 by Kass Morgan.

Cover Art Review: The cover cool, but maybe a little busy and I’m not a fan of the plain glossy paper.