Tuesday, June 14, 2016

WRI Reviews: Zeroes by Scott Westerfield, Deborah Biancotti, and Margo Lanagan

@ScottWesterfeld @deborah_b #bookreview






Zeroes by Scott Westerfield,  Deborah Biancotti, and Margo Lanagan
Pages: 560
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Riveted
Format: ePub
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Don’t call them heroes.

But these six California teens have powers that set them apart.

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. 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.


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My Review
This was an okay read. It's about 6 teens. They have "powers". Nate can see connections and control group emotions. Riley is blind but she can see through other people eyes. Chizara can feel technology her base power is to crash network systems (or anything electrical really) but she also has the potential to fix burnt out devices. Ethan has a voice that can get him whatever he wants. However, the voice can no conscience and has a tendency to make matters worse. Thibault can also see connections however, unlike Nate those connections are not strong. He is easily forgettable. Kelsey is also like Nate in that she can control the emotions of a crowd but her crowd control is as a group. She can intensify whatever they are feeling or pass on her emotions to the crowd.

Ethan was the central character is this book. Or should I say, his voice was. It started because he wanted a ride home but when the person he tried to get the ride from was bigger and scarier than he thought he made the mistake of letting the voice do the talking. From that point on things went down hill for him and the zeroes. Ethan's voice is a jerk but Ethan isn't that great of a guy either.

A lot of what happen could have been prevented had he not wanted to keep that duffle filled with money. Ethan looked up schizophrenia once and thought that applied to him. And I guess if you just go on the hearing voices part it fits. I think of it as more of a multiple personality. Whenever Ethan wants something that he cannot get himself the voice comes out.

Anyway, the only character that really had me was Thibault. How said is his story? Unable to make any connections. Constantly being forgotten. I'm glad that it seems that there are ways to remember him though none are long lasting but hopefully he'll get the connections he so desperately want. Aaaahhh, his story about how he ended up living on his home is nothing short of heartbreaking.

Thibault saved the story for me. There is a bit of a romance with Riley. A potential love triangle when you add in the fact that Nate is probably still in love with Riley. I don't know. The story didn't grab me like I wanted it to but it was too bad. In the end, the story was okay (the whole we have powers so we should learn how to control them) but don't be surprised if you don't connect with most or any of the characters.





About the Author
Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He was born in the Texas and now lives in Sydney and New York City. In 2001, Westerfeld married fellow author Justine Larbalestier.

He is best know for the Uglies and Leviathan series, and his next book, Afterworlds, comes out September 23, 2014.


Author Links
Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Website   -  Goodreads




About the Author
Deborah Biancotti is co-author of the ZEROES series with Scott Westerfeld and Margo Lanagan. Her collections BAD POWER and A BOOK OF ENDINGS are available from Twelfth Planet Press and her novella WAKING IN WINTER will be available from PS Publishing in March 2016.

She's been nominated for the William L. Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Book, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Aurealis & Ditmar Awards.

Deborah lives and writes in inner-city Sydney, Australia.


Author Links
Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Website  -  Goodreads




About the Author
Margo Lanagan, born in Waratah, New South Wales, is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction.

Many of her books, including YA fiction, were only published in Australia. Recently, several of her books have attracted worldwide attention. Her short story collection Black Juice won two World Fantasy Awards. It was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin and the United Kingdom by Gollancz in 2004, and in North America by HarperCollins in 2005. It includes the much-anthologized short story "Singing My Sister Down".


Author Links
WebsiteGoodreads


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