Zeroes

"Every time a book is written from multiple perspectives, I usually only like one out of every three. I'm not sure whether this improves the book's fame, as everyone can usually connect with one character that they then read the book for, or whether it removes the chances of it being read, as you become so annoyed at the characters that you don't like that you stop reading.<br/>For me, this book was the former. While many of the "zeroes", as the superheroes of this book call themselves, had fantastic powers, I found that this novel carried many of the annoying characteristics of First Novel Syndrome. <br/>First off, there was no depth to the plot. Everything that's going to happen, happens verrryy slowly in the fist 120 pages. Those first hundred could have easily been summarized into 20.<br/>Another problem with the multiple POVs - they often drag on, as each scene has to be shown through everyone else's point of views, so we know how everyone feels about everything, all the time. (Why authors don't simply use omniscient POV is beyond me.)<br/>After those first hundred pages, there's nothing else that really happens. They're just resolving the issues that they created when they messed up, except they don't even resolve the issues, except for the one centring around one of our self-absorbed, annoying more main characters. <spoiler> All these prisoners are still running around free, something that, considering their superpowers, they could help with, especially since they caused it. </spoiler> It's all really just set-up for the next two books. <br/>Once again, the multiple POVs made it so that it was not only hard to keep track of everyone, but you also felt like you could never really <i> connect </i> with anyone. It was hard to get a read on any of the characters; you never quite understood any of them completely, except for Scam, who was the one character who you really don't even want to get to know anyway. <br/>Also, do to the limits of these being kids, there weren't any of the qualities that make a good book (or movie) great. There were no X-Men, no Jedi club, just a whole bunch of kids running around playing adult, who went home to their mums at the end of the night. In that manner, it was really hard to take the book seriously. Anyone can make a group and pretend they're special. In these type of books, I usually expect a dystopian or post-apocalyptic-level problem and plot. But it just never reached that point. Assumably, this point will be reached later on in the trilogy, although I don't really know if 6 15-year-olds can handle that situation. <br/>Plot and character development aside, there were actual reasons this book got 3 stars. First, the powers were fascinating. Many of them centred around emotions and energy - there were many descriptions of strands connecting people. All the powers were described in intriguing ways, especially the more tragic ones. Also, some of the characters were actually fun to read about. There's a blind girl who's not really blind who finds romance with one of the other Zeroes, who's really cursed. Their romance, while completely illogical and very strange, was actually very interesting.<br/>All in all, as per many novels with multiple POVs, you win some and you lose some. Worth reading if you like superpowers and different romances, but disappointing in way of plot and character development."

"An incredible adventure with wonderfully flawed characters, a thrilling, twisting plot, and powers that don’t make sense even to their wielders, I’ve re-read this one several times and I hope you will too. "

"A pretty good read, I enjoyed the many layers each character had and the interesting group dynamic of the characters!"