Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti, Allen & Unwin, $19.99
Providing a new take on superpowers, Zeroes is a young adult superhero trilogy written by Westerfeld (So Yesterday, Spill Zone, Uglies, Leviathan trilogies), Lanagan (Tender Morsels, Sea Hearts) and Biancotti (Bad Power, A Book of Endings).
Since the Millennials at the centre of Zeroes share an auspicious birthday, each one is blessed with a superhuman ability that makes their individual lives more interesting. However, strength comes in numbers.
The storyline is distinctive. Zeroes are born in 2000, and live in Cambria, California. Their abilities make them anything but heroes—until a high stakes crisis changes everything.
There’s Chizara, aka Crash, who can bring technology to its knees; Kelsie, who can amp up or damp down a mob’s emotions; Riley, aka Flicker, who can see through anyone’s eyes but her own; Thibault, aka Anonymous, who’s out of sight, out of mind; and Nataniel, aka Bellwether, who can focus any crowd’s energy on a single goal. Then there’s Ethan, aka Scam, who has a voice inside him that’ll say anything you want to hear.
After defeating Swarm in an astounding stand-off, Nate has been arrested for his murder. In prison and secluded, he can’t use his powers of influence at all. Flicker, Chizara, Kelsie and Ethan are on the run and in hiding from the FBI who believe the Cambria Five are domestic terrorists.
Agent Phan and the FBI have a secret weapon up their sleeve – a teenager with a superpower that the Zeroes haven’t encountered yet. Meanwhile, Sonia Sonic and her growing band of weird hunters are tracking inexplicable events across the country.
To avert the looming disaster, with time running out for the Zeroes, they must learn to trust each other again and combine their powers for good. The Sydney-based authors have provided an astonishing conclusion to this action-packed series.
