X-Men meets Heroes when New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld teams up with award-winning authors Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti in the final book of an explosive trilogy about a group of teens with amazing abilities.
After the shocking conclusion to Swarm, the zeroes are scattered, on the run, and desperate. They’re up against challenges from within and from the world around them, and one thing is certain—an epic showdown is guaranteed.
Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
This was a fun trilogy that I think will appeal to fans of Sanderson’s Reckoners series. It has a very Heroes (the show) feel where kids are born with abnormal abilities. I’ll definitely give the authors kudos for coming up with “powers� I’ve never seen before, such as controlling a crowd’s energy, electronics manipulation, and “throwing� vision (to name a few). They were extremely odd, but oddly interesting at the same time. I’ll most remember the series for it’s diverse cast of characters (with different ethnicities and sexual orientations, something I love seeing more of in books). I also liked the overall plot progression. This final novel offered a nice story arc that seemed a lot grander than the self-induced problems the characters faced in the first book and I appreciated how everything played out. Overall, this trilogy is a fun read, especially if you’re in the mood for something kind of different. It didn’t knock my socks off, but it definitely entertained.
Well this wasn't exactly the thrilling conclusion I was hoping for... Overall still an excellent story! Loved getting to spend time with these characters again. There could definitely be spin offs or a continuation to the Zeroes and I would love to read those!
Westerfeld continues to be an imaginative and compelling story teller. I strongly recommend the Zero series to all YA readers, ages 12+.
In the third and final ZEROES book, things look grim. There's an external threat, in the form of Piper - a new Zero with powers unknown, leading an army to some kind of apolocalyptic event in New Orleans. There are internal threats, too: Scam is starting to realise what harm his omniscient voice could do in the wrong hands, which could well be his own, since he's just unwittingly revealed to Crash that people are essentially mechanical, and that she therefore has the power to kill with her mind. Bellwether's stint in a maximum security prison has left an impression on both him and Mob, who would do anything to avoid finding herself in one. Meanwhile, Flicker is no longer sure she can trust Anon, who has discovered The Nowhere, a place where he is free from the pain of existing.
The ZEROES series - and NEXUS in particular - represent everything that's good about YA. The genre-blending. The risk-taking. The scenes which wouldn't work on a screen but feel so real on a page. Young characters who seem utterly convincing, even as they are grappling to control abilities which are delightfully preposterous. Through a succession of carefully orchestrated scenes, every power comes together to make an ending that you won't see coming.
I'll miss Scam most of all. Every time the voice takes control of his mouth, the dialogue crackles. It might be time to go back and read the whole series again.
I definitely recommend rereading the previous two if it has been a while because there are a lot of names to keep track of. The style was generally good, but the plot felt weak in a few areas.
Overall, I really enjoyed this entire series. It was pretty fast paced overall and a little confusing with all the different perspectives, but I do recommend reading all 3 books consecutively. (I did Swarm and Nexus consecutively and I'm very glad I did!)
This ending felt a little rushed to me. I only wish we had gotten more answers at the ending of this final book! I'm left with so many more questions - and not just about their futures, but about their powers in general. Especially Ethan's voice - his power is unique but, why? How? I WANTED MORE ANSWERS :(
(Also I'm low key salty about the cover change (US version) from books 1-2 to this 3rd one. SIGH.) ___________________________ 10/5/16 - Scott said at an event that the 3rd book is going to be called Nexus! :o MUCH EXCITE!
I read this entire book in one sitting. I think that it was my favorite of the trilogy. What it all boiled down to was the relationships between the characters. The choices they made were because they thought of their loved one or their friend.
It would be awesome if the author decided to start a new series about the next generation. I received an advanced copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was kind of a hot mess compared to the first two. The motivations of the characters were all over the place, the point of view changed too often, and there was to much change to the setting to make it easy to follow. I feel like they never spent more than a chapter in the same location. Also, they work better as a team, but were frequently split up throughout this book, weakening them and leaving opening for semi-forced conflict. I was impressed with the few battles they were involved in, the interactions with their inside out powers, and the internal war of Kelsie, but I felt like there were too many new characters to keep track of, several of which weren't important to the story. That being said, finally establishing that the Zeroes are small fish in a very large pond was pretty great plot shifting. Overall I would (and do) recommend this series, especially since it has universal gender appeal.
Simply put, I wanted to finish the series to see where everything ended up. I was underwhelmed with the ending. I had too many unanswered questions. Disappointing finish.
tbh, was not a big fan of the ending. It was a solid book to read but the ending just wasn't satisfying. Like I felt there should have been another 50pgs to actually wrap things up
Like I said in my review for the last book: These books are just really worth reading. They're so full of stuff that it's hard for me to review it or even give any sort of synopsis. All I can say it Westerfeld has been a favorite of mine for many years, and even though he's probably writing content that's "too young" for me, I'll always read his works. This is just another reminder that I love how he creates worlds and makes them so easy to submerge yourself in. He's one of those writers that is able to make up words and concepts that make perfect sense to you when you read it, but if you try and explain it to someone else you have to go back a million steps, and eventually lay out the entire plot just to explain why a certain line is so funny, or heartbreaking, or exciting, because it has all of these moments.
Glad I read this series, and they look so pretty on my shelf!
2019 What a conclusion! If you've read any of my reviews then you know that I am very specific about the kind of endings that I want. I have given so many negative reviews because the ending of the book/series was garbage. Well, as you can see, that is not the case here! I loved everything about this conclusion! Happy endings all around! I'm a big fan of when author's write out specifics for each character to make sure that you know how it's going to work out for them.
I was crazy disappointed in Nate this book, though. I'm glad everything worked out for him and everything, but I was super disappointed when he joined the dark side, even briefly. I'm going to assume there was some powers at play there, but it still hurt me. I guess there was a reason that I didn't like him in the first couple of books. Because he was a traitorous, backstabbing jerkface.
Flicker had her own issues this go around, where she was so focused on keeping Anonymous by her side that she kind of pushed other things away. I completely understand after he did his disappearing act why she would be all stressed out about it, but also, I feel like you can't force someone to be with you, so she shouldn't have basically had him in lock down mode.
And my Scam! He has grown so much as a character since the first book! He doesn't want to hurt someone when using his power. He wants to tell the truth, but not at the expense of hurting another person. Plus, he's super duper head over heels for the weird hunter girl, which is kind of sweet. Of course, I never really grew to like her character very much. I thought she was just a little bit too focused on getting famous and spilling the Zeroes' secrets.
And my baby, Anonymous, came back from the disappearing act! So very happy about that one! I wish we could have seen more of his character, but I do love that they showed his struggle to stay in the real world. Especially when faced with so many difficulties, it can definitely be easier to just disappear sometimes.
And my Ship - Kelsie and Zara. <3 I'm very happy with how that worked out. Especially since Kelsie struggled so much to not be a Swarm (very very bad thing, indeed). And Crash struggled to not kill people since she realized that people are just giant electric things that can be snuffed out as easily as a cell phone. It was nice to see their struggles and them overcoming them.
I received a copy of Nexus from Allen and Unwin New Zealand to review. This is the final book in the Zeroes series. You can click the links for my review of the first two books, Zeroes and Swarm.
I enjoyed both Zeroes and Swarm more than I thought I would. So I was looking forward to finding out how the story would end. I didn’t want to go into Nexus with any expectations so there was no way I could be disappointed. However the story ended. I did have one thing that I wanted to happen though. I won’t say what here.
I think Nate has annoyed me in all three books now. I never liked that his power meant he had control over the Zeroes and the fact that he loved it. But his obsession in Nexus with the leader of the group in New Orleans was ridiculous. He didn’t even know what this person was up to � good or bad. But I am glad Riley found her voice. I definitely preferred her as a leader over Nate.
Speaking of the leader in New Orleans� I have no idea what happened to make them come up with this insane plan but clearly it wasn’t worth it. I don’t know if I want to know their story but I think it might have been interesting. Or maybe not.
I am glad that there was kind of an epilogue to Nexus and there was a way to see what happened to most of the characters. But I did feel bad for Ethan. I definitely prefer when a series has an actual ending.
I can’t remember if there was ever an answer to where their powers came from though? It was a question I had when I was reading the first book. I think all the Zeroes were born in 2000? Or I could be completely wrong. But I did want to know where they came from. Especially because Riley got a power but her twin didn’t�
The Zeroes series was really good. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it at first. The superpowers thing drew me in with the first book because I love Marvel and DC movies. But there was just something about it that had me read the next two books.
If you like X-Men (kids developing random powers) then you should check out the Zeroes series.
At lunch with only a few pages read I realised that I was going to be up reading this at 2am. Turns out I was wrong, but only because I finished it just after midnight...
That ending... wasn’t great. Sort of anticlimactic in a way in my opinion 🤔 As I’ve said on book one and two, rtc MAYBE because I honestly don’t know how to feel about this book🤣
Wow, what a perfect ending for an exciting series. It has been a pleasure to spend time with the Zeroes and all of their faults and insecurities. This is a totally different take on the kids with super powers storyline. Yes, these kids have powers, but they are not the usual kind of powers, they are all based in the connections we have to each other, our emotions and technology and all of the social dilemmas that brings. This series has been more about society and it’s difficulties with morality and what is right. This is more evident in this last book then in the other two. All of the kids have a tremendous growth in this last book, mostly for the better although there are moments when I was worried about a few of them.
None of these kids are heroes, although they try to do what is right, they mostly struggle with learning how to control and understand their powers and come to terms with them. This is most evident in this final book as they meet other kids with powers similar to theirs. But unlike our Zeroes, these kids want to destroy the world and rebuild it into something that would benefit them. It is interesting to see the Zeroes meet others like them, and to learn that their powers have two sides, the one that they currently use, but also the opposite. Chizara (aka Crash) who can crash technology, but also fix it, knew this in the first book, but the others did not. She does finds out a new horrifying aspect of her power in this book, which she comes to terms with. We meet some kids with some interesting new powers, most of them are the opposite of the Zeroes, but none of the new kids are quite like them in their understanding of what is right.
Throughout all three books the authors focused on the downside of having powers, instead of making everyone a hero that comes to save the day, they often make mistakes and sometimes things go wrong for them. At times the Zeroes do not get along which causes issues among them and they don’t often tell each other what they are up to. But when it counts they do work together and some how make it all work.
I loved all of the characters, but I most related to Thibault, whose power was to be anonymous. He could make people not see him, or forget him. He really struggles with staying with others especially in crowds. I am sure there are times where we have all felt invisible in a crowd, so it was easy to get inside his head. I also like Nate, even though he struggles with his time in prison and what it did to him to be away from crowds. I really felt that all of the powers were realistic, whose has not felt the power of a crowd and how one or two people can make or break that crowd. I also liked the fact that although there were some couples with in the group and then one love interest outside of the group, the romance was kept to a minimum. Actually I wouldn’t even call it romance in the usual YA way. It was very realistic in how it plays out and I appreciated that it never got in the way of the plot.
I must say that the writing is absolutely consistent and amazing through out the books. You would never think that there are three people writing these books. I understand that they each wrote two character’s story lines, but the styles of writing are consistent and not jarring at all, as I have sometimes encountered when more than one author writes a book.
The finale is mind blowing and not what I expected. It has left the door open to spin off series which is great. I would love to revisit this world and the next generation of Zeroes. I want to reread this series from the beginning, now that it is complete. Especially as it takes place over a short few months of time, it will be interesting to read it all together.
When I finished this book, I was so full of something (frustration? love? IDFK, dude) that I almost burst into tears. This series is one that started slow for me, but books two and three amazed me. Also now I want more. I need more. But from a craft perspective? I can seriously understand the narrative choices of not TELLING ME WHAT I NEED TO KNOW, SCOTT.
This is one that I checked out the whole series from the library. Book one... a while ago, and then books two and three I read this week. This is also a series that I had to purchase after finishing this one, so, okay.
The thing that really did it for me, I think, was the characters. I have never read characters like this before. Except Nate. Fuck Nate. I don't care about Nate. But everyone else! They were so distinctive and had their demons and flaws and guys I can't get over how much of a loser Ethan is. I love Ethan with all my heart, that loser, even if
But I love this series. I love it so much. Can't wait to re-read--which I wanted to do immediately after finishing it, so, there's the mark of a good series.
Just wow. What a ride turned inside out! The Zero's became my new best friends in this third book. And like any good story, I'm both sad and thrilled that it's over. There are so many more Zero's out there with stories to be told. I hope/wish that we get to read many more!!!!
I wasn’t a big fan of Uglies but found family stories are one of my favourite things on the planet so I couldn’t resist reading Zeroes and I’m glad I did. Did I buy Swarm and Nexus purely because Thibault and Ethan are both my sons and I needed to make sure they ended up okay? Possibly (Ethan calla Thibault his buddy near the beginning of this and it shattered my heart I’m a big fan of Thibault having buddies). But the rest of the cast and story were enough to keep me hooked.
Trying not to be spoily, the ending is probably the most controversial part about this book. It both somehow manages to tie everything up and leave everything way to open. It almost gave my the sense that Westerfeld had originally planned to write a fourth book but there wasn’t quite enough space in the narrative to necessitate a fourth. In the last hundred pages or so, a lot of massive character altering events happen and then we don’t really get to see the effect of these changes and decisions which was one of the things I previously liked the most about the trilogy and the characters ability to adapt and change based on the choices they made in a way that felt real. I felt kind of robbed by the lack of payoff but that may just be because of how much I love the characters and world and am sad to see them go (except Nate book 1 Nate was mildly annoying, Nexus Nate makes me want to punch him every 2 seconds)
An exciting and satisfying conclusion to the Zeroes series. Just as the second book, Swarm, upped the worldbuilding, characterization, and tension, Nexus ups it even more. I love the main characters (and love audiobook reader Amber Benson's distinctive voice for each one) and I love the unique take on superpowers, so I kind of wish there would be more sequels, but the ending is good enough that I'm happy with it being just a trilogy.