Zeroes (Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti, A&U)

Co-authored books often raise alarm bells for readers, with many examples of great ideas poorly executed. Thankfully Zeroes manages to overcome any scepticism with a well-crafted plot and some pretty amazing characters. There are six main characters in Zeroes. Each character has a different superpower that can be both a benefit and hindrance (hence the ‘Zeroes’ rather than ‘Heroes’ of the title). Each character also covers particular personality traits—confident, shy, dishonest, self-serving, honest—without being overly stereotypical, and readers will be intrigued to know which characters were written by which author. The plot weaves together the story arcs of the characters, exploring situations that many teenagers will relate to at one time or other, such as the character who while not invisible is so non-memorable they might as well be. There are a couple of farfetched scenarios but we’re dealing with superpowers so it’s kind of a moot point. Zeroes is a really good book that will have wide appeal thanks to its breadth of characters. It’s the first of a series that I think has the ability to attract the same following as Scott Westerfeld’s ‘Uglies’ series.

Tanya Caunce is a former bookshop owner and current bookclub wrangler

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews