What do you think?
Rate this book
Class Zero #1
Class Zero
With a fifty-six percent unemployment rate, the Government has abandoned its people, allowing them to rot on the streets or to be butchered for industrial purposes. Living in a homeless shelter, sixteen-year-old Paeton is a Lower-C. Her days are spent keeping herself and the two young kids she watches over safe. Twice a week, she ventures into the deadly Atlanta streets to steal enough credits to pay her way, and maybe, just maybe, have a cup of her favorite coffee.
One night on her way home, she runs into a gray-eyed teenage boy who tells her that “change is coming.” Five minutes later, a security drone, worth billions, explodes over her head. Ten minutes later, a horde of teenagers riot in the streets. Fifteen minutes later, an android police officer rips her from the horde and wrestles her to the ground. She escapes only to see herself on television with the Gray-Eyed Boy—his face was covered, hers was not.
To avoid capture, she hides herself among the Escerica Rebels. Meanwhile, the news media labels her a traitor and brands her as the face of the rebel movement. She doesn’t want to fight the unyielding government or to save the world. However, when the two kids she watches are captured, she’s forced to face her inner demons. It’ll take more than thousands of officers, scores of androids, and dozens of flying killing machines to keep Paeton from the kids.
One night on her way home, she runs into a gray-eyed teenage boy who tells her that “change is coming.” Five minutes later, a security drone, worth billions, explodes over her head. Ten minutes later, a horde of teenagers riot in the streets. Fifteen minutes later, an android police officer rips her from the horde and wrestles her to the ground. She escapes only to see herself on television with the Gray-Eyed Boy—his face was covered, hers was not.
To avoid capture, she hides herself among the Escerica Rebels. Meanwhile, the news media labels her a traitor and brands her as the face of the rebel movement. She doesn’t want to fight the unyielding government or to save the world. However, when the two kids she watches are captured, she’s forced to face her inner demons. It’ll take more than thousands of officers, scores of androids, and dozens of flying killing machines to keep Paeton from the kids.
310 pages, ebook
First published May 1, 2016
22 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews
August 17, 2017
Title: Class Zero
Author: Y.A. Marks
Genre: YA Sci-fi/Dystopian
Format: Ebook
Pages: 247
Rating: 4
Heat: 1
Thoughts: Warning, you will need tissues for this! What’s scary is that other than the technology, we aren’t that far off from living this way. People are “tagged” and monitored along with getting or being denied access to certain areas based on that tag. Everyone is so focused on themselves that even children, who’ve been orphaned for whatever reason, end up being homeless aren’t treated any differently than a common criminal.
I loved Paeton! She’s sixteen yet avoids other teenagers because they always seem to be getting in trouble and she does not need that. As you get to know her more, you find out that she wants to be just a regular teenage girl. She wants nice clothes, get her nails painted, have her first kiss, the normal teenage worries. Being orphaned at the age of 9, she had that life, but not anymore. Along come Rylan and all sorts of bad things start happening and all she wants to do is survive and keep two other, younger, orphans safe.
There is a cliffhanger but it won’t leave you screaming. It’s just more of a “so what’s happening now that this has happened” type of thing. I look forward to reading the next book to find out!
Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.
Author: Y.A. Marks
Genre: YA Sci-fi/Dystopian
Format: Ebook
Pages: 247
Rating: 4
Heat: 1
Thoughts: Warning, you will need tissues for this! What’s scary is that other than the technology, we aren’t that far off from living this way. People are “tagged” and monitored along with getting or being denied access to certain areas based on that tag. Everyone is so focused on themselves that even children, who’ve been orphaned for whatever reason, end up being homeless aren’t treated any differently than a common criminal.
I loved Paeton! She’s sixteen yet avoids other teenagers because they always seem to be getting in trouble and she does not need that. As you get to know her more, you find out that she wants to be just a regular teenage girl. She wants nice clothes, get her nails painted, have her first kiss, the normal teenage worries. Being orphaned at the age of 9, she had that life, but not anymore. Along come Rylan and all sorts of bad things start happening and all she wants to do is survive and keep two other, younger, orphans safe.
There is a cliffhanger but it won’t leave you screaming. It’s just more of a “so what’s happening now that this has happened” type of thing. I look forward to reading the next book to find out!
Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.
June 30, 2016
Quite The Novel Idea ~ Words from the Clouds
3.5 stars
This was a really solid start to a dystopian series that I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. And I'm curious to see where it goes from this point forward.
I liked the characters and their interactions but I feel like they could’ve been fleshed out more. Or smoothed out. Because sometimes the relationships felt very natural and other times it felt very stiff and awkward. The romance is a prime example of that and I think most of the dialogue that felt stiff came from them. I would've liked for it to be more in the background and have the main character Paeton focus on finding "her" kids more and learn how to live with her new reality of being an enemy of the government.
I do like Paeton as a character, though and the development I saw in her in this book. I love that she can take care of herself and isn’t the perfect special snowflakes dystopians tend to have. I like a strong heroine. The side-characters were also all very likeable and I want to get to know them more. I also liked the world the author created. It’s similar to the world we live in, but more enhanced. I loved the new-ish technology and how he found an easy way to explain what it all was. It was never too info-dumpy. The ending was a tiny bit confusing to me because it happened so fast and I still don’t quite get what happened. That might be just me though. I tend to get confused with fast-paced action scenes and stuff. I blame my contemporary-brain for that.
I think this series has a lot of potential and I'm really curious to see where it goes. So do check it out if you like YA Dystopian series.
3.5 stars
This was a really solid start to a dystopian series that I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. And I'm curious to see where it goes from this point forward.
I liked the characters and their interactions but I feel like they could’ve been fleshed out more. Or smoothed out. Because sometimes the relationships felt very natural and other times it felt very stiff and awkward. The romance is a prime example of that and I think most of the dialogue that felt stiff came from them. I would've liked for it to be more in the background and have the main character Paeton focus on finding "her" kids more and learn how to live with her new reality of being an enemy of the government.
I do like Paeton as a character, though and the development I saw in her in this book. I love that she can take care of herself and isn’t the perfect special snowflakes dystopians tend to have. I like a strong heroine. The side-characters were also all very likeable and I want to get to know them more. I also liked the world the author created. It’s similar to the world we live in, but more enhanced. I loved the new-ish technology and how he found an easy way to explain what it all was. It was never too info-dumpy. The ending was a tiny bit confusing to me because it happened so fast and I still don’t quite get what happened. That might be just me though. I tend to get confused with fast-paced action scenes and stuff. I blame my contemporary-brain for that.
I think this series has a lot of potential and I'm really curious to see where it goes. So do check it out if you like YA Dystopian series.
August 21, 2016
*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*
I really liked this book and am of the opinion that neither the cover nor description do it justice. For instance from the description you would expect that the main character Paeton uses bad language throughout the book, however this is not the case and she even teaches the two children she is looking after not to swear. I honestly didn't like the cover and didn't imagine Paeton or Rylan looking like the models shown. The contents of the book itself were really good. I really liked the characters, especially Paeton and Rylan, and the plot was really well written. I enjoyed reading about Paeton's training where she honed her gun-wielding skills. The world-building was really well done and I especially liked reading about the technology such as the androids that are part human and part machine and the holographic devices. I can't wait until the next installment of the series to read more about Rylan, Paeton and their adventures.
I really liked this book and am of the opinion that neither the cover nor description do it justice. For instance from the description you would expect that the main character Paeton uses bad language throughout the book, however this is not the case and she even teaches the two children she is looking after not to swear. I honestly didn't like the cover and didn't imagine Paeton or Rylan looking like the models shown. The contents of the book itself were really good. I really liked the characters, especially Paeton and Rylan, and the plot was really well written. I enjoyed reading about Paeton's training where she honed her gun-wielding skills. The world-building was really well done and I especially liked reading about the technology such as the androids that are part human and part machine and the holographic devices. I can't wait until the next installment of the series to read more about Rylan, Paeton and their adventures.
September 18, 2018
I was gifted an ebook via Netgalley.
This story had a lot of promise. I was really intrigued by the beginning and how the story was set up and then it ended up becoming very very tropey. The instalove was out of no where and didn't seem very characteristic of the main character. It honestly felt like this was written back in 2011. There was slut shaming by way of putting down strippers and prostitutes. It seemed like every dystopian plot point that has ever existed happened in this story and overall that made it feel very unoriginal and easy to guess what would happen next. I really wanted to love this story, I did. I think honestly that I would have had it been a 2011 book that I read around the time of release.
This story had a lot of promise. I was really intrigued by the beginning and how the story was set up and then it ended up becoming very very tropey. The instalove was out of no where and didn't seem very characteristic of the main character. It honestly felt like this was written back in 2011. There was slut shaming by way of putting down strippers and prostitutes. It seemed like every dystopian plot point that has ever existed happened in this story and overall that made it feel very unoriginal and easy to guess what would happen next. I really wanted to love this story, I did. I think honestly that I would have had it been a 2011 book that I read around the time of release.
December 17, 2019
So I'm gonna go with 3.5 on this - I was excited to read the blurb about this because it seemed liked an interesting story.
What I would have liked to know was a little more about the how and the why and what was happening with the rest of the world. It didn't feel like we got a lot of that.
Also the romance/love part of the story seemed to take away from this for me. I say that bcause there were times where I feel like Paeton was only talking about her feelings, and going back and forth, back and forth and to me it was a little annoying and took away from the story.
We have a girl with a cool gift, a crazy rebellion group going on with these plans and then it was chapter after chapter of her going on and on about I like him I don't I like him I don't... meh
I think if that was cut away this really could have been a great story - condensing the love story portion down a bit. But that's just me.
It was nice to see her finally step up and make plans and stop feeling bad for herself and the position she was in. Sure she always conformed to the norm but sometimes that isn't the best thing in the world.
I am hoping that book 2 moves a little smoother.
What I would have liked to know was a little more about the how and the why and what was happening with the rest of the world. It didn't feel like we got a lot of that.
Also the romance/love part of the story seemed to take away from this for me. I say that bcause there were times where I feel like Paeton was only talking about her feelings, and going back and forth, back and forth and to me it was a little annoying and took away from the story.
We have a girl with a cool gift, a crazy rebellion group going on with these plans and then it was chapter after chapter of her going on and on about I like him I don't I like him I don't... meh
I think if that was cut away this really could have been a great story - condensing the love story portion down a bit. But that's just me.
It was nice to see her finally step up and make plans and stop feeling bad for herself and the position she was in. Sure she always conformed to the norm but sometimes that isn't the best thing in the world.
I am hoping that book 2 moves a little smoother.
November 25, 2019
Excellent job editors / beta readers!
This is a really good story made much better by the quality of publication. I wish that all books were published equally, but unfortunately too many reach my Kindle full of small word errors and gross misspellings. I noticed no errors here, not to guarantee perfection, just that there were none that I recognized. The story is very good, it is similar to a few others that I have read but not directly derivative, and certainly not plagiarized. I wish that I had connected better with the primary character, but think that may be more a fault in this particular reader, rather than the writer. I intend to read the entire seemed more than once.
I am following the author. At present these books are available through Amazon Prime's read for free program.
This is a really good story made much better by the quality of publication. I wish that all books were published equally, but unfortunately too many reach my Kindle full of small word errors and gross misspellings. I noticed no errors here, not to guarantee perfection, just that there were none that I recognized. The story is very good, it is similar to a few others that I have read but not directly derivative, and certainly not plagiarized. I wish that I had connected better with the primary character, but think that may be more a fault in this particular reader, rather than the writer. I intend to read the entire seemed more than once.
I am following the author. At present these books are available through Amazon Prime's read for free program.
May 22, 2016
This dystopian novel is set in Atlanta sometime in the future. How convenient that I happened to be in Atlanta visiting family, when I started reading it! So as far as dystopian stories go, this one wasn't terrible. I was glad that it wasn't as long as Divergent, but it was still long enough that I understood what was going on.
Alright, so first off let's talk about the characters. Paeton for the most part is a believable character, she has her quirks, and out of all of the characters is the most flushed out. You can easily see her strengths and weaknesses, and you know what drives her every day.
"Yeah. You're special, Paeton."
Why does every lead character have to be the "special" one? Why can't they just be normal and be thrust into situations out of their control and somehow over come them? Anyway, most of the other characters were a little more one dimensional than Paeton. It was more of what you see is what you get and very little growth from that.
Plot: The plot was very similar to a lot of books that are already out there. The population is split into three different categories; Upper-C, Middle-C, and Lower-C. (I believe you can guess which category our main character is in.) Paeton gets dragged into the rebellion because she is caught on camera with one of the rebels, and she just happened to be the only one without a face mask on. So what does the government do? Label her as the leader of the "terrorist" group. When does a 16-year-old, who has to steal to survive, have time to plan and organize a terrorist group? This is probably one of my main problems with reading YA sometimes, but I can't seem to stop myself from reading these type of books! It is one of my guilty pleasures in life.
"I looked at the star. All my life the flag meant very little to me, but in that moment I tried to search deeper, to see the hope the American flag once symbolized. I wondered, when did it become popular for Americans to only care about themselves? When did the powerful begin to loath the weak? When did humanity begin to die?"
Romance: I was glad that the romance wasn't one of those insta-love type of situations, or a love triangle. Rylan, or Gray-Eyed Fox as Paeton refers to him in the beginning, is one of the characters that I wished had more growth. As the love interest in the story, I wish he had more of a voice rather than dropping everything and doing Paeton's bidding. Other than that, I liked that he taught Paeton how to live like a teenager again instead of the way of life she was used to. I thought they were really cute together, even though it's totally cliche, I liked that he kept saving her no matter how many times she pushed him away.
"I recognized I just had to live long enough to try for my first kiss again"
This arc was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Alright, so first off let's talk about the characters. Paeton for the most part is a believable character, she has her quirks, and out of all of the characters is the most flushed out. You can easily see her strengths and weaknesses, and you know what drives her every day.
"Yeah. You're special, Paeton."
Why does every lead character have to be the "special" one? Why can't they just be normal and be thrust into situations out of their control and somehow over come them? Anyway, most of the other characters were a little more one dimensional than Paeton. It was more of what you see is what you get and very little growth from that.
Plot: The plot was very similar to a lot of books that are already out there. The population is split into three different categories; Upper-C, Middle-C, and Lower-C. (I believe you can guess which category our main character is in.) Paeton gets dragged into the rebellion because she is caught on camera with one of the rebels, and she just happened to be the only one without a face mask on. So what does the government do? Label her as the leader of the "terrorist" group. When does a 16-year-old, who has to steal to survive, have time to plan and organize a terrorist group? This is probably one of my main problems with reading YA sometimes, but I can't seem to stop myself from reading these type of books! It is one of my guilty pleasures in life.
"I looked at the star. All my life the flag meant very little to me, but in that moment I tried to search deeper, to see the hope the American flag once symbolized. I wondered, when did it become popular for Americans to only care about themselves? When did the powerful begin to loath the weak? When did humanity begin to die?"
Romance: I was glad that the romance wasn't one of those insta-love type of situations, or a love triangle. Rylan, or Gray-Eyed Fox as Paeton refers to him in the beginning, is one of the characters that I wished had more growth. As the love interest in the story, I wish he had more of a voice rather than dropping everything and doing Paeton's bidding. Other than that, I liked that he taught Paeton how to live like a teenager again instead of the way of life she was used to. I thought they were really cute together, even though it's totally cliche, I liked that he kept saving her no matter how many times she pushed him away.
"I recognized I just had to live long enough to try for my first kiss again"
This arc was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 15, 2016
I received an ARC copy of this title in exchange for my honest opinion and review.
This was an interesting dystopian read with a pretty plausible premise. The rich get richer, living lives of comfort and ease in their obscenely tall penthouses in the sky. The poor get poorer and more disenfranchised, living lives of quiet desperation wherever they can eek out an existence. I could see that the author was trying to build nuance and personality into the main character Paeton by showing us what she liked (fru-fru coffee drinks and taking care of a pair of stray orphan kids she took under her wing after the world went to hell), and how she survived in her day to day life. And the premise of the book seemed interesting and different from the standard world building we usually see in YA dystopian fare. But I felt like there was something missing here for me, personally, and I’m not really sure what it is. I had a hard time caring about Paeton and the friends she meets in the resistance. My interest was never sparked. But I can see why others liked this and it really wasn’t bad. I‘ll be interested to see what comes next from this author.
This was an interesting dystopian read with a pretty plausible premise. The rich get richer, living lives of comfort and ease in their obscenely tall penthouses in the sky. The poor get poorer and more disenfranchised, living lives of quiet desperation wherever they can eek out an existence. I could see that the author was trying to build nuance and personality into the main character Paeton by showing us what she liked (fru-fru coffee drinks and taking care of a pair of stray orphan kids she took under her wing after the world went to hell), and how she survived in her day to day life. And the premise of the book seemed interesting and different from the standard world building we usually see in YA dystopian fare. But I felt like there was something missing here for me, personally, and I’m not really sure what it is. I had a hard time caring about Paeton and the friends she meets in the resistance. My interest was never sparked. But I can see why others liked this and it really wasn’t bad. I‘ll be interested to see what comes next from this author.
August 1, 2016
I received this book for an honest review and it took me some time to get into it but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the first book in the Class Zero Series. This book showed the cruelty of humans. That they believe because they have more money and more material items that they are better than everyone else when it is what is on the inside that counts the most. In this society there are different classes of people and with that comes people who think they are better than the other classes who are beneath them. With all societies that are like this you are most likely going to have a group that doesn’t agree with this or the government that controls the place. This group in this book is called the rebels and they don’t agree with the government and they are trying to take them down. I liked that this book didn’t end with a major cliffhanger yes it left it where another book is needed to bring the entire story to a conclusion but the author left it in a way that you are satisfied until you get your hands on the next book.
May 15, 2016
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley.
This book is a typical dystopia. If you don't like the Hunger Games, or Divergent, or the Maze Runner, you probably shouldn't read this. If you do like them, then go ahead, because this is one if the best ones I've ever read.
The main character fits the type: smart, independent, stubborn girl. The greatest difference was that she had adopted two kids (so cute, by the way) and lived absolutely on her own. Oh, and she robs for a living (that was new for me). The nickname thing really got to me, as I usually do the same thing and made the character more realistic.
The boy was very sweet and fun, but it didn't quite fill the role of rebel nor Paeton's boyfriend. That doesn't mean he wasn't intriguing, but it was a pity the author didn't develop him more.
Overall this book was good. It has its fare share of rebellion, twists and laughs (the last even more than the average one),so give it a chance.
This book is a typical dystopia. If you don't like the Hunger Games, or Divergent, or the Maze Runner, you probably shouldn't read this. If you do like them, then go ahead, because this is one if the best ones I've ever read.
The main character fits the type: smart, independent, stubborn girl. The greatest difference was that she had adopted two kids (so cute, by the way) and lived absolutely on her own. Oh, and she robs for a living (that was new for me). The nickname thing really got to me, as I usually do the same thing and made the character more realistic.
The boy was very sweet and fun, but it didn't quite fill the role of rebel nor Paeton's boyfriend. That doesn't mean he wasn't intriguing, but it was a pity the author didn't develop him more.
Overall this book was good. It has its fare share of rebellion, twists and laughs (the last even more than the average one),so give it a chance.
May 14, 2016
I was given this book free as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book I enjoyed, but I felt like I had read it all before in other similar, unfortunately better w like prodigy by Marie lu. This book didn't hold anything particularly unique in my opinion and I felt it should have been more fast paced with a better plot. The main character Paeton I felt could of had a stronger personality and the romance going on took away from the strength of the novel. I felt there was great potential for this book, and as I said I enjoyed it but that it didn't really go anywhere for me personally.
This book I enjoyed, but I felt like I had read it all before in other similar, unfortunately better w like prodigy by Marie lu. This book didn't hold anything particularly unique in my opinion and I felt it should have been more fast paced with a better plot. The main character Paeton I felt could of had a stronger personality and the romance going on took away from the strength of the novel. I felt there was great potential for this book, and as I said I enjoyed it but that it didn't really go anywhere for me personally.
May 15, 2016
I received a copy of this story from Net Galley. Yay books!
Spoilers possible ahead...
This story wasn't too bad. It did take a little bit to figure out the lingo, considering this story is set in the future. I did like Paeton though. Which is kind of shocking for me, because I usually hate all female leads. But the general idea for this story, I wasn't so crazy about.
And why would the "government" think that a sixteen year old girl would be the leader of a rebellion? Sometimes, I just don't understand books like this. Like when would a teenager have time to lead a rebellion? Or even have tie know how to lead one? Jeez. I know this is just a story, but still.
Spoilers possible ahead...
This story wasn't too bad. It did take a little bit to figure out the lingo, considering this story is set in the future. I did like Paeton though. Which is kind of shocking for me, because I usually hate all female leads. But the general idea for this story, I wasn't so crazy about.
And why would the "government" think that a sixteen year old girl would be the leader of a rebellion? Sometimes, I just don't understand books like this. Like when would a teenager have time to lead a rebellion? Or even have tie know how to lead one? Jeez. I know this is just a story, but still.
June 29, 2016
In a dystopic future where the ultra rich live in fortresses floating in the sky and the poor starve and die on the street, Paeton struggles to survive. Paeton doesn't care about changing the world. She doesn't question the status quo. Paeton only cares about surviving. She has skills and a unique talent that finances her thieving lifestyle and then she meets the rebellion group attempting to bring down the government. I thought Paeton was whiny and not very smart. This is an okay dystopia adventure. It is a fast read. Some of the sub plots I was picking up on right away and the Philip K Dick allusions. 3 Stars
May 31, 2016
I received Class Zero as a review copy via InstaFreebie. The gifting did not determine the review/rating, which reflects my honest opinion. This was a slow read for me as it is aimed at a younger, teen audience. The writing style is tell, rather than show, so it felt narrated-- which is fine, but not my preference. The story was well paced, and many of the characters were likable. I liked the overall plot and the world-building. A good read, but may not be appreciated by adults who would be frustrated by a teen's choices and thoughts
June 20, 2016
like to add in some YA books now and then. Class Zero looked interesting so I requested and received it from Netgally. Paeton Washington is a interesting main character and the story is told from her point of view. All she wants to do is keep her head down and not have any trouble. Doesn’t happen and the way it develops keeps the story moving. There are some really great characters that along with Paeton drive the action. There is also a very sweet love story that is developing as Paeton’s life changer.
Want to read
May 10, 2016I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews