Book 2 in the bestselling, award-winning Epic Zero series! *Over 1,000 five-star series reviews on Goodreads.
Elliott Harkness finally has powers and is a full-fledged member of the Freedom Force, the greatest superhero team on Earth. Elliott should be over the moon, but he quickly realizes that having powers is one thing, controlling them is quite another! So, after yet another botched mission, Elliott finds himself grounded.
But Elliott's punishment is short-lived when he's kidnapped by a band of teenage, alien outlaws who believe he's the only one capable of destroying a planet-eating monster that's annihilating worlds. To stop it, Elliott must use the Orb of Oblivion, the most powerful weapon in the universe. Unfortunately, he blew it to pieces months ago! But that's just the start of his problems, as he's swept up in a galactic adventure complete with interstellar enemies and cosmic beings beyond his wildest imagination.
With the fate of the universe at stake, will Elliott become the epic hero he's always wanted to be--or will he always be just an Epic Zero?
Epic Zero 2 is the second book in the hilarious, action-packed series that will entertain kids, middle school students, and adults. Epic Zero 2 includes 16 illustrated character profiles and a full glossary of superpowers.
R.L. Ullman is the bestselling, award-winning author of books for young readers including the EPIC ZERO series, the new THE BOY WITH VIDEO GAME POWERS series, the UNLEGENDARY DRAGON series, the MONSTER PROBLEMS series, and the PETUNIA THE UNICORN series. His fun, action-packed stories get kids to put down their screens and pick up a book! R.L. lives in Connecticut with his wife, son, and two freeloading dogs with unusually strong editorial opinions. You can find out more about R.L. at rlullman.com.
A better editor would improve this book, which, as a superhero book, has a lot of appeal to an upper elementary audience.
There is much here to appeal to kids; in fact, my nine-year-old daughter who is entering fourth grade whipped through the first two books in the series. I like to know what she's reading, so I read some of the books, too.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS, AS A BIT OF TEXT IS QUOTED: You'll find violence as well as threats of violence: p. 49 "If you're captured by Skelton, they'll kill you. If you're captured by Dhoom, you'll beg them to kill you. Is that clear?" That's not an editing issue, but I think the story would be fine with milder violence (but that's just me; my daughter didn't object).
There are too many exclamation points (fewer in this book, book two, than in book one, thankfully), and there are some other errors that make a reader cringe, like this (not the only instance in the book) on page 156: "Or, is it somehow still inside of me, gathering it's [sic] strength? Even though I can't sense it's [sic] presence, can I ever be entirely sure it's gone?"
Each chapter begins with the profile of a Meta, which is fun - a bit of comic book to go with the superheroes.
Kids will like it, but as an adult, I hope some rough bits get worked out during the editing process!
I started reading the Epic Zero series and I couldn’t stop. The first one was amazing and this one is a perfect book to continue it. This book is now one of my favorites and I highly recommend it. (Especially to 12 yr olds who can relate to Elliot Harkness, aka the Epic Zero)
Well, this was as bad as the first one, at least the characters were a little bit more enjoyable and FINALLY Elliot learned how lucky he is for having a family that loves him
Read to my 8 year old, one chapter at a time, as a bedtime story. We both really enjoyed it. He's even tried to manufacture an excuse as to why I need to read to him every night instead of alternating between him and his brother. :-)