Chapter 0: Recap
The System arrived, as it is wont to do, and most especially to the Torres family. Zavier, Tess, and their twins Luna and Cass were impacted immediately, having to fight for their lives against some nearby recently-mutated animals. The killings made them initial standouts to The System and gave them a slight boost that they'd use to gain extra advantages later. The advantages were wildly popular with everyone and no one had any issue with them at all, with everyone feeling that they were equal and perfectly balanced.
Zavier tried to understand The System and game it as much as possible, recognizing early on that they would need as many advantages as possible if they were going to survive whatever was sure to come. This led to him pushing harder and faster than everyone in his family was comfortable with, leading to mistakes that inevitably come from rushing ahead too quickly.
Tess, on the other hand, did not feel as much urgency to push ahead as she did to keep them safe, balancing future power against current risk. This difference in viewpoints on how best to proceed led to a lot of disagreements, arguments, and fights on how to raise kids in an apocalypse that requires them to be put in danger. The twins had opinions, of course, but when it comes to the amount of risk parents are willing to expose their kids to it really didn't matter much what the kids thought. In the end some middle ground was found, but not all was resolved.
Zavier gained a unique advantage to game The System and learn to basically program it, which he immediately short-circuited by pushing his brain too far while trying to save Luna's life. This potential for unlimited power comes with the extreme risk of having to enter trials at certain points in his advancement or he'll never grow. Each trial is life or death - he either succeeds, and gains more ability to do what he will with The System, or he dies. This was a plan that was not popular with his family.
Tess continued to become a bad-ass all-around fighter type, her growing power helping her to better protect her family. Luna just continued to get lucky while using items she'd received. This may seem lazy, but you have no idea how hard it is to write a progression novel character about a character that doesn't do anything to progress. She's a ball of joy, though, so that helps.
Then there's Cass. Between his emotional struggles, the insecurities of being ruled by fear, and not having any offensive powers he became the perfect target for a visiting con man to use an influencing skill on him to stoke those insecurities. Father Gabriel, a real asshole if I do say so myself, is a narcissist who uses people for his own ends. Unfortunately, 'their end' tends to be them killing and/or dying so that Gabriel can get the experience. Cass falls under his spell and becomes his lackey as Gabriel first unites, then stokes the neighborhood into a final confrontation, in hopes of wiping everyone out and collecting all their experience. This leads to Cass fighting against his own mother and even going so far as to let Gabriel attempt to kill her. Thankfully Luna was there (lucky that, wasn't it?) to stop him. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop Cass from helping Gabriel escape.
We got to see Edward - the artist who can shape reality to his will. I'm hoping we see more from him but, as he's currently being held by the extreme baddie, Mason, that may or may not happen.
Troop 276 made an appearance and it looks like they're going to be primed to do some really cool stuff. Hopefully this book but, if not, they are going to play a major role in the next.
Mason Cane and his lieutenants showed up a few times, one of them pissing Tess off enough to lose his life over it. Their unorthodox method of leveling up has been clearing entire neighborhoods of their people, a strategy that can't be sustainable. Now that Gabriel has joined forces with Mason it'll be interesting to see what happens when two narcissists team up, especially considering that Mason gets stronger the more people he has under his control while Gabriel gets stronger by killing everyone under his.
As for Maisy? She shows up when she wants to. You'll see her when she's in the mood for it and even I can't convince her otherwise.