Simone's writing here is the strongest that it's been in this new Batgirl series. She does a great job of telling the story of a dark time in Babs' life, while also nicely tying together many plot strings from her entire run. It's a beautifully cohesive whole that leaves you wanting to know what comes next. 
 Unfortunately, the volume is marred by the two editor-driven events in the book. The first is villain's month which involves a standalone issue on the Ventriloquist. It's an OK (if shallow) story, but it feels out of place and manages to stall the action of the main book; it's also confusing, as there's all kinds of discussion of having no power and food, but no explanation for why. And finally, it undercuts the story that precedes it by immediately putting the villain back on the street. The second problematic event is the Zero Year story that ends the volume. It's similarly shallow but OK, but it highlights one of the major problems at nuDC, as Simone wasn't willing to stay around to write it. 
 Ironically, I think this book might have been a 5-star if it'd just dropped the two so-so (and mostly irrelevant) issues.