4.5 stars for this one.

Barbara is (understandably) having a tough time after the events of the previous volume.. plus her Dad is now out for Batgirl's blood (or at least to put Batgirl in jail). For a while she decides to hang up her cape and try to be normal. She starts dating Ricky (who you might remember from Knightfall Descends as the car thief who got his leg cut off) who might be reformed but his brother is in a sticky spot with some gang members.. And after a stand off with some cops things get even more complicated for our poor heroine. It's just a big mess!

The story with the Ventriloquist was particularly good. She was creepy and scary.. and maybe actually more so than her gross, demonic puppet. She's probably have been a psychopathic murderer without the dummy.. and that's terrifying! ( )

Part of my massive Barbara Gordon Re-read which I had a glorious amazing time with. Birds of Prey, under the hands of Gail Simone, was a gorgeous thing and It made me super happy to have all my amazing women back together doing amazing things! ( )

This storyline made me hate Gordon more than any other moment in Batman history. ( )

Does anyone ever die in Gotham if we know their name and they're related to someone who has their own book? The answer is no. Why is not obvious to super-smart Barbara Gordon that when no one can find his body that he might be alive? Why did Commissioner Gordon assume his son was dead just because he fell into the water?
The Zero Year tie-in was nice. Then you start thinking about the timeline. It takes place six years earlier. Babs is still in high school. Now we know from Batgirl (and I think maybe mentioned in Nightwing, too) that Babs trained with Dick for several years before she first donned the cowl. Then she was Batgirl, presu;mably long enough to get established. Then the Joker shoots her in the spine. Ouch. She is in the wheelchair for a year before she has the miracle surgery. Babs is out of the chair for three years before the Deth of the Family story. I think we've got a minimum of eight years here. I also suspect that by the way Papa Gordon talks to Babs at the start of the flashback that not only is she still in high school, but is not about to graduate.
I am sure a similar thing is going to happen when I look at any of their timelines. Like how is it that damian is 10? Or when exactly did Dick have to start working with Batman so that he could be Nightwing now? ( )

There's some good stuff in it, when they briefly take a break from serial killers. (Horrific murders are not fun, people.) ( )