Romina Russell

Zodiac

When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens, Rhoma Grace, a sixteen-year-old student from House Cancer, must convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac against Ophiuchus, the exiled thirteenth Guardian of Zodiac legend, who has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy.

[a novel]

Briar's Reviews

Zodiac was a charming novel that featured an amazing original idea.

At first, I found Zodiac to be a really slow and boring start. The author introduces many words and places in her universe that weren't explained well, but as the story progressed I began to understand the language she made up for her fictional universe. Once the book got going, I found that I had myself hooked onto the story and I wanted to know more about the characters. I even began to feel for the characters, which is always a good sign for the book!

The start was slow, which made the novel hard to read. I almost put the book down three times due to how boring I found the start to be. Once I was three-fourths into the book, I was hooked, but I would suggest the author to make the story a little more enticing towards the beginning instead of the end. 

I felt like I needed a Zodiac style dictionary for some of the words used in the novel. The author explains the words once or twice, and then they are used constantly. Sometimes I needed a little reminder of what Psynergy was or other terms that aren't used in day to day life. But, this author is making her own universe so the new words were used in a good way! Her own fictional universe deserved it's own language! 

I liked the character development and the twists and turns of the novel! While the book was slow, the action that did occur was appreciated. I loved the development of the story and the different pieces of action that happened. I would have liked to see more of the different Zodiacs involved in this novel if I had to choose anything to fix about the plot.

Overall, I did enjoy this book! I liked reading it and I found it to be an original and well thought out idea! I can't wait to read the next one now that I'm hooked on the first!

Four out of five stars for Zodiac, due to the slow start.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

When a blast strikes the moons of Cancer, killing thousands of citizens, Rhoma Grace must convince twelve worlds to unite as one against Ophiuchus, the exiled thirteenth Guardian of Zodiac legend, who has returned to exact his revenge.

Fatima Kadri 

I went into this book barely knowing what it was about and I wish I hadn’t because I hate love triangles.
Oh, by the way, did you know there’s a love triangle? Yeah me neither. 

Here’s the thing...I was really captivated at the start of this book. I liked the characters and I thought the world building was fantastical. Actually the world building, in my opinion, was the best part. And the first half of the book in general was great. A solid four stars. I was even starting to kind of like the love triangle.
Then Rho just got boring as a m/c and the action didn’t feel exciting and it all just got less adventurous and more political (in the non-intriguing sense). On top of that, I was very firmly reminded of why I hate love triangles during the last section of the book. 

Is it a bad book? No. 
Is it conflicting? Yes. 
Do I recommend it? Honestly—I can see why some would like this book, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. 

Then again, that’s all just my own personal opinion.

Nicole Dykeman

This took me almost a whole year to get through, but I don't think it's because of the story itself. The characters were great, I really loved Mathias and Hysan. 

The plot is really confusing. There's a lot of made up technology and concepts that are hard to grasp, and understanding them is necessary to the entire story. Needless to say, it was difficult to follow, especially in the beginning. Even by the end, I still didn't really understand the functions of a Wave or exactly what Psynergy was. The majority of the book was basically an argument between Rho and the rest of the world. I understood that no one wanted to listen to her or believe her because she was young - but if I'm being honest, the horse was beat to death. The big battle literally lasted a chapter or two and it wasn't as intense as it could have been. The best part of the plot was the love triangle with Mathias and Hysan. At least, that was the part I cared about the most. 

This had a hard time capturing my interest, and because I downloaded it as an ebook on my phone, I literally forgot about it for weeks on end. I only realized about two weeks ago that I still hadn't finished it and decided to get it out of the way. 

Despite some difficulty I had getting through it, in the end, I actually really enjoyed the characters and the story, so 3 stars.

Elizabeth Dobson

Okay, I had really high expectations for this book so maybe that's why it was such a disappointment to me. 
The author tries to create a whole new world with this book, which, while admirable, is extremely difficult to do and she does not do it well. I was continually lost and confused and I think she made things more complicated than they had to be. 
The characters, for the most part, are not likable, especially the main character, Rho. I get that she's 16 but she's very whiny and spends A LOT of time trying to decide which guy she likes, and frankly, I didn't care. I didn't care about any of the characters to be honest.
The book is quite predictable and while it has a promising plot, it's just not executed well. Probably a third of the book could have been taken out and it wouldn't have altered the plot at all. And as a writer, I totally understand how difficult it is to show and not tell, but there was a lot of telling going on. Rather than letting the reader use his/her own imagination, Russell constantly tells her readers how her characters feel, think, and what they see. 
There's a whole subplot revolving around Rho's mother's disappearance, which was really the only plot point I was actually interested in, that the author never got around to explaining. Maybe it'll happen in the second book?
Last complaint - the language. Russell sounds like she's trying to use big words to sound intelligent, but the language just got convoluted and often sounded like a computer was speaking. I'm a fairly intelligent college graduate with a larger-than-average vocabulary and I had to gather quite a few words' meaning from context. I can't imagine this is an easy read for the middle school and high school-aged kids this book was meant for. 
Looks like it's the first in a series and even though I usually finish what I start, I probably won't be back for more.

Makayla Woolfolk

This was a great read! Easy to follow but rich in detail sci-fi and a unique, wonderful concept! Looking forward to continuing!

Hannah

** spoiler alert **
           Zodiac is a thrilling, enrapturing read. It gripped me from the first page, and never let go. Some people complain that it's "info-dumpy" but with such an intricate, beautiful world, lots of information needs to be shared. Especially in the first book of series. This took me longer to read because I wanted to savor every single second. I really connected with Rho, and I saw a lot of myself in her. I would do almost the exact same things she did and could relate to almost all of her thoughts and actions. Her indecision, and beginning naive-ness were endearing and she handled everything that happened surprisingly well. Also, the love interests were so awesome! When the book started I was all for Mathias and was rooting him on, and the first time Hysan was introduced at Rho's first introduction as Guardian I was so against him! But as soon as they went on their journey I fell in love with Hysan. He is everything I would want in a guy. When Rho felt the guilt from having feelings for both guys I really felt for her and her decisions. I loved her love for her home of Cancer and while I would like to move away, I still think of my home as my home. Rho's love of her family was amazing as well as. The whole journey to prove Ophiuchus was the real reason for all of the strange happenings was super intriguing and held my interest the entire time. I loved every single planet and every sentence added something to the amazingness to the story. This is one of my favorites of the year (and it's the first book I read this year!) and will definitely stick with me! I definitely recommend!!

diana

i’ve recently re-read this series and i have to change my original rating. 3.5**

Elad Schulman

I may not have liked this book as much as I could have because of how long it took me to read because of school, but I felt like I was lacking the wanting to continue reading. The setting of this book is amazing and very well built, but I never really understand the conflicts in the book. I felt like the main character, Rho, was a little too closed, and she seemed like a fighter when actually, she spent half the book doing nothing, and being told that what she was doing wasn't right. Also, my favorite character, died. Which I don't believe.

Ashley

Ashlyn Rice

The New York Times bestselling novel ZODIAC is the first book in a breathtaking sci-fi series inspired by astrology that will stun fans of The Illuminae Files and the Starbound trilogy. At the dawn of time, there were 13 Houses in the Zodiac Galaxy. Now only 12 remain.... Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories. When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancrian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts. Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians. But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac? Embark on a dazzling journey with ZODIAC, the first novel in an epic sci-fi-meets-high-fantasy series set in a galaxy inspired by the astrological signs.