Zodiac (Zodiac #1)

By Romina Russell

Hardcover, 325 pages

Published December 9th 2014 by Razorbill

ISBN 1595147403 (ISBN13: 9781595147400)

Series: Zodiac #1

*copy is from my personal library*

3.5/5 books

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 Cancerian 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.

This was a re-read for me since I took part in the Zodiac Readathon, the first time I read it was when it was released.

I have to say I was very conflicted with this book, there are parts that I enjoyed, and other parts where I just wanted to throw the book across the room.

Rho is an interesting character. She has the ability to read the stars in a way that most of the teachers at her school look down upon. She doesn’t use the school required Astralator, so when she is called back to her class to re-do her star reading, she sees something that doesn’t make sense to her, it worries her and she voices her concern to her teacher, but when she does the reading again and doesn’t show up on the Astralator, her teachers dismiss her claims, and shoo her off. Rho runs off to meet up with her friends to put on a concert that night. Little did she know her star reading was about to come true.

Rho at this point is thrown into a position she never wanted, she was more worried about finding her father and brother, but the remainder of the Council didn’t seem to care. Rho is turned into a Figurehead for the House of Cancer.

At this point if I was Rho, I’d say thanks but no thanks, since her claims were dismissed before and now she’s being taken somewhat seriously. The other adults on the council still brush her off since she is “just a child” and can’t possibly expect people to believe her claims of the boogey man attacking the planets.

Rho’s caring nature instead takes over and she feels that she needs to warn the other houses of the zodiac of their imminent danger, and sets off. This is where the story picks up.

I’m not quite sure what to think of or what to make of Matias, who is now Rho’s guardian, by her choice I might add. He seems to care for Rho, but I’m not sure if it’s more of an older brother type of caring or more of a love interest type of care. As a reader I wanted to slap him so many times when he was so wishy-washy with Rho. There is a taboo rule that is in place with the Guardians and falling in love, and Matias is being a major stickler with this rule.

Enter the other guy….Hysan; he’s a very close guarded, secretive type of guy. He is super charming, a little too charming. He has a lot of secrets that he’s keeping from Rho and Matias, but in all honesty, when he does start telling them, I can’t blame him for staying so quiet.

I enjoyed the actual story in the book over the characters, and that’s not something that happens very often for me. There were a lot of things that angered me (like how Rho was treated, and how she took that treatment from the council, over telling them to find someone else to insult), when it is found out later on in the book that someone is dead, and it was left at that, and never questioned as to why said dead person called Rho back to the House of Cancer.

I enjoyed how by the end Rho did accept what was handed to her, and will fight on but now on her terms and find a way to get back to her family and to deal with this boogey man that everyone else seems to believe is just that, a boogey man and not an actual threat.

I do plan on reading the rest of the series to see what happens to Rho, Matias, Hysan and the others that were introduced in the first book.