ZODIAC by Romina Russell

Rating: 3 / 5

This year’s Popsugar Reading Challenge includes a prompt for a book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title. I decided to go a rather literal route and pick ZODIAC by Romina Russell. I was able to download this book on audio before my recent road trip up the California coast, so dove in without knowing much about the book.

ZODIAC is the first in a four part series by Romina Russell. In this novel, Rhoma Grace is a 16-year old trainee from Cancer, learning to read the future in the stars. Her world is made up of twelve houses in the zodiac galaxy, but as the book opens something has gone horribly wrong. Though Rho senses something is coming, her instructors believe she is reading things wrong. Unfortunately Rho was right and a violent explosion strikes Cancer’s moons throwing off the entire planet’s ecosystem and killing many.

Rho is shocked to learn that her house’s guardian is among the dead and that she’s being named its new leader. As the danger beings to spread to other houses in the zodiac galaxy, Rho begins to believe that the childhood stories of a 13th house boogieman are true. To protect her people, Rho must leave her house and deliver a warning to others in the path of danger.

I was left with mixed feelings about this book. It was a fun read and very entertaining for the most part. It held my attention well as an audiobook and I was interested to keep flipping pages when I picked it up in print. The world building was done well, describing fantastical worlds, different races and an entirely new world order.

Rho has two romantic interests in this story. Mathias is the boy she has longed for from afar for years who is now acting as her guide and mentor in her new role. Hysan Dax is the young, charming and mysterious envoy from Libra who is newly turning Rho’s head. I think these relationships could have been better developed and I wasn’t a fan of how the love triangle played out.

This book definitely left things unresolved and leaving me curious as to where the story goes from here in the subsequent books. I am curious enough to pick them up on audio when I am looking for a light, entertaining read, but I’m not immediately rushing out to immediately add them to my shelf.