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Review: Zodiac by Romina Russell
Sep. 20th, 2015 04:43 pmRating: 3.5/5 stars
Zodiac is a tense, drama-filled story of Rho Grace's quest to protect her universe in the face of an ancient threat that no one believes her about. Rho is a sympathetic protagonist who's realistically overwhelmed by her sudden ascension to Guardian of Cancer but still has an admirable determination to remain true to herself. The book's greatest strength is its worldbuilding, as reading about the vastly different planetary systems (Cancer and Libra's main planets being standouts) and cultures is a delight.
Unfortunately, the love triangle really soured my enjoyment of the book and made me want to bang my head against the wall. While I'm indifferent to Hysan (though he does have an intriguing backstory), I felt that Mathias was quite bland, and I can't quite help thinking that the "resolution" to the love triangle isn't quite as definite as it seems. I was also kind of disappointed that the 13th House really did turn out to be the villain, instead of some trickier force, and especially given that Ophiuchus was supposed to stand for unity.
The writing was adequate, though in the beginning it felt rather choppy and sometimes things weren't described with enough detail. Additionally, the emotional scenes in the book mostly fell flat for me; the scale of death and destruction often felt somewhat distant, instead of devastating.
There were also a couple of niggling questions I had in the back of my head that the book never answered. For example: Given the scale of destruction on Cancer and Virgo, why was the Plenum still unwilling to believe Rho's calls to action? Why do the Geminins use cellular regeneration to de-age themselves into children instead of sexy young adults (I don't know anyone in the world who would willingly make themselves children, given de-aging technology)? If Aries is the most militarized zodiac House—given the amount of money involved in military spending and the fact that military activity always prompts technological innovation—why is it also the poorest? And, maybe I missed this explanation, but I was confused as to why, if each House is its own constellation system, they all worship the same (central?) star.
Zodiac is a tense, drama-filled story of Rho Grace's quest to protect her universe in the face of an ancient threat that no one believes her about. Rho is a sympathetic protagonist who's realistically overwhelmed by her sudden ascension to Guardian of Cancer but still has an admirable determination to remain true to herself. The book's greatest strength is its worldbuilding, as reading about the vastly different planetary systems (Cancer and Libra's main planets being standouts) and cultures is a delight.
Unfortunately, the love triangle really soured my enjoyment of the book and made me want to bang my head against the wall. While I'm indifferent to Hysan (though he does have an intriguing backstory), I felt that Mathias was quite bland, and I can't quite help thinking that the "resolution" to the love triangle isn't quite as definite as it seems. I was also kind of disappointed that the 13th House really did turn out to be the villain, instead of some trickier force, and especially given that Ophiuchus was supposed to stand for unity.
The writing was adequate, though in the beginning it felt rather choppy and sometimes things weren't described with enough detail. Additionally, the emotional scenes in the book mostly fell flat for me; the scale of death and destruction often felt somewhat distant, instead of devastating.
There were also a couple of niggling questions I had in the back of my head that the book never answered. For example: Given the scale of destruction on Cancer and Virgo, why was the Plenum still unwilling to believe Rho's calls to action? Why do the Geminins use cellular regeneration to de-age themselves into children instead of sexy young adults (I don't know anyone in the world who would willingly make themselves children, given de-aging technology)? If Aries is the most militarized zodiac House—given the amount of money involved in military spending and the fact that military activity always prompts technological innovation—why is it also the poorest? And, maybe I missed this explanation, but I was confused as to why, if each House is its own constellation system, they all worship the same (central?) star.
