Zodiac by Romina Russell

Rho is a Cancerian, always will be. From the very start she’s loved her home and has a deep connection with it. But when her home planet is attacked by an unknown planet, everything changes. Rho is called in to be the new leader of Cancer after the old leader died from the attack. Without much experience, Rho must set on an expedition across the galaxy of zodiacs to find the one who’s responsible for the destruction of her own home. Her friend, Matias accompanies her, and along the way they meet Hysan wants to help them as well.

Zodiac is a Sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and adventure novel for readers age 12 to 17, though I’d personally say age 14 and older. It takes place in a futuristic solar system-like galaxy where each planet is representative of a zodiac and one personality trait. Other than the main space exposition plot, there is a love triangle as well. While many people like the book, one criticism I could give is that the author does not do enough to build each character’s personality. What I mean by this is that we are already given a single personality trait for each zodiac, and the author uses that trait to write each character from that house. We are told that Rho is nurturing because she is from Cancer, but it isn’t shown too well in the writing. Overall, I would recommend this book to people who like romance and sci-fi, but it personally wasn’t for me - though don’t let that stop you from reading the book if it sounds interesting.

Review written by Quincy, Grade 9