I was so unbelievably bored by this book. Long stretches of nothing happening. I tried and tried to keep going but ended up deciding my time was better spent on books I actual feel something for.

The world-building in this series is phenomenal. Each of the twelve Zodiac constellations has it’s own planets/moons, leaders, technology, culture, ideologies, landscape, infrastructure, politics, and more. It’s really crazy how unique each of the worlds within the Zodiac series is. There is a love triangle in this series, which was difficult at times because there is one guy who is perfect for Rho and she just needs to realize that already.

Zodiac is the first book in the Zodiac series, and it is absolutely OUT OF THIS WORLD (pun intended)! I've been hearing so much about this series, but I never had the chance to sit down and read all of the books. I'm so glad I finally took the time because I absolutely love the world that Russell has created.

The world building involved in Zodiac was absolutely stunning. At first, the strange words and descriptions were a little overwhelming, but I was able to quickly visualize the world Russell envisioned. I loved the characters and the constant adventure and action. The main character Rho was ambitious and daring and I loved her fearless attitude. As always, I enjoy a bit of romance, and there was definitely a good bit of romance involved in Zodiac.

I absolutely loved this novel and could not put it down. I can't wait to read the rest of the novels in the series in preparation for the release of the fourth book, Thirteen Rising on August 29th. Thank you so much to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for sending this novel in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy YA fantasy novels.

Zodiac is a unique read that blends both astronomy and astrology into a space adventure story that focuses on a young heroine, Rho, trying to make sure that good conquers evil. Throughout the novel, Rho is tested not only by her own home, the House of Cancer, but by the other Guardians and Houses that she is trying to convince are all in danger. Reluctantly, she has to warn everyone that their common enemy is someone that they all thought was only a legend. Zodiac is an action-packed page-turner with intense scenes, charming male characters, and a plot-line filled with twists, turns, and so many mysteries. I could not put this book down.

Thank you to Chelsea Fought and Penguin Teen for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

The Zodiac series is one that has been on my radar for quite some time but for some reason, I've never picked it up. But when the opportunity to participate in the Zodiac series readathon from Penguin Teen came up, I couldn't pass it up. I'm so glad I finally sat down and read this because I actually really enjoyed it and am already reading the sequel!

Plot:
Rhoma Grace has an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use instruments and take measurements, Rho just looks up at the sky and makes up stories. Like the one where she sees one of her planets moons going dark. No one believes her, but she knows what she saw. When a freak explosion hits the moons of Cancer and sends its ocean planet out of whack, thousands are killed. Including the guardian of Cancer. No one is more surprised than Rho when she's named the new Guardian, but being the true Cancerian that she is, she accepts. But when more Houses begin to fall victim to strange weather catastrophes, Rho sees the pattern in the stars and points to Ophiuchus- the exiled 13th Guardian back to take revenge on the galaxy. Now Rho, along with an envoy from House Libra and a member of her Royal Guard, must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other houses of Ophiuchus. But who will trust anything the young Guardian has to say? Can Rho unite the houses before Ophiuchus destroys them all?

Yes, this book has a love triangle. Yes, Rho is the chosen one. Yes, this is a book where the adults don't believe the teenagers simply because they're teenagers and what do they know, right? But this book also came out in 2014, so I accepted that I was reading a book that came out around when tropes like these seemed to be popular. Setting those aside, the plot of this book was so cool. I loved the idea of the twelve houses of the Zodiac having their own individual planets and the inhabitants possessing the qualities of said house. Every house was just so unique and it was great to see Rho interact with all of the different people. One of the biggest plot points in this book is that the twelve houses are divided, and in order to prevent the further destruction of the planets, they must all come together as one. Following Rho as she traveled through the galaxy trying to convince the other Guardians of the danger that was on its way was such a fun trip. It did drive me absolutely bonkers that none of the adults would believe Rho no matter how hard she tried to get them to listen and no matter what evidence was put before them. The complete destruction of their galaxy was on the verge of happening and they wouldn't listen because Rho was a teenager? Yes, she was inexperienced, but if she saw something happen and it came true once, it's probably safe to say that she may know what she's talking about. It was a frustrating theme that continually popped up throughout the book and I'm really hoping that they don't continue to do that in the rest of the series. I did have a difficult time processing what was happening at the beginning, but once I got into it, I flew through it because I was just so intrigued by the story line. This was such a strong and solid opening to a series and while I did have a few issues regarding decisions made by adults and tropes that were played on throughout the book, I really enjoyed Zodiac and think it's probably going to become one of my favorite series in 2017.


Characters:
Rhoma is without a doubt a special snowflake. She is the chosen one, the one that the stars foresaw as the next Guardian. She's a bit boy crazy to the point where she falls for two guys at the same time. She makes rash decisions that don't always end up being the right ones. But what you have to remember is that this girl also saw the deaths of a lot of her own people. She watched her home get destroyed and has lost her family, as far as she knows. She's been thrust into a position that she wasn't prepared for by people who don't exactly believe in her. Really, she only has one person that truly believes in her, and he's only just met her. So yeah, she's gonna make mistakes. She turns seventeen during the course of this book. She hasn't had time to adapt to what's happening to her before she basically has to lead the entire galaxy into battle. Taking all of that into account, I think she did the best she could. Yeah, sometimes her mind went to how cute one of the boys was and yeah, I rolled my eyes. But she's just being a teenager! When it matters the most, Rho is able to step up and do what she has to do, and that's what matters. So no, Rho isn't perfect, but I think she has a ton of room to grow and I can't wait to see just how much she grows in the next three books.

In general, the characters were so well written. One of the best parts about this book was how unique all of the houses were. Each house had not only a completely different planet (I'll get to that later) but also completely different people. From house to house, you get people of varying skin colors, hair colors, eye colors, body types, personalities, strengths and weaknesses. And even those from the same house/planet were different in some way. No one was exactly the same. I just loved how unique the people were and was so excited when new houses were introduced because I knew I would get to see some fantastically written new characters!

Also, just a quick side note, I am 100% Team Rhosan.

Writing:
If I had to pick one thing that I would say was my favorite part of this book, it would be the writing/world building. The world of the Zodiac is huge and I can't help but feel that we've only scratched the surface with book one. Everything about the writing in this book was beautiful. It was so descriptive but never felt like it was going overboard. You get so much detail about the various planets and their people and I just couldn't help but think that it was all just simply beautiful. Romina Russell does a fantastic job of building the world of Zodiac and really drawing the reader in so that they get lost among the stars. I couldn't get enough of this world and it was so crazy to think that it's already this big in just the first book. While I didn't want Zodiac to end, I was excited at the idea of getting to move on to the next book in the series because I knew I would get to read even more about this amazing world that Romina Russell has effortlessly crafted.

Zodiac is an amazing beginning to a series that is sure to delight lovers of the zodiac and capture the attention of those who may not know much about it. While it does have some fairly old tropes woven throughout, Zodiac shines brighter than Helios with its superb writing, a larger than life world that will surely only get bigger, and very memorable characters.

I used to be really into Zodiac mythology and could tell you quite a lot about it. While I don't remember as much of that information as I'd like, I still find it fascinating to read about and finding Russell's series inspired by the houses of the Zodiac was cool.

Each House has a different ideology that they hold close (Innovation, Curiosity, Spirituality, etc.) and what planet you're born/what sign you're born under dictates your future. When the intricacies of how this system worked was being explained right away in the novel Zodiac, I felt a bit overwhelmed. Some of the names were difficult to keep track of, that sort of thing, but once I got past that and the story delved into characters and their personal stakes in the events of the plot, I felt like I was on better ground, though the whole using the stars to see the future ability that the Heads of House have is still a bit rough for me to grasp.

There are some similarities, I thought, to other YA books in the separating of a society into Houses/Factions/Districts that prize some characteristic or skill above another, but even with that in mind, I felt that Russell managed to make this story her own.

As far as characterization went, I liked that I could see how the people I met could clearly fit into their own Zodiac Houses (like Rho's Sagittarius friend), but they didn't feel like stereotypes.

The plot was steady, I'll say. There were some moments when it felt like things were dragging on a bit, going slow, but even in those moments I as the reader was learning something that came up later so those times weren't totally wasted, even if they felt a bit stressful in the moment.

Rho's story, and that of the mysterious Thirteenth House, is far from over, and I really don't know what Russell will do with the rest of the series.