Black Moon

Zodiac, Book 3

By: Romina Russell

Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel

One final secret stands between Rho and the enemy. But will the devastating truth destroy her first?

Rho, the courageous visionary from House Cancer, lost nearly everything when she exposed and fought against the Marad, a mysterious terrorist group bent on destroying balance in the Zodiac Galaxy. Now, the Marad has disappeared without a trace, and an uneasy peace has been declared.

But Rho is suspicious. She believes the Master is still out there in some other form. And looming over all are the eerie visions of her mother, who died many years ago but is now appearing to Rho in the stars.

When news of a stylish new political party supported by her best friend, Nishi, sends Rho on another journey across the Galaxy, she uses it as an opportunity to hunt the hidden master and seek out information about her mother. And what she uncovers sheds light on the truth - but casts darkness upon the entire Zodiac world.

©2016 Penguin Random House LLC (P)2019 Tantor

Different Words

I think that this series is incredibly entertaining and that the reader, Rebecca Gibel, did a great job. However, she changed how she read certain words from the first two books to this one. It was a jarring transition and hard to adjust to.

So good

I love this book
so interesting to read
One of the best books I read

Better Narration, worse characterization

What the fuck is wrong with literally everyone in this book? I have never seen such a cluster fuck of odd characterizations in my life. This might be the worst thing I have read in a long time and at this point it shouldn’t surprise me given what I have experienced from the previous two installments in the series. Mathias, Nishi, Stan, Rho... They are all acting so bizarre. Mathias gets a little leeway because of what he went through in Wandering Star but the others.... Nishi is refusing to think about or talk about Deek, Stan has become cold and distance, and Rho... God Rho... She is the worst. She is all over the place, trusts no one, and has really started to lose her cancer ideals. But you know what I am excited about? The narrator pronounced Ophiuchus’ name correctly!

Now, I will say, complaints aside... My god that ending was amazing! As much as I want to gush about what happened, what I am about to say is MAJOR spoilers for Black Moon so do not look if you haven’t read it or if you don’t want the ending ruined for you. Rho and Hysan are finally together, she has found her mother, and then... Shit absolutely hit the fan. She watched as her brother was murdered in cold blood, Ophiuchus now has a corporeal form, Crompton was revealed to be the Master, and her mother was taken away.... and she may or may not be dead herself (obviously she isn’t because there is one more book but still). It was incredibly action packed, and I was impressed to see Rho take charge and act to try to save and protect people. It was the one time I viewed her as truly strong.

I only have one more installment left to read, and it really does feel like we are coming to an end, so I am curious how they are going to bring this to a close. There is a lot that needs to be handled before we can reach our conclusion. How will we defeat the Master? Why is the Master trying to bring back Ophiuchus’ constellation? Will Rho and her mother have a relationship now? What is going to happen between Rho and Hysan and Mathias and Pandora? Is Neith going to be gone now? Is Hysan going to take his leadership role now? I need to see this through to the end and hopefully we will get answers.