Review Detail

Zenn Scarlett is set far far away into the future, which means – you guessed it right – dystopia! Along with colonization of humans on Mars(!) and other planets, there are all these alien people and animals going about interacting with the humans. The book set up the world quite brilliantly and each of the aliens and the exo-animals described so well. I was delighted to find such good depth with respect to world-building.

The story mainly follows Zenn, a novice exoveteranian, which is a fancy term for saying that she is in training to treat alien animals. Exciting, yes! Secluded most of her life in the church-like institution on her planet, Mars, which has the primary objective of being an exovet clinic. Through her eyes, we see the majestic alien creatures and how she learns and interacts with them. Most times, it was good for this but sometimes it overwhelmed the main plot, that is, the conspiracy and the politics about the human-alien interaction. These were all in the backdrop and though they drive the plot, they are mostly relegated to being side-story. Honestly, the main storyline about it being her tests was a bit of a yawn. Yes, it is YA, and heroine-centric, but a lot of words were spent on the building up of the world and the backstory and the creatures, leaving not much time for the main action. As it is a first book, it could be overlooked most of the times and since I was quite happy with the way the writing built up the whole universe, I’m not really complaining about the lack of fast pace or action. Loved it but could have been better.