Zenn Scarlet (Zenn Scarlett, #1)

by Christian Schoon

Zenn Scarlett is a bright and occasionally a-little-too-smart-for-her-own-good 17-year-old girl training hard to become an exoveterinarian. She specializes in the treatment of exotic alien life forms, mostly large and generally dangerous.

Her novice year of training at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars was going well – until there are a series of inexplicable animal escapes from the school that Zenn finds herself blamed for.

As if this isn’t enough to be dealing with, her father vanishes under strange circumstances, and Zenn is worried that she has started hearing the thoughts of the creatures around her…

With the help of Liam, a towner boy, and Hamish, an alien bug also training at the clinic, Zenn must try to find her father, rescue the animals and unravel the mystery of who is behind the attacks on the school. And all without failing her first year.

• ISBN13: 9781908844545
• Publish Date: 2 May 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Angry Robot
• Imprint: Strange Chemistry
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Zenn Scarlett from our local library. I've heard of this series and its author since I started attending ICON a couple years ago. It didn't take me long to become absorbed in Zenn's world and her love of animals.

Living on a colonized Mars in a cloister, Zenn is fighting for her independence, her love of animals and her desire to become an exovet, a veterinarian who specializes in alien creatures. All of this as she is starting to notice boys (no love triangle here, folks!), struggling with the whereabouts of her absent father and a colony that it struggling to survive. Zenn and her positive attitude come shining through bringing the story together with her adventures and investigations.

Zenn is surrounded by some very curious creatures—some of them she cares for and others she works with, namely Hamish. I adored Hamish. He provided a bit of comic relief as he struggled to escape the hive mentality he was a part of and find a way to fit into human culture and norms with in the cloister. Zenn and her uncle handled Hamish's hive habits well and provided him with the knowledge he needed to grow. When Hamish came on the scene I couldn't help but find myself smiling as I was learning about life on Mars and caring for alien creatures right along side of him.

Zenn Scarlett receives a thumbs up from me. Schoon created a believable settlement on Mars with a diverse set of aliens and a intriguing mystery that kept me turning the pages. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Under Nameless Stars.

Just as a warning Zenn Scarlett ends in a cliffhanger. While all the major elements are tied up at the end of the book, there is one looming question related to Zenn that is just starting to be revealed. So if you are not a fan of cliffhangers, you may wish to hold off on grabbing this one up. If you can get your hands on both books in quick succession, grab them and fly to Mars with Zenn and her amazing menagerie of alien animals today!

This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews.

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

The blurb for Zenn Scarlett just screams unique and interesting! The premise sounded so strange, that I knew this would either be really fun or a complete disaster. It was definitely a risk I was willing to take, and I think it paid off. I didn’t love it, but Zenn Scarlett is an enjoyable read with lots of wacky creatures and weird science. The title character is in her third year of exoveterinarian school. Basically she’s training to care for alien animals. Her uncle runs the clinic which is stationed on Mars, but unfortunately most of the human inhabitants are not too happy sharing scarce resources with these “monsters.” The lease for the land is up for renewal, and the animals seem to be going crazy. Is the stress from her exams causing Zenn to be careless, or is someone from town trying to sabotage the clinic?

I do think that the author had amazing ideas when it came to the world of Zenn Scarlett, but it also seemed overly ambitious. Being Science Fiction, there’s of course a ton of new words and terminology throughout. Many of these words are self-explanatory, while others need some defining. In the beginning I found myself confused about how some of the animals looked, since they were not described very well. However, after the first few chapters, we’re given a lot of descriptions and I found myself having a lot of fun picturing these alien creatures. The rikkaset was definitely my favorite! It’s all highly imaginative.

As for the political situation, I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. Most of the information about Mars’ relationship with Earth took place within conversations, which I always find annoying. The gist of it seems to be that Earth has cut off communication with Mars because of the alien involvement, since humans blame aliens for all of their problems. Where the confusion comes in is when the Rift is mentioned, as well as the Accord. I was never totally sure what either of things were. The Accord could be a collection of allied planets or galaxies, or something else entirely. The Rift, I get was what was keeping Earth from communicating with Mars, but I think there was more to it than that. I just would have liked more context for the prejudice against aliens and why Mars is being shunned.

The plot actually takes the back seat to the world-building and animal descriptions for the majority of the book. It’s also fairly simplistic. There’s really no surprises, and I predicted the culprit right away, but not why they were doing it. The plot was probably too simple to be really engaging, especially since it’s overshadowed by all of the scientific procedures and the animals Zenn performs them on. Zenn’s ability to know what the animals are feeling also didn’t play as large of a role as I was expecting. It isn’t until the very end when it becomes important, but at that point it also felt like a whole new plot was starting. Then it just ends.

In the end, I did like Zenn Scarlett. The world is colorful and vivid, even if I didn’t fully understand the politics. Unfortunately, the plot was over simplified and almost nonexistent for most of the book, which keeps me from rating it higher. The ending was a bit confusing also. I’m not sure if this is a series or not, but I’m hoping it is. Otherwise that ending was just…strange.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.