Review : Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

PUBLISHER:
Strange Chemistry

I can’t speak for every young girl but I’m sure a great deal of us at some point played Veterinarian. For me it was the summer when my mother gave me a toy Vet kit. Inside this white carryall was a stethoscope, little beds, an assortment band aids, fake syringes and of course toy cats and dogs for patients.
I loved that set and my passion soon led me to my local library where I checked out various books on animals and Veterinarians. I can still remember paging through animal biology books. The sense of awe and discovery as I viewed the skeletal and muscular makeup of animals. Their bodies are so different from ours, almost alien.

It’s this memories that came to the surface as I started reading the story I could really relate to Zenn’s passion for the exovet life.
So while Zenn lives on Mars and works on exotic, fascinating creatures at its heart this story is about a young girl following her dreams.
Zenn’s world revolves around the rhythm and duties of the cloister. As I novice her day revolves around chores and studies as she prepares for her three part proficiency tests. Zenn is prepared, she lives and breathes her novice life. It helps her to push the memories of her mothers disappearance and her father’s absence.

So it is a shock to Zenn when she fumbles a routine eyewash on one of her patients. Zenn was startled due to a uncontrollable psychic link she has been developing with certain animals. She can feel what they are feeling. Intensely.
Worried what her uncle and the rest of cloister will think she keeps it to herself and focuses on getting her final two tests right.This is a problem since tensions are running high outside the cloister and a series of small accidents began to escalate , putting both Zenn and her animals at risk.

There are a lot of subplots : the danger to the cloisters lease, vandalism against the facility, the growing tensions between Earth and Mars and Zenn’s growing powers and her fathers lack of communication. Yet Schoon makes it work because all of these threads lead back to Zenn and all she holds dear. Zenn’s patients are also the star of this book, I loved the various type of creatures it really reflects the intergalactic nature of Zenn’s world.
I really enjoyed this book and from the ending it looks like there are more to come :) Highly recommend it!