Obsidian (Lux #1) by: Jennifer L. Armentrout (2012)
Genre: YA/Sci-Fi/Romance
335 pages
335 pages
Source: The Library
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
Goodreads Summary: Starting over sucks.When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don't kill him first, that is.
My Review
My initial knee-jerk reaction when I first started reading Obsidian: This is Twilight fan fiction where Edward is meaner and an alien instead of a vampire. It was so eerily similar, I would have made a list of comparisons, but I didn’t keep track while reading. It took a lot of effort to work past my initial judgment, but I eventually did and was able to sit back and enjoy the story for what it was. I guess since I read and heard so many good things about Obsidian I was hoping it was going to blow me away, but it didn’t, and yet I was engrossed in the story anyway. Not to mention, I’m going to read the next book, although I'm not sure if I will read past the second one yet.
The Characters
Katy – She is a book blogger, so I immediately liked her and could relate to her excitement over receiving books and getting posts up on time. She is kind of an introvert who tries to break out of her shell a little bit. She is cute and smart and not just a love sick teenager. She actually cares most about her friendship with Daemon’s sister, the only minor interesting character, more than Daemon.
Daemon – I didn’t like him at first, I actually straight up disliked him and I can’t even say for sure if he totally grew on me by the end of the book. Daemon is a straight up ass. I know he has some reasons behind why he is mean to Katy that make sense and that I can understand, but being straight up plain rude wasn’t necessary. He does sound pretty hot though. It’s weird how much I had a problem with him, considering I’m a fan of bad boys, but this one just wasn’t doing it for me. I did however loved his alien powers.
Daemon & Katy – I liked their very interesting and sometimes very comical with their banter relationship. They aren’t my favorite ship or anything, especially because of how much of an ass Daemon could be, but I do like them. The sexual tension scenes were really well written and I like that Katy isn't all "I totally don't care you are an ass, I love you anyway and want to be with you forever."
The Plot and Such
The overall plot among other things in Obsidian reminded me a great deal of Twilight, and as I mentioned before, this my friends bothered me. I have no problem with Twilight, I own the books, I’ve read them, it’s all good, but I was thinking this book would have been something more, and it was, but not by much. It seems with how many people loved this book I am in the minority here. I don’t know how the Twilightness of it didn’t turn more people off. There were so many scenes that screamed Twilight at me. I did however enjoy the pacing of the book, I read it from start to finish in no time. I thoroughly enjoyed the action scenes. Getting to see aliens fight in all their glory was pretty cool. Even though the plot was pretty basic and reminded me of Twilight, for some reason I'm still not sure about, Obsidian kept my attention from start to finish.
The Bottom Line
I enjoyed Obsidian thanks to its few redeeming qualities. Katy and her coolness, the times it made me laugh, and the steaminess made for an somewhat enjoyable read. I still can’t tell you why even with all the issues I had with this book I still enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s a mystery. Anyway, I guess I would recommend this book to fans of young adult sci-fi romance, but with a cautious warning that it is very similar to Twilight.
I like Twilight, but a book that reads that similar is definitely not for me. I feel like this was kind of how I felt with The Testing as compared to The Hunger Games, but The Testing did at least feel like it had a lot of potential going into book 2... Anywho, I don't think I will be jumping on the Jennifer Armentrout train.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you will like this one Christine exactly because it is way too similar. I know how you feel about The Testing and I think this one is even worse when compared to Twilight.
DeleteI own this and never opened it. Katy and the steaminess sound good, to bad the plot wasn't more original.
ReplyDeleteI was really sad that it wasn't more original and reminded me so much of Twilight. I like Twilight but I was hoping for something different.
DeleteI too picked up this book because of the hype, I thought I would love it, however it was only okay for me. And omg yes! It does scream Twilight! Except I liked Twilight so much more. For me this book was kind of bland, you're right there wasn't much originality.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest, for me as the series goes on it gets harder and harder to finish each book. I'm now onto Origin, except I had planned on stopping at Opal because Opal was so freaking boring for me. But then there was a cliffhanger ending and now I have to read Origin. I own all the books as well, soooo...
Jord @ Miss Book Reviews
You have made me feel so much better! I'm so glad I'm not that only one that didn't love this book but only found it okay. :D
Deletehahaha Hmmm....now I don't know if I will read the next book. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it strikes my fancy.
Yeah I am not reading this series. I won't like Damien, I won't like the alien aspect and I won't like all the Twilightness. And my only guess as to why this book has been praised so much is that each book must get better as the series progresses cause I've seen that happen with other series and then the first book is underwhelming to those who read it late. I don't know but I am steering clear. That being said, I still hope you enjoy the next book :)
ReplyDeleteYea Nicole, I would stay far away. This just turned out to be so boring and unoriginal. I really don't think you would like it. We shall see if I ever get around to reading the next one. hahaha
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