Highlights / Lowlights: OBSIDIAN by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Title: OBSIDIAN
Author:
Jennifer L. Armentrout (
@JLArmentrout)
Published: November 2011
Series: Lux #1
Genre: YA Sci-fi
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
POV: 1st person
Pages: 294
Format: Kindle eBook
Source: Bought
Rating: The Great Hall
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.
Highlights: New town, new school, new friends, and a few new problems – Katy is off to quite a start. Katy is an amusing narrator, not to mention a book blogger, so it was easy enough to enjoy and relate to her character. OBSIDIAN is an entertaining story to read, and I can see why so many readers love this book. I was grinning, laughing out loud, scoffing, and utterly unable to contain my wide variety of reactions once I began this novel. While I found the romance to be underwhelming, I highly enjoyed character interactions and Armentrout's type of humor.
Lowlights: Predictable, with an overall plot that is reminiscent of other stories, and some clichés are thrown in as well. Daemon was a frustrating love interest, what with his constant need to act like a jerk. The summary states that there are aliens, but it took what felt like an eternity for Katy to figure it out1. The alien "reveal" had too much info-dumping, too.
Rating: The Great Hall (high 3 out of 5). OBSIDIAN was very likable, but honestly, the only reason I bought this book was because it was on sale for Kindle. While there are some flaws, I do think I would read it again, but I'm not sure if I'll ever read the rest of this series. But, anyone who is interested in OBSIDIAN should definitely check it out, because it is a humorous and fun story.
1 Which sucks, because then you're all "Katy, they're aliens! ALIENS!!" until she finally figures it out. And then once the alien reveal happens, you're like "Duh, I've only been been telling you that they're aliens for how many pages?"2
2 Umm, I mean, there was no talking to fictional characters. I would never do that, because that would be crazy. *walks away innocently*
Oh that can be frustrating when it takes a little too long for the MC to figure out the obvious lol. And I'm definitely not a fan of the infamous info-dump. But this does sounds like a fun story, and I love Armentrout's writing (huge fan of her Half-Blood series!) so I definitely plan to read this one someday!
ReplyDeleteIt drives me crazy, especially when the MC is taking forever to learn info that the reader knows from reading the summary. It was still a fun story - VERY amusing!
DeleteThanks for your honest review. I have seen this book around and have never read anything by this author. Predictable books drive me nuts. I am pretty curious about her other series (Half-Blood), so I may pass on this book and check that out instead!
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun book, but I did like Half-Blood a bit more (even if it did remind me of Vampire Academy).
DeleteI love this series! I agree, it was predictable and not all that original but I'm a sucker for aliens and snarky characters. I enjoyed book two more than the first so I'd encourage you to give it a try =)
ReplyDeleteI might check out the sequel. If it gets better, I'm definitely game for sticking with the series.
DeleteI know this was predicable, but I loved it anyway! It was just indulgent fun :)
ReplyDeleteKate @ Ex Libris
Definitely fun! I laughed so much, it was great.
DeleteYeah, this is pretty much what I would expect from this one. And it's the reason why it isn't all that high on my list. Just sounds a bit too predictable and cliched for my enjoyment, BUT it's true that those things can be entertaining from time to time.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun book, but I've seen it all before. Still, I hear great things about some of her other novels!
DeleteI.. I don't really like books with clichés :\ So I'm not sure when I will find the time to read my copies of these books.. but they can wait. A long time, I think. Hih. But anyway. Great review sweetie :) I'm glad you kind of enjoyed it. <3
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it - it's a fun story, even with the cliches.
DeleteI adore Katy and her book blogger self, and love JLA, but I can see what you mean about cliches and Damon is frustrating but I still fell for him
ReplyDeleteMy ability to tolerate characters like Daemon is dwindling...I'm more fond of nicer fictional guys :)
DeleteGlad you enjoyed this one!
I went through and read all of them just because they're quick and fun reads, and they all basically have the same snarkiness and cheesiness (: I think they're worth a read if you're looking for something easy. I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteGlad they all have that snark - I highly enjoyed that aspect of the first book!
DeleteThank you! :)
It is frustrating to read a really predictable story that is so obvious to you, but one in which the character remains totally clueless.
ReplyDeleteYes! Especially when you know from the beginning, and then you're stuck waiting for the protagonist to catch up.
Deletei keep seeing this series everywhere!! Glad to know it's pretty good :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a fun book!
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