Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout Book Review

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.

The Review 

Let me be straight with you. Yes, yes I did become a Lux series obsessor. (maybe even a member of the Luxen Army…maybe…I’m not admitting to anything 😉 )

I had heard a lot of talk in the blogosphere, on Twitter, and on Goodreads about this series. So I decided to give it a try. I bought it on Kindle first since it was only $2.99 at the time. After reading it, I went on a little shopping spree and bought the next three books including Obsidian because I wanted to enjoy them in paperback. I was seriously checking the mail everyday even though I know how long it takes for a shipment to arrive. I was just addicted that much to the story line.

Before I read Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout, I was hesitant. Although other people’s opinions might draw my attention to a book, I don’t let their opinions influence whether or not I will like a book or even if I will read a book. Sometimes a book has great reviews, but it just doesn’t fit my mood or even the genre I like to read. Anyway, with Obsidian I wasn’t sure how I felt about aliens. I mean aliens are supposed to be tiny green men right? Or maybe tiny little people hanging out in a fake human body’s head (Men in Black anyone??). But, I was drawn in by the clear romantic relationship arc of the story. I am such a sucker for those. I was just praying that this would be good and not a corny love story. I’m glad my prayers paid off!

Obsidian had chemistry! The two main characters Katy and Daemon were perfectly written. I loved the way the scenes felt every time the two characters interacted–you could feel the sizzle and sexual tension. It wasn’t cheesy or a romance novel. It was just written well and I was an instant fan.

The story didn’t just focus on the love interest, it also brings in the whole world of the Luxen. The Luxen are the alien race living on Earth and Daemon just happens to be one. And trust me he is no tiny green man! He’s beautiful in and out of his human form. I really enjoyed the way Armentrout created her alien race. The Luxen are believable and that is important to me as a reader. I say it a lot, but if I can’t buy into an author’s idea or world then I won’t enjoy the story. Armentrout introduces the readers to an Earth where the Luxen are known by the government, where Luxen can assimilate and are really just better at being humans than we are, and where the general populous are mostly unaware of the Luxen’s existence. I only found a few faults in this world she built, but some of those were explained later on in the series.

When we are first shown the “villians” of the story–an evil alien race–I was instantly thinking Transformers (because my mind works in Pop Culture references). But that thought was quickly gone and replace with just a pinch of disappointment. The enemy as an alien race is a little predictable. So is the secondary “enemy” which was the government (again Men in Black flashback–another obsession of mine!). I do have to give Armentrout some leeway since there isn’t too many options when it comes to enemies for an alien race. The interactions between the opposing sides were well written and full of believable action. What made me feel a little bit better was what we find out about the government enemy in books two and three. This make the enemy more unique.

What I found really creative was what happens to Katy when she is around a Luxen using a lot of their “powers.” This is just another unique aspect of the Luxen world and an interesting plot mover for the novel. This also becomes more interesting as the series continues!

Three other things I wanted to touch on were the main character, Katy, her friendships, and the rest of the secondary characters. First, I believe Armentrout did a wonderful job writing the character Katy. I identified with her which helped a lot in persuading me to read on. She was a typical teen girl character, but through the novel she grew. Eventually, we as readers saw Katy become more bold, stronger, and truer to her self and her abilities. Katy didn’t want to become just a human in the way, but wanted to help and fight back. I like strong female leads, but I like watching them realize their strength more than already seeing it there. Armentrout wrote this character development really well. I also like Katy’s obsession with blogging about books (hey that’s me too!) and her relationships with her mom and Dee.

Which brings me to my second point. I really enjoyed the friendship Dee and Katy had in the novel. Dee really helped Katy grow as a person and Katy helped Dee become happier. I like that Armentrout wrote a strong friendship between the main character and a secondary character. Some novels forget about the friends once the love interest is introduced–it becomes all about the love relationship. With Obsidian, the friendship was just as important.

Lastly, the only few problems I had with the novel were the cliche “enemies” the characters had to face (as mentioned above) and the lack of substance of the most of the secondary characters. I understand that most secondary characters are just placers to help move the plot around, but sometimes it’s annoying when characters are so predictable. I do know that some of these characters are expanded upon or grow a little through the second and third books (especially the third), but based on just this book it was a flaw I saw within the story.

In the end, I couldn’t put the book down! I fell in love with the series and would recommend it to anyone into paranormal romance. I think I fell so fast because Obsidian is a great series that didn’t involve vampires and werewolves. I’ve mentioned it before in previous posts. Even though I love vampires, werewolves, faeries, and fallen angels, I just need a break from them. This was a refreshing series for me and I can’t wait to continuing reading it! I’m also looking into reading Armentrout’s other books. She is actually coming to a bookstore near me in November, so I’m hoping to talk with her and get a book signed! I’ll most likely follow that up with a post.

The Details

Publisher: Entangled Teen (Imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC) 
Price: $9.99 (paperback)
Pages: 335
Place: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound 

My Final Grade:

My Grade: A
Amazon Rating: 4.6/5 stars (719 reviewers)

I hope you get a chance to pick up this addicting read! Let me know if you did so we can discuss and obsess over Daemon!

As Always,

Happy Reading!

xo,

NicoleLynn

Some of my Favorites!  

• If you have a physical copy of the book, look under the copyright page. All the other copyrights she mentions for acknowledgement makes me smile!
• The three chapters in the back of the book that tells scenes from Daemon’s point of view
• The way Daemon calls Katy, kitten

Have you read Obsidian? What are your thoughts on the alien concept? What’s your favorite scene? Do you love Daemon and Katy or hate them? What do you think is going to happen in the next book? Leave your thoughts and comments below or tweet me @PopCrunchBoom. Want to gush about Daemon or J. L. Armentrout with me? Feel free to email me at [email protected] or talk to me in the comments below!