Saturday, January 26, 2013

REVIEW: "OBSIDIAN" (Lux, #1) - by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Title: “Obsidian
Series: (Lux, #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: December 6, 2011
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi
Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow
Source: Purchased
My star rating: 5/5

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.

REVIEW

I’ll be honest. It doesn’t happen often I purchase a book because of all the hype surrounding it. I’ve had a bad experience or two from purchasing hyped-about books, so naturally I was a little sceptical, but everywhere I looked there were book reviews on blogs of the books in the Lux series, and reviewers seemed to love it. I caved, clicked on over to Amazon, and got myself a kindle copy to see what everyone was on about. Of course, I thus started reading this book with high expectations. I’m not a reader easily pleased. Well, saying I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. I was blown away! Seriously. I couldn’t put this book down. The further I read, the more I dreaded I’d get to the end of the book long before I was ready for it to end (if ever I would be). Alas, all good things come to an end, but I’m so relieved to know there are more books in this series and I don’t have to wait for the next instalment.

Fine, fine, I’ll get to the point. Not an eye-catching cover, I’ll admit, but the title sounds intriguing, right? I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi or aliens, but I can tolerate it up to a point. Let me say this, though, if all alien-themed books are written like this one, I can definitely see myself developing a love affair with science fiction. At first, it took me a while to get used to the characters…high expectations, remember? I expected the author to win me over with very little effort on my part. Gosh, she did it so easily I never stood a chance. Once I got into the swing of things, nothing could distract me from this book. I liked Katy’s character, but who really stole my heart was Daemon. Wow. Think Daemon of the tv series Vampire Diaries, but instead of him being a vampire, imagine him as an alien. The same witty, wicked smart-mouth with an attitude and body to match.

Although, let me be completely honest. The fact that there’s no love-triangle in this book played a big role in what won me over. That, and the fact that it wasn’t love at first sight for Katy and Daemon either. He gives her all sorts of hell from the moment he meets her, and she gives it right back to him. I can’t remember when last I’ve come across two characters who really went at each, and all this to my utmost entertainment. I laughed until I cried at these two and by the middle of the book I was as smitten with Daemon as Katy is. The author has a superb way with words and this is especially evident in the dialogue and with Katy’s inner thoughts. 

These two amazing characters and their love-hate relationship aside, there are a lot of elements making up this story which contributed to my newfound love for this series. The fast-paced action, the intriguing plot with all its surprises and revelations, the typical small-town-hiding-secrets, the mysterious men dressed in black – no, not the Men in Black, these ones aren’t the good guys - and a dozen other things, had me flipping the pages in a frenzy. There was actually a point where I got to thinking that the best way to describe this book is to compare it to Twilight (with aliens instead of sparkly vamps) meets I Am Number Four (fantastic book, great movie!). It definitely had that feel to it - the intense I’m-figuring-out-what-you-really-are of Twilight without the mind-numbing emo and angst, combined with the adrenaline-fueling breakneck action and suspense during stand-offs between the Luxen and the Arum - two warring alien species similar to those of I Am Number Four. Apart from these elements Obsidian is unique in its own way and it is an awesome read! I’m really happy I gave this series a chance and I can’t wait to read the rest of it. It just goes to show that hype is not always a bad thing.

 



READ more REVIEWS

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout has 3 525 reviews on Goodreads. Read it here.

PURCHASE LINKS


ABOUT the AUTHOR

USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in West Virginia. 

When she's not hard at work writing, she spends her time, reading, working out, watching zombie movies, and pretending to write. She shares her home with her husband, his K-9 partner named Diesel and her hyper Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent her time writing short stories. Therefore explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes Young Adult Contemporary, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal and Romance. She writes New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name J.Lynn

She is the author of the Covenant Series (Spencer Hill Press) the Lux Series (Entangled Teen) and the upcoming YA Don't Look Back (Fall 2013) and untitled YA (Fall 2014) from Disney/Hyperion, among many other titles.

AUTHOR LINKS

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Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout BOOK TRAILER


1 comment:

purpleshadowhunter said...

I loved your review and description of Obsidian.I was like you and decided to read it after a long debate with myself because of all the hype it was getting.I love watching sci-fi movie but not a fan of reading sci-fi.The word Alien had me turned off,for some reason I love watching alien shows like Roswell,but wouldn't read an alien book.However after reading some reviews I decided to give it a chance.Like you I was blown away.And yes Daemon is very much like Damon from Vampire Diaries(my fav show).I love their(Daemon and Katy) snarky comments to each other and yes it had me laughing too(my kids just look at me crazy).Just to let you know the story just gets better with every book.I am dying for the release of Origin because Opal ends with a big cliffhanger!

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