Obsidian by Jennifer L. ArmentroutSeries: Lux #1
Published by: Entangled Teen on November 29, 2011
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 271
Source: Purchased
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Rating: ★★★½
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.
Ugh. I feel like the only person in the world who doesn’t love Obsidian. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t wowed by it either, and I certainly didn’t like the romance.
Okay, so Daemon is hot. But honestly, that’s about it. He is a complete and utter douchebag. Right away we see that he’s a douche, but I dealt with it, and I even laughed a bit, because I honestly thought he’d come out of his shell and turn into this nice amazing guy… so wrong. He continued to be a douchebag, with fleeting moments of sweetness in between. Even Katy realized this and bitched at him for playing hot and cold with her. It was so infuriating. One minute he’s being an arrogant self-absorbed dickhead, and the next he’s saying something sweet.. and then he’s back to being a douche. Okay, so he was fiercely loyal and protective of his family and I guess that’s admirable, but he still acted like a dick when it was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. I don’t care how hot the guy is, he’s still a dick.
I think I was hoping that Obsidian would have this great knee-weakening romance, but what I got was two people who hate each others’ guts but happen to be sexually attracted to each other. That makes for some steamy, charged moments, but a crappy relationship.
Moving on. Dee was totally an awesome character and I adored her! She’s one of those sweet, adorable, totally huggable best friends. I think I’m obsessed with these kinds of characters. She’s just a cute, bubbly, sweetheart who you can’t say “no” to. And then there’s Lesa. Lesa was totally my favourite character! She didn’t have a huge part, but there were small bits now and then that had me cracking up!
“Oh my god, you have to tell me everything! Did you guys kiss? Wait. Did you have sex?”
“Lesa, seriously, chill.”
“Whatever. You have to tell me. I will hate you forever if you did but don’t tell me. What does he smell like?”
“Smell like?” I scrunched up my face.Obsidian, Page 240
“I don’t think he meant to kiss me,” I say finally.
“What? Did he slip and fall on your mouth? Those things are known to happen.”Obsidian, Page 241
“I don’t know. I mean we haven’t talked about it. He literally left afterward, and all he’s done since then is poke me with his pen.”
“Probably because he wants to poke you with something else,” she said dryly.”Obsidian, Page 241
Katy was one character that I could totally relate to. I mean, what book blogger wouldn’t? It was pretty awesome reading about her making “Waiting on Wednesday” and “In My Mailbox” posts. I couldn’t help but giggle to myself! It was just so fun to see that in the story!
So, the bottom line: I hated the romance, the alien stuff was kind of cool, the side characters were great, but this book didn’t rock my world. I read it through quickly enough but it just didn’t draw me in. I wasn’t hooked. I didn’t scream with delight or squeal or cry or any of that awesomeness. And there was a time sort of in the middle when I was getting a little bored. It was in between major plot moments and I was like, “Okay, ready for something new to happen.” The beginning was also a little frustrating because it was before we found out about the alien stuff and everyone seemed to be alluding to this big mystery. It reminded me a lot of when people say stuff like, “So I know this super awesome secret… but I can’t tell you.” There is nothing more annoying than that!
I didn’t hate Obsidian but I clearly didn’t love it. I’m kind of disappointed because I literally see everyone and their mother obsessing over Obsidian and I kind of wish I could be one of those people. I wanted to be super excited about this book but it just wasn’t thrilling me.
The Verdict
Interesting! Because you are one of the few people who really didn’t love it so much! But, that#s fine! I get why 🙂 I loved this book, but still haven’t read the sequel. There were some reviews who have been not so good, so I am kind of scared!
I’m really bummed because I see everyone drooling over the Lux series and I feel so left out, lol! Interesting that there are some less-than-stellar reviews of Onyx. I haven’t read any because I hadn’t read Obsidian until just now and I don’t read reviews of sequels until I’ve read the first book. I guess I’ll probably read Onyx at some point too, but I don’t know when! The stuff with the Department of Defense in the plot sounds pretty interesting though. I like crazy government stuff in books!
I am kind of intimidated by the fact that the Lux series is expected to be like 5 books? Do I have that right? That’s a little scary! I’m not sure if I can commit that much! Sometimes it’s hard to be motivated to read the sequel if I can’t imagine myself reading the entire series.
LOL, those quotes got me cracking up. Don’t worry, I have seen many bloggers not like this book. I have yet to read it but I did buy it. I just need to get to it. I am a little scared of the douchbaggery because I hate guys like that. I guess we shall see. But if I can take Christian Grey, I think I can prob take Daemon.
Haha, if you can take Christian Grey you can probably take anyone! 😀 Although Christian and Daemon are very, very different. I’m curious to see what you think!
I think I can see why you find Daemon an utter douchebag. I sorta felt that way too but after reading Shadow (the Lux novella), I find I have a better understanding about Daemon. I love the quotes that you’ve included in the post 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Hmm maybe I should give Shadow a try then! Thanks for pointing that out. 🙂
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I totally get where you’re coming from here. Daemon is a douchebag. The thing that I liked about the books is that Katy doesn’t just…fall madly in love with a douchebag, like you said they just had this incredible chemistry. And, especially in the second book, Katy doesn’t let him get away with it? Like, they aren’t jut suddenly in a relationship, and Katy doesn’t just suddenly trust him.
So, I agree. But I also think, for once, the douchebagness was treated kind of well? To an extent?
I actually felt the same way about this the first time I read it. I hated Daemon and couldn’t see his appeal other than he’s “hot”. I always hate the “hot and cold” attitude some characters portray and I def didn’t like that here. Otherwise, I really did like the book and Jen’s writing is great as always. Trust me though, the series, and Daemon, gets SO much better. Onyx and Opal were all kinds of awesome and Origin was EPIC! I hope you stick with this series.