Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout | Book Review

The Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout is one of those “guilty pleasure” reads for me. I went into this series expecting to hate it, always wondering why I ever bought the first two books (I mean seriously, just look at those cheesy covers). However to my surprise, I was well and truly hooked within the first couple of chapters.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Read: October 2014
Rating: 3/5 stars

This series follows Katy Swartz as she moves to a small town with her mum. Before long Katy’s mum notices two kids around Katy’s age, 17, living next door. She encourages Katy to go and introduce herself. There, she meets Daemon a mysterious and very (as we are told time and time again) attractive guy and from the minute they meet they do not get on. Regardless of this, Katy soon befriends Daemon’s twin sister Dee, however over time she begins to realise that all may not be what it seems with the siblings next door, and that something paranormal (or rather alien) may be going on.

I suppose I should begin with what I didn’t like. This book was absolutely saturated with teenage angst and sexual tension. I usually don’t mind this at all, but it was just so cliché and stretched out, plus there was no real resolve which really annoyed me. I also could not ignore the “uncanny” parallels to Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and Roswell a TV show I watched as a teen.

I also really didn’t like how Daemon bullied Katy for the majority of the book. It came across cruel, not sexy, which is how I think it was intended by the author. If anyone EVER treats you this way, move on! Don’t make excuses for them just because they are - and I quote “hot”.

Now for the positives. What I did like about this book was Armentrout’s writing. It certainly wasn’t poetic or quotable, but it was refreshingly simple, making this a quick and easy read, which I really needed after reading two books from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series back-to-back. I particularly liked that I could pick this book up and be taken along for the ride without having to think too much.

All in all, these kind of YA novels have been done time and time again, and let’s be honest, they are light, fun and addicting. Surprisingly I really enjoyed this one and had fun reading it. 3 stars.