Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout – Book Review

Title: Obsidian

Series: Lux #1

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Genre/Themes: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Aliens

Blurb from Goodreads

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.

My Review

I am such a fan of the whole Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It is entirely ridiculous, utterly preposterous… but wow is it a whole lot of fun!

It’s all this super-addictive teen drama of feisty females, dangerous and moody boys, lust and excitement, thrills and spills, and hot aliens! I am tooooooootally hooked on this book and these characters….

Obsidian, the first book in the Lux series, introduces us to the awesome dynamic that is Katy and Daemon.

Katy is a fabulous main character. She is sassy, spunky, feisty, vulnerable, fierce… I mean don’t get me wrong we are still talking about a trashtastic book so she’s not entirely without a dusting of snowflakes of the spechul variety. But she’s not a character that will make you want to shoot yourself to spare you from her repeated idiocy unlike a bazillion other YA spechul snowflakes. So thumbs up for Katy.

And then there’s Daemon.

He’s this moody, mysterious boy next door who treats the lead girl, Katy, like absolute rubbish. Daemon is the king of emotionally manipulative douchebags… but he’s such a pretty king that you won’t care!

But the best part of this book is the relationship between Katy and Daemon. The chemistry between them is off the charts smokin’ hot! I mean obvs they hate each other IMMEDIATELY but we all know not really and truly…

And BANTER! THEY HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF INCREDIBLE BANTER!

Confession! The ‘hate-each-other-at-first-sight-even-though-you’re-insanely-attracted-to-the-other-person‘ is probably my absolute favourite romance trope. I just love it and can never get enough of it BUT only if it’s done well.

And it is done sooooooo well here. Trust me, you will practically scream at this book waiting for them to either punch each other or make out. It’s FAB-U-LOUS!!!

But then it’s revealed that Daemon is an alien, and that his douchebag behaviour was a mostly mechanism he employed to try and keep Katy away from him, his family, and all the perilous danger there is for a human becoming involved with an alien. (I mean he’s still obnoxious but in a cute way!)

Look technically this book is my great.

There aren’t any amazingly quotable passages, the writing doesn’t exactly knock my socks off, there are clichés aplenty, predictable storylines and plot development….

Yet somehow it doesn’t matter! There’s just something utterly enthralling and intensely addictive about the characters and the storyline. It’s essentially a paranormal soap opera! It is exceptionally fast paced and laden with bonkers action that really compels you to turn those pages as quickly as you physically can.

Obsidian is what I term utterly trashtastic but it’s also completely hilarious. I can’t even begin to count the times that I burst out laughing when reading this. The story is filled with cheesy innuendo and low key digs at Twilight. I mean it’s basically a homage to Twilight at times!

And okay, I will admit that it’s got TERRIBLE scientific explanations when it comes to world building and explaining the alien powers etc. So terrible that you will cry with laughter when anything regarding the science behind the alien “stuff” is mentioned, but honestly I didn’t read this book for a science lesson. I mean I can recommend some great science books to you if you want but certainly not this…

Obsidian was a fun, flirty and very easy read. The first time I read it (I’ve read it twice) was when I was in hospital while waiting to be called down to theatre for surgery, and I got so engrossed in the story that I never noticed how many hours I was waiting. I think any book that can completely distract someone from a stressful event such as that deserves mighty praising.

Five I-have-never-been-so-easily-or-highly-entertained stars

Roll on the rest of the Lux series!!! [spoiler alert: I’ve read ALL of the books in the series now and they are probably my favourite ever popcorn books.]

Other Works by Jennifer L. Armentrout I’ve Reviewed

• The Problem with Forever

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