Obsidian is the first book in The Lux series by Jennifer Armentrout, featuring some really sexy aliens. Rating: 4.5/5

*This is book #3/75 for my 2013 book challenge. It also counts as book #3 for my “New Authors” group-challenge. You can take a look at my different reading challenges here.

Guys. I have fallen (in love) and I can’t get up. No seriously. This book. These characters. Jennifer Armentrout’s writing style. All of it. I have actual tears forming in my eyeballs. My chest aches with the need to continue reading and reading and reading and reading. And Daemon. Holy mother of god, Daemon. Stop. Please. I need to be resuscitated. Preferably by said Daemon.

I know I use the word ‘flawless’ a lot, and I always mean it, but this is flawless. I mean, there is one  tiny flaw that we’ll get into a bit later, but the rest is so flawless that it completely cancels that out. Obsidian is about aliens. Not like, creepy bug type aliens that want peace, or the even creepier ones that want to eat humans and take over our planet. Basically there are Luxen and Arum. The Luxen are light, the arum are dark. Good and evil. Katy moves in next to Dee and Daemon, brother and sister Luxen. Daemon ends up being a complete asshole to Katy from the very first second they meet, and doesn’t stop. Minus the few rare moments where Daemon opens up and is real with Katy. This book is quite suspenseful, and the chapters are constantly ending on cliff notes making it forever that much harder to put down. There’s great friendship in these pages, loyalty, witty banter, sexual tension, and just enough drama to keep you on the edge of your seat. Like I said, flawless.

Now here’s my dilemma. I am trying to decide whether to explain to you this one tiny flaw first, and then prove to you why this book is so perfect, or if I should leave the flaw to the end. I’m deciding to tell you the flaw now, but you need to stick with me!! Because when you read this flaw you’re going to go “Well, shit.” BUT DON’T YOU DARE!!! You need to trust me on this one, okay? Here goes….. Obsidian is a little bit too much like Twilight. It’s past the point of small similarities, and almost a literal translation of it into alien terms. What I mean is, the plot focuses very much in the same way Twilight does. Girl meets boy, girl has a feeling boy is more than human, girl is right, etc. etc. etc. The Luxen stick together as like a strange family similar to the way that the Cullens do. There is a Luxen for each. Ash is Rosalie. Dee is Alice, and so forth. There is a lot that occurs in a very similar fashion as Twilight. I mean, Katy finds out about Daemon’s secret because he stops a truck from hitting her. That’s deliberate. But Obsidian is so much better than Twilight could ever hope of being. And this comes from someone who was temporarily blinded by the sparkling vampire trend. So, allow me to elaborate.

The characters in Obsidian are written so perfectly that you would swear they are real. The dialogue is real and honest. The feelings and emotions that they feel, you feel them too. Katy is me, and she is also you since you are reading this. Katy loves reading, and she runs a book blog. She loves to get lost in the books and films videos of her new book arrivals and engages with virtual friends. She’s vulnerable, and she’s real. She is also a huge bitch to Daemon whenever he’s an ass to her, and I love that. And I love that Daemon is such an asshole. Their banter is what makes them so wonderful to read. She, unlike so many other “heroines” in YA books lately, doesn’t put up with anyone’s bullshit. Arum is going to kill her friends? F that! She’s the only one that gets to mess with her friends, got it? She’s not strong, or brave, she’s not weak or scared. She’s like us. And thanks to the bonus features, we get to see that Daemon is real as well. He’s instantly drawn to Katy, but he can’t allow himself to be because he needs to take care of his family first. He’s also hilarious, and teasing, and arrogant which makes him infuriating. But it’s those rare in between moments that make him so engaging and enticing. Plus, he’s really attractive.

While the plot does show a resemblance to Twilight in how the order of events occur, that is the only similarity. Everything else is completely different, and 100000000x better. The writing style…. I can’t even describe it. You’ll have to pick it up one day and find out for yourself. If you had never read Twilight, you would never know what’s happening next. And even then, I sometimes was completely thrown for a loop. I also kind of feel like Jennifer  knew that her book was suppppper similar to Twilight. I mean, there’s even a spider monkey reference. And I feel like the fact that I think she knew what she was doing the entire time kind of makes me like it that much more. It’s almost like she was like, “Yeah. I’m going to show you how this shit is really done.” I am completely putting words in her mouth though. That’s not a real quote. Also, what’s really unique is that there are actual consequences for Daemon helping Katy so much. A small (or sometimes big) light trace will get left on her which attracts the Arum. Dun dun dunnnnn.

I don’t want to give anything else away, so I will abruptly end this review. Plus, I’m late picking my friend up at the airport. I will end you with this, however. The sexual tension and witty banter in this book is enough to make tears come to my eyes and my chest to fill with warmth. Maybe I’m weird because I like asshole guys with a rare sweet side, as opposed to sweet guys with a rare asshole side, who knows. About three things I am absolutely positive. First, I’m obsessed. Second, I would not at all mind getting a light trace put on me by Daemon. And third, i am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Obsidian.

Rating: 

If you’re interested in reading my GoodReads updates from this book you can do so here. I must say, they’re quite entertaining. It will tell you exactly what I was thinking on certain pages.

Ps. If you didn’t get that Twilight reference, we can’t be friends. Or actually maybe we should be, because that means you haven’t paid attention to the Twilight world, and that means I like you.