Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Title: Obsidian
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux #1
Published by: Tantor Audio
Release Date: March 18, 2013
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Justine Eyre
Length: 9 hours and 32 minutes
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's Science Fiction vs Fantasy Bingo 2018
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes
My rating:

Blurb:

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:

3.5 stars — Hmmm…well, this one was enjoyable, but it didn’t blow me away.  Sometimes I think getting into a series so much later after it first released ends up dulling the shine a bit.  I felt like there were a lot of similarities to Twilight.  Not like the whole book, but just little aspects you know?  That happened a lot during the post-Twilight craze, in a lot of those first Indie paranormal series that came out, so I wasn’t surprised.  I think there were 2 main aspects that kept this one from really bowling me over: 1) there were a lot of little inconsistencies in the world that was built, so much so that I’m still not sure on some stuff; and 2) I don’t like jerks.

Before I go further, let’s talk about the narrator: she, like the book, didn’t blow me away.  She had a strange affectation in the way that she narrated, so that everything felt very blasé or snarky or…I honestly don’t know how to describe it.  It was like a perpetual eye roll.  It’s not a bad thing, but it just didn’t suit my personal tastes I guess.  She did pretty good with her different voices for characters though, and there was a range of emotions (it wasn’t completely flat).  Perhaps because of the way the book was written I often had a hard time figuring out when Katy was saying something out loud vs thinking it in her head.  Basically I don’t think she detracted from the book, but she didn’t add to my experience either.

Katy was pretty cool…I mean, she’s your typical paranormal YA heroine: doesn’t think she’s pretty, but everyone else is in love with her.  A little bit oblivious to things going on.  But she has a strong core and a central goodness in her being.  Obviously self-sacrificing.  You know what I find weird about these books and the way these heroines are always written: all the other characters are always so shocked by the heroine’s self-sacrificing ways and how *good* she is, but I feel like she doesn’t behave that over the top heroic.  I mean, is it just me, or is anyone else like “uh, I’d probably do something similar”.  Maybe I’m kidding myself.  I just don’t understand why altruism is apparently so rare.  Anyways, I appreciated that while she was attracted to Daemon, she wasn’t completely sucked in to him…she still saw him as a jerk.  She just apparently can get past his dickish ways.

Then we have Daemon…uh, am I the only one who when reading about this book prior to reading it assumed his name was pronounced “Day-mon”?  I mean, demon???  REALLY?  That’s not how that’s pronounced normally, is it?  Well shit, I just googled it and it is how it’s pronounced.  Where did I get my pronunciation?  Also, that’s a really stupid name.  Who names their kid demon??  OK, back on track Lenore.  So we have Daemon — one of the dick-est heroes I’ve read.  I mean, I get that he’s supposed to be pushing her away to protect his family, but he’s seriously a jerk.  And he keeps blowing hot and cold.  That’s not attractive to me.  Sure, I liked their bantering (it could be hot), but I guess this comes down to me not generally liking enemies to lovers stories, especially when there’s a dose of meanness.  It would be fine if that eventually resolved and Katy figured it out and we got to the lovers part, but nope…just a dick with a few reprieves.

The whole concept of the aliens was actually pretty cool — I loved the whole story of where they were from, what happened to them, etc.  And I enjoyed their many powers, though I did find that sometimes there were inconsistencies there.  And not just that, but in the town they were living in.  Were there a lot of aliens in that town, or were they all afraid of the Blacks?  One or the other, it felt like it changed.

I appreciated the big fight scene at the end too, but I was also a little confused.  I’m hoping I’ll get less confused in upcoming books.

Also, Dee was super sweet and adorable.  She definitely reminded me of Alice from Twilight.  I also appreciated both Lessa (no idea how that’s spelled, the quirks of an audiobook) and Carissa!  It was nice that there were some other good female characters.  On the other hand I was disappointed in the whole other dude little side plot…Steve?  What was his name, I don’t even remember.  Anyways, I was bummed with how he turned out, and that Katy drove in a car with a guy who’d been drinking after saying she wasn’t going to just to piss of Daemon.  Not cool people.

So yeah.  I was going to round up, but after writing this out I think I’ll round down.  Again, it wasn’t bad, I just really need to love my heroes a bit more.