Obsidian
Ratings145
Average rating3.7
3.5 stars
I've had this book on my kindle for a while now so I was excited to pull it out of my Kindle TBR jar. My biggest complaint about this book is the MMC Daemon Black. I couldn't stand him. He was such a jerk and seemingly for no reason. His reasoning is revealed at some point in the book but he never redeems himself. His has his nice moments but then he ruins it by opening his damn mouth. I honestly wanted to throw my phone across the room several times while reading this because he was pissing me off so much. Everything else about the book was good. I'm intrigued by the story enough to continue on in the series and I've been told it gets better from here so I am counting on that. Also I know I said I hated Daemon and I do however I still wanted him and Katy to be together.
Listen, we all need guilty pleasures. And this hit my early 00s Roswell Loving Heart. Is it super original? Yes and mostly no. I mean I could name a dozen books that follow a similar formula and similar High School Trope. And It's got the whole biting her lip and him brushing his hair out of his dazzling emerald eyes thing. But did I love it like I was still 17 myself squealing along? Oh, you bet your ass I did.
And frankly, those are the tropes we show up for aren't they? With romance whether YA or Adult I expect certain things from those stories and I love authors that are somewhat formulaic in their style for my go-to-I-don't-want-to-think-about-what-to-read-I-just-want-to-have-fun type books. This series is one I will continue. And you get what you expect to get. The angst, the drama, the scary life or death circumstances of everything. It's all there.
And I wanted to hate these books, to be honest. I wanted to snub my nose at another Twilight-esque book. But I actually really like them. And I found the storyline and the relationship actually pretty good. He isn't a stalker for instance!
The bottom line they are fun and relaxing. This kind of easy read is and always will be my guilty pleasure whether the YA version or the Adult Romance version.
And mentioning the Adult Romance if you like these books and are of Adult age I HIGHLY recommend Gini Koch's “Kitty” Katt Series. Yeah, the main character/narrator even has the same name. They are also Alien Romance just the adult action thriller kind!
Exactly what I would expect from a YA romance novel. Definitely kept my interest and I will be reading the next book in the series.
Probably would give this 3.5 stars if Goodreads allowed half points.
This was a solid paranormal romance. The leading woman was full of moxy and sarcasm. I loved her. I enjoyed that it played with some of the paranormal romance tropes, though it times it played a bit too hard and become cliche itself in places. The leading guy left a lot to be desired though. I think this one was above average in main character, below average here and there and solidly average in the rest. A fun read if you are in the mood for some seriously light sci-fi, skippable if you aren't
Oh this is not good. Usually, when I dislike a book I do not finish it therefore I do not review it. BUT I vowed to read all of the Battle of the Books 2017 titles with the kids and ......wow. Just wow, this was not good.
First, imho, it's a complete retelling of Twilight only minus the sparkly vampires and add on the shiny aliens.
My major problem with this (and I have many less major problems with it as well) is the absolutely abusive relationship that is being glommed off as romance here. Damian is verbally abusive to this girl from the second she meets him. It's abuse! It is not sexy to be treated or talked to in this way, ever. Please, I beg readers to know that no one who cares about you would EVER talk to you this way.
Then there is major problem #2: WTF is up with the lack of world building? Why create a race of aliens and then don't bother to explain them? Instead we are given dribs and drabs of nonsense WE (the reader) are supposed to piece together into a Lux origin story? All I picked up is that, similar to Superman, triplets are shoved into a space vessel (?) and shot into space to land where ever.... Also, when they get there, they can pick supermodel bodies, eat all they want and NEVER gain weight, and leave the very scientific “trace” of light on any human they touch or hang out with while in alien form.
Yup, totally explained.
Finally, here is what made me want to throw this across the room: The bad alien (it's not really explained why the bad aliens are the bad aliens or why they are also on Earth but did NOT get to pick supermodel bodies) is called Baruck. Because in 2012 the author could not think of more alien sounding name then “Baruck”? I think we know where Armentrout lands politically.
It's not bad enough to be laughably bad. It is bad enough to be read by a tween or a teen and misconstrued as “romantic”.
I don't know how this ever ended up on a BOTB list.
Seperti deja vu membaca twilight ketika membaca buku pertama ini. Walau sebenarnya ak agak menikmati juga, tp karena terjemahannya gk dilanjutkan oleh penerbitnya, gk penasaran2 amat sama lanjutannya. Banyak persamaannya dgn twilight, walau female protagonistnya lebih badass dibanding si helpless bella.
Terminei de ler Obsidiana quarta-feira (27/08) e ainda estou naquela névoa (maravilhosa) super empolgada da pós-leitura, então preciso deixar avisado de antemão que sim, estou completamente apaixonada por um alien fictício e pre-ci-so de Ônix (a continuação) o mais rápido possível. E é isso. Tendo te avisado da situação desta resenhista que vos fala, vamos ao que interessa.
Obsidiana é o primeiro livro da saga Lux, de Jennifer L. Armentrout, e conta a história de Katy, uma adolescente [blogueira!] que acabou de se mudar para uma cidadezinha no meio do nada com a mãe, e Dee e Daemon, gêmeos e aliens lindos que moram ao lado e mudam de maneira irrevogável a vida de Katy. Apenas o fato de Dee e Daemon serem aliens já me parecia uma boa premissa – ai “conheci” a Katy.
Consegui me identificar bastante com Katy por uma série de razões (não, meu vizinho não é um alien também – pelo menos, eu acho que ele não é), mas principalmente por ela ser “a aluna nova” no ensino médio (o que eu fui), e por causa do que ela sentiu com a mudança. Entendo o que Katy sentiu quando mudou de cidade porque é basicamente o que senti quando mudei para a cidade em que estou agora para fazer graduação – deixar tudo para trás para ir para uma cidade pequena e começar tudo de novo é bastante estressante (mesmo que no meu caso a cidade não seja a menor do mundo). Mas além disso, ela tem personalidade forte e fibra – todas as vezes que Daemon dá uma patada, ela responde de um jeito ou de outro (e isso acontece em quase todos os momentos) –, e é uma adolescente que está mais preocupada em postar o “Waiting on Wednesday” do que escolher o curso para a faculdade (isso também me lembrou a mim mesma).
Por mais que nos últimos tempos eu venha encontrando um número cada vez maior de personagens femininas fortes, ainda acho que não só as adolescentes, mas o público feminino em geral merece ter mais personagens que, apesar de se apaixonarem, não sejam tolas e irreais. E é aí que Katy entra. Armentrout criou uma personagem que poderia ser a minha vizinha adolescente – criou uma personagem bem realista, que xinga um garoto de babaca (porque ele é um babaca) e mostra o dedo do meio sem medo. Resumindo, Katy é ótima!
Agora vamos ao Daemon. Desde sua primeira cena esse garoto Luxen (vulgo, alien) extremamente bonito (quem não se encantaria por “olhos tão verdes e brilhantes” feat. tanquinho?) foi um babaca. Daemon pega no pé de Katy, manda ela ficar longe de sua irmã, é grosso e tem sentimentos não resolvidos por ela (existe uma tensão entre eles desde o princípio também). É claro que depois de um certo momento fica bastante claro o porquê dele agir assim, mas essa “relação” aos trancos com Katy prende a atenção do leitor – nós não sabemos qual/quando a próxima grosseria virá, mas esperamos para ver a reação da “gatinha” porque as cenas entre os dois são muito boas!
E isso me leva a falar de Dee. Essa adolescente alien é provavelmente a personagem mais animada que encontrei nos últimos tempos. Dee é um amor. Desde o primeiro momento ela quer ser amiga de Kittycat e fazer tudo com ela e não deixar que o comportamento do irmão irterfira na amizade delas. Para falar a verdade, por ter tanta energia, Dee me lembrou um pouco da Dee Dee, irmã do Dexter (do desenho do Cartoon) – em alguma momento no passado eu já comentei que faço relações estranhas entre livros e outras coisas, então... Mas diferente da Dee Dee, que é irritante demais, a Dee é uma daquelas personagens que são como um sol na narrativa (e, nesse caso, ela tem luz mesmo). Todas as cenas com ela aquecem o coração do mais frio leitor.
Eu deveria contar um pouco sobre a mãe de Katy ou sobre as outras garotas da escola ou sobre os outros aliens que aparecem, mas sobre a mãe ainda não sei o que escrever porque ela trabalha fora boa parte do tempo e é como uma mãe normal (daquele tipo que fala para você sair do computador e ir conhecer os vizinhos, como a minha mãe fazia quando eu era mais nova). As outras garotas da escola com quem Katy conversa são bem legais. Lesa e Carissa aparecem pouco, mas são as responsáveis por Katy começar a questionar algumas coisas que seus vizinhos não lhe contaram. E quanto aos outros Luxen... Adam, o pseudonamorado de Dee, parece ser legal, mas Ash, Andrew e Garrison não parecem tão legais assim – aliás, Adam, Ash e Andrew são gêmeos também. Então, como ainda preciso ler mais sobre eles, vou deixar para comentar mais na resenha do próximo livro.
Antes de terminar essa resenha, preciso comentar rapidamente sobre os antagonistas dos protagonistas dessa história. Bom, se existem aliens de luz, existem aliens de sombra (e faz sentido porque yin e yang...), os Arum. Os quatro que apareceram nessa história fizeram bem seus papéis de vilões – atrapalharam um pouco a situação e também serviram para Katy aprender coisas novas e sentir medo. Os Arum são a razão para o povo de Daemon sentir medo e com razão. Depois que Daemon explica sobre eles para Katy (e eu não vou contar o que ele explica porque quero que você leia também), me peguei pensando que ainda deve ter alguma outra informação sobre esse povo – que provavelmente nem o Daemon saiba – que pode ser muito importante em algum momento no futuro nessa saga.
Armentrout criou uma história onde tudo vai se encaixando e evoluindo. Uma ação leva a outra, uma briga leva a outra, um rastro leva a outro... E isso faz com que os personagens tenham espaço para mostrar de forma mais convincente sua personalidade. Daemon é um babaca, mas tem uma razão. Katy é mais forte do que pensava, e prova isso. A forma como a autora conduz esse primeiro livro é ótima – a problemática é introduzida, os personagens são apresentados, os problemas são colocados na mesa. Sua linguagem não é cheia de rodeios, seus personagens (por mais fantásticos que sejam) conseguem criar relações com os leitores (por exemplo, na cena em que Daemon assiste um vídeo que Katy postou no blog, acho que todo mundo que já postou algum vídeo no youtube sabe o quanto é estranho assistir a si mesmo com alguém do lado [e esperar os comentários sobre isso depois]) e sua narrativa conquista no ritmo constante dos acontecimentos.
Não sei quem disse, mas “um lacre é um lacre” e Lux é tudo o que eu aprecio em uma série – personagens apaixonantes, bom fio narrativo, ritmo constante, linguagem clara. Se você está procurando uma nova paixão literária, está na hora de você dar uma chance para um alien.
PS: Daemon. ❤ Sério: ❤
I think...I might be in love.
This was...basically perfect. There was wit.
There were MANY lol moments that caused people to look at me funny.
Why didn't I find this book earlier?
Can't...write...decent...review...let...the...gifs...do...the...gifing (or is it giffing?)...I...need...the...next...BOOOOOOOOOK.
4.75 stars!
Honestly: like Twilight, but better. Much better, actually. The humour was 5-star material, Katy was hilarious and badass and awesome. Dee is such a cutie and Daemon, well, he's hot and a huge jerk, but kinda cute too and wow, I don't know what my feelings are right now.
this was different I know its a series but I truly think this where I stop I love the way the author writes I just teenage aliens just not something I enjoyed.
I had some issues with the writing style because there were a bunch of sentences that made absolutely no sense whatsoever... I would read over them several times and still couldn't understand what it was trying to say. The sentences constantly took me out of the flow of the story. Other than that, I don't really have any gripes with the book. I can definitely see the Twilight parallels, but it's a fun story and I'm excited to pick up the next in the series.
I couldn't finish it. Honestly this book wasn't for me and I'm not sure i'll be picking up any of her other books. This book was just ugh..
ICH LIEBE LIEBE LIEBE DIESE BUCH !!!!
Es tat mir richtig Leid, wenn ich das Buch aus der Hand legen musste um zu Essen oder zu Twitter.
Das Englisch war so leicht für mich, dass ich nicht einmal ins Stocken geraten bin.
Kat war toll, kann für sich selber einstehen und kann so schön Kontra geben.... die Schlagabtäusche von ihr und Daemon waren göttlich.........
Von Daemon fange ich gar nicht mal erst an, er war zwar die meiste Zeit ein Arsch....aber ein heißer Arsch :D
I have my first alien crush!
I'm not a sci-fi fan but Daemon can convert me anytime.
Love the sparks between Daemon and Kat, looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Rated 2.5
Oh man... There were all sorts of issues going on while reading this book... some of them were the book and some were me and at the end of it all I cringed to have to review this book. I mean I don't have to review the book. I could just give it the star rating and let it be... yeah, no.
If you read the Goodreads description of the book we are already aware that Katy has moved to a small town in West Virginia and finds out that her neighbors, Daemon and Dee, are aliens.
First, I must say that I was really eager and excited to read this book because I was really looking for another alien book since reading I Am Number Four not to mention I really like this author and her writing style.
I was so disappointed...
Book issues:
1.The story was really slow. You don't find out that Daemon and Dee were aliens until after the second half of the book.
2.Katy and Daemon have this annoyingly frustrating love hate relationship which again was annoyingly frustrating because it never let up. I can understand it in the beginning but after they start getting close you would think that it would just ease up a bit. It didn't. Not even at the end when it was crystal clear what Daemon felt for Katy. He was basically playing with her head and she kept falling for it time after time.
3.Although I enjoyed Dee I felt that declaring Katy as her best friend was rather quick. She said it after like a week. It was hard to feel the bestie relationship develop that quickly but as the story unfolds you understand why she might bestie Katy so quickly.
3 1/2. Katy is smart. I mean she keeps telling Daemon and the other aliens as much all the time. At one point of the book she realizes that the bad guy is right outside the boutique she's in and that he is scoping her out. I mean she didn't even hesitate. She knew right away who it was but fails to mention it to Dee who was right there with her in the boutique! Ay Ay Ay...
4.If you've been reading my reviews as of late you already know of my growing annoyance with narrative repetition as well as the author not being consistent in her story... You know like writing a chunk of the story then writing another chunk from a different part of the book only to come back to the first one and not remember what she wrote. FOR EXAMPLE! Daemon comes over to Katy's house. She opens the door and goes on to notice that he's in sweats. Literally about a page after this Katy says Daemon is telling her something and puts his hands into his jean pockets. It's the same scene folks. He was still in the house telling Katy she had to work out and burn some energy. A page or so after that another reference to the jeans are made... UGH! Which leads me to...
5. Jennifer L. Armentrout is now a published author. She is whipping books out left and right. She has great potential! GET HER A GREAT EDITOR!!!! Sheesh! I hate it when stuff like repeated words and sentences slip by. I had several of these in my edition! GET HER A BETTER EDITOR SHE DESERVES ONE!
My issues:
1. MAN OH MAN!!! My brain kept wandering in and out of Twilight and Vampire Diaries(the tv show). Parts of the book just kept reminding me of these two. The similarities are there. I don't want to give away what parts because I rather leave it alone if it was just me.
2. My brain kept changing what these characters should look like. I'm sorry, I don't think the guy on the cover is hot and I just couldn't narrow down who he should look like. I couldn't narrow down Katy either... Oh and her momma... pfft she had no face.
Ugh! BUT those were MY ISSUES. Well maybe 1 not so much me because a lot of the story reminded me of the books/tv series I mentioned. Believe me I hate comparing books with one another but this nagged me heavily throughout the book so much so I couldn't shake it off.
SO it breaks my heart to rate this a just ok but it was. I liked the potential of the plot, the funny moments in the book, the steamy scenes, some really cool lines and how the author incorporates her own spirit into the books. Obsidian just didn't do it for me. From the looks of the reviews this book has received in the last 5 days or so, I know I am in the minority. Having read Half-Blood by this author I know it could have been better. I will continue to read the series and hope that it gets better. I will continue to support this author because she is pretty awesome in her own right and I really do want her to succeed.