Review – Obsidian (Lux, Book 1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Release Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN-13 : 978-1620610077
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Lux series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“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.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Lux series (there are six books in the Lux series). I borrowed this from the library.
Story (3/5): The story is about Kat who recently moved to West Virginia with her mother after the death of her father. Kat struggles to make friends and would rather work on her book blog, however the neighbors next door are twins her age and she is trying to make a new start. While Dee is outgoing and bubbly, Daemon is another story. As Kat spends more and more time with Dee she notices that things about her neighbors aren’t quite right..not to mention the wide berth the rest of the town gives them.
This is an okay story, pretty typical YA paranormal read but with aliens. The pace was kind of slow and it takes Kat almost half the book to figure out what we already know from the start…her neighbors are aliens!!! The rest of the book is mostly a tug and pull between Kat and Daemon as they struggle against their attraction to each other. We do get some cat/mouse type of battles between the Lux and the other shadow aliens, but not nearly enough to keep things interesting.
Characters (4/5): The characters here were okay. I enjoyed Kat’s quirkiness but also thought she was a bit naive and dense. I enjoyed the relationship Kat has with her mother and also enjoyed some of the side characters Kat becomes friends with. I didn’t particularly like Daemon as a character, he’s pretty much your typical uber alpha male and not really the type of male lead I enjoy. Dee was a lot of fun and adds a lot of bounce to the story. In general all the characters were fine but nothing different from what you see in a lot of other YA paranormal literature.
Setting (4/5): The whole book takes place in a small town in West Virginia. I didn’t mind the small town setting. Aside from some description of the Lux home world the setting really doesn’t drive much of the story.
Writing Style (4/5): This was decently written but you can tell it is one of Armentrout’s earlier books. I felt like some of the dialogue where Kat and Daemon argue got old and was reused a lot. This is the third series I have read by Armentrout and I am starting to recognize that her lead characters always have a similar love/hate type of tone to their relationship. It’s something I like reading but it gets old if you read one book after another like that. I also thought the world building here and the premise were pretty thin. Additionally, Armentrout’s talent really shines during action scenes and there aren’t many of those in here.
My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was fine but not nearly as good as Armentrout’s Harbinger or Blood and Ash series. I don’t plan on continuing the series because the premise and world-building felt a bit thin to me and I didn’t love any of the characters in here. You can definitely tell this was an earlier book by her. I guess I am not a huge alien-as-my-next-door-neighbor type of fan…so…there’s that.
