Publication Date: December 2011
Publisher: Entangled
Pages: 266
Series: 1st in the Lux Series
Acquisition: NetGalley
Summary:
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. (from Goodreads)
I was: disappointed the alien premise was overshadowed by a toxic romance.
My thoughts:
It's hard for me to rate this book so harshly because really, I loved the premise. I have always had a soft spot for alien stories (thank you X-Files ;) so I was pretty excited to read Obsidian. Honestly though the fact that there were aliens in this story is the only thing I liked. I just could not get over the destructive relationship between Katy and Daemon.
I feel really strongly about Daemon - and not in the way most of you do. I think he's dangerous, as a character. He is not the type of boy that any girl should hope for. Take away the fact that he is an alien, strip him down literally and I'm sorry, I don't care how hot he is - engaging in any type of relationship with him isn't healthy. I very much felt like if he were short with a face full of pimples and a lazy eye Katy would never have spend even 1 second of her time with him. As a reader I cannot equate hotness with redemption. I cannot justify in my mind why Katy lets him insult her and after looking into his eyes, feels the need to apologize to him. Not healthy at all people!
Destructive, dangerous, ugly. Not hot or romantic or swoon worthy. I had zero respect for Katy and it was hard for me to stomach their interactions.
Daemon is not a boy any girl should swoon or pine for. There are evil boys in YA lit, there are bad boys with a heart of gold and then there are just assholes. I doesn't matter that he's hot or that he's special or that he may really love his sister. He is a horrible person. He is dangerous and full of himself and he treats Katy like crap and she basically says please sir can I have some more. Again, I had absolutely no respect for Katy throughout the entire book.
Final verdict:
So, really, not a whole lot of love from me on this one and I won't be continuing with the series. Yes the aliens are cool - mainly because we don't see a lot of contemporary alien YA books these days. But rather then being a really cool alien book with some romance, I felt like Obsidian was a bad romance book that happens to involve aliens.
While I don't think I'll be recommending this book much in the future I would still say, if you have Obsidian in your TBR pile to give it a try. Mostly because just about everyone I know who has read this has loved it. I'm thinking this one might be a 'not for me but maybe for you book'? Although...that relationship...I'm having a hard time getting over how toxic it is.
If you've read Obsidian I would be interested in knowing your thoughts on Katy and Daemon's relationship. For me, it was a deal breaker but for you, maybe not?
Overall Rating:
2 / 5 Stars
0.5 Shadows (February 2012)
1.0 Obsidian
1.1 Chapter 26 of Obsidian from Daemon's perspective (posted on author's blog)
2.0 Onyx (May 2012)
3.0 Opal (December 2012)
Linkage Love:
Author's blog
Goodreads
IndieBound
