REVIEW : Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

REVIEW : Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

   9:41 PM       Elisa

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Obsidian (Lux #1)

Author      : Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher   : Entangled Teen
Source      : Bought
Pages        : 361 (Paperback)

Summary from Goodreads :

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.

Book Trailer :

Cover Glimpse :
I'm not a fan of the cover. Somehow it's still raw and dull. But aside of it. Pepe is a perfect portrait for Daemon. So hot and handsome! =D

2cents :
Obsidian receives such a hype and glowing reviews everywhere. Wow, everyone and bloggers I follow seem loving it so much it made me super curious about what those hypes about. After I devoured this book myself, well, I was parted between like and upset. Generally the story is quite good and it has interesting characters, but there were also some details that really, really bugging me. There were multiple times I felt like "I think I've seen this before" and I have to say the story and situation is lack of originality. Before I read this book, I've read some negative reviews on Goodreads about this author's series and how they're mostly like a copycat of famous series. And... I don't mean to offend the author and the fans but I think I have to agree with those. However, although I lost the excitement, thankfully I still could manage to enjoy the story.

The 'lack of originality' I said before is that the situation of the story is strongly remind me of Twilight. Katy moves to the small city and she accidentally has a hot neighbor, a twin, who the girl one, Dee, is very eager to be friend with her, and the boy one, Daemon, acts like an arrogant douchebag and treats her very bad, and he calls Katy 'kitten'. That simple thing also happened to bug me a lot, since I've read The Night Huntress series (which I REALLY love!) where Bones also gives Cat (another similarity) a nickname 'kitten'. I know it's not a limited edition nickname for certain series only but still... *pout*. Okay, back to the topic. As I wanted to believe that the similarity was 'just' that which is very general as a background story of most YA story, I was more than surprised that there were even more similarities my mind couldn't deny, the moment and the time are very exact. Remember the Edward-stops-the-car-with-a-bare-hand moment and the I-know-what-you-are-say-it-out-loud moment from Twilight? This book has that moments, exactly the same. I was completely speechless. Even I had this thought that somehow Armentrout is like, I dunno, insulting Stephenie Meyer. Eeeep! I hope this is not right ><;;;;. I decided to read this book mostly to proof that maybe all those negativities are not really right and I hoped I could enjoy this book like others did. I did enjoy it, but disappointment displaced most of my excitement =(

However, aside of 'copycat' issue I got, I think this book is still quite good and entertaining. I enjoy the bickering and tension between Katy and Daemon. Katy is a fun and tough girl. She doesn't let others make fun of her, even that person also happens to touch her heart. I love that part of her specifically. Wow, Daemon is really hot and intriguing! He's arrogant douchebag, like I said, but somehow they make him charming and special. I totally jealous of Katy, if only I have a boy next door as HOT as him, probably I would take a lot of my time peeking through my window and pray to watch him shirtless, LOL. Not only bickering and chemistry, the alien concept in this story is very interesting and left some mysteries that make me super curious. The action scenes are really cool, quite tensing and nerve-wrecking, I was like watching science-fiction movie with a bit romance touch in it. Those things are enough for me to keep following this series (well, I already have Onyx, the second book though, just look for a right moment to read it =p), hopefully Armentrout could smartly develop the story and bring back my excitement over this series.

Don't let my review affect you. Maybe because Twilight is very remarkable for me so I was kind of upset with a lot similarities in this and that. If you have a chance to read this book, read it. Maybe you'd love it since the first page =D.
Happy reading!