Review: Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on June 25, 2018 | 2 Comments


Review: Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie KaufmanObsidio by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files #3
Published by Knopf (3.13.2018)
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 624 pages
Source: I own it


4 Stars

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

My thoughts

The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands.

Okay, I have been putting off this review for far too long… *hides face*

To be completely honest, in comparison to the other two books, I was underwhelmed. IT KILLS ME TO ADMIT THAT. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I still loved it!! Of course I still loved it. But the first half was slooow in a way that the first two never were. I feel like it took forever for something exciting to happen! Maybe because there was no zombie virus or flesh-eating aliens? The first two books set the bar too high!

I don’t know if I set my expectations too high, or what, but the ending lacked something. I was disappointed in the way things ended somehow without being able to put my finger on why. View Spoiler » I think the main issue here is that it lacked the emotional crushing that the previous two books delivered. I did cry, but not as much as I expected to. There were a couple of times I should have cried and didn’t. View Spoiler »

I think another thing that killed it for me was that I didn’t love Asha or Rhys, or the two of them together. Their characters felt a lot more generic than the other four that I love so much. It didn’t help that they’d had a previous romance so I didn’t have time to get invested in their romance at all. Hanna and Nik are still my fave! I did love how all three sets of characters were finally brought together in the end, yay!

Sooo I just realized this review sounds kinda bad. I promise I still loved the shit out of this book, even though the ending was totally underwhelming for me. I did end up docking a star because of that, but in the scheme of things it’s still one of my all time favorite series! I’m so sad to say goodbye to this beloved and incredible series.

I am not good.
Nor am I evil.
I am no hero.
Nor am I a villain.
<ERROR>
<ERROR>
I
am
AIDAN.

P.S. I still freaking LOVE Aidan SO. MUCH. One of my all time fave characters!

Every story needs its monster.

Side note: I had a total fangirl moment that Oshiro’s first name was Yukiko AND HER FATHER WAS MASARU OMFG DEAD. Lotus Wars reference FTW!!! What a beautiful hidden gem!

Favorite quotes

Grant, Kady: keeping in mind that i am also currently running at 9% capacity, due to lack of sleep, fear of impending death and having to deal with the boneheads here on the bridge, please be gentle with me as you break this news
AIDAN: You aRe all going to Die.
Oh, Aidan.

Grant, Kady: you know we can’t trust you.
AIDAN: You can always tRust me to be me.

“Of all the things I have seen and the places I have been, you were the one who felt most like home.”
BRB SOBBING

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
World-building: 5/5
Pace: 3.5/5
Feels: 3/5
Cover: 3.5/5
Overall rating: 4.5/5

Jessi (Geo)

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2 responses to “Review: Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

  1. I felt exactly the same way. It was a good book, but it wasn’t OMG THIS IS AMAZING AND CHANGING MY LIFE like Illuminae was. I just kept expecting something more… like some huge, epic AI war or something. I just kept waiting for the true epicness to start and it never did. :/ As you said: it was still a good book, it just didn’t meet my high expectations. Sigh.

    • I’m so glad it wasn’t just me!! I think I was so blown away by the first two that I was expecting something HUGE from the finale like you said. Sad face!

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