Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher:  Entangled Teen

Release Date: May 8, 2012
Pages: 361, Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 4.36 stars
My Rating: 3/5 stars

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.

MY TAKE

This is another book that I just had to pick up because it keeps popping up everywhere.  I had read so many great reviews - So, I decided to check it out sooner rather than later!

The synopsis pretty much sums up the plot, so I won't rehash it here.  Suffice it to say, the book is about a girl named Kat who moves to a new town only to discover that her next door neighbors are aliens (twins Daemon and Dee).  Despite everything that Daemon does to try to prevent it, Kat and Dee become fast friends.  Unfortunately, Kat discovers that becoming friends with aliens can be dangerous - to herself and to them.  When Daemon uses his powers near her, she is marked and becomes a beacon to enemies who want to steal Daemon and Dee's powers (and who don't mind hurting a few humans in the process).  Daemon is ridiculously attractive, but also a colossal jerk.  But, when Kat finds herself at his mercy because he is the only one who can protect once she has been marked.

Unfortunately, I was really underwhelmed with this book.  I wanted to love it.  I love the concept and I think that the author had some original ideas, but in the end I just couldn't connect with these characters.  They bugged me!  Obviously, I'm in the minority on this one, but here are my thoughts:


What I liked:

• The aliens.  I thought that the aliens in Obsidian were unique and interesting.  They are made out of light and have quite a few powers that were sometimes fun and often amazing.  Their counterparts (the bad guys) were also intriguing.
• Witticisms.  There were quite a few really funny lines in this book that made me laugh out loud.  I liked that Kat was witty and not a pushover at all!
• The sexual tension.  One thing that Armentrout is obviously very good at is building up some good old-fashioned sexual tension between her characters.  There was never any denying the chemistry between Kat and Daemon (well, actually there was lots of denying it - but I'll get to that in the next section).
• The action. This book had quite a bit of exciting supernatural action, which I loved.

What frustrated me:

• Daemon.  I just didn't like him!  Daemon was a complete and utter jerk.  I understand that he was supposedly protecting his sister by trying to keep her from getting too close to Kat, but I didn't really get why he always chose to do this by being ridiculously nasty.  He could have chosen a different tactic at some point, but he didn't seem to have any others up his sleeve.  There were times that Kat felt like she saw the "real" Daemon, but those moments never lasted and he would almost immediately turn back into a jerk again.  His mood swings gave me whiplash!  I just didn't find him appealing at all.  Interestingly, I'm not one of those people who automatically hates the "bad boy" character - I recently read Poison Princess, which features a character who is equally unpleasant at times, but I still felt more of a connection to him than I did to Daemon.  I felt vulnerability underneath his tough exterior.  With Daemon, I just wasn't seeing any redeeming qualities that made me want to love him.
• Kat.  Okay, I know, I'm being unreasonable, right?  I mean, I didn't like Daemon or Kat?  Well, I actually did like Kat more than I liked Daemon, but she still bugged me more often than not.  Why?  Well, she's feisty (which is good), but also kind of irritating.  She's obsessed with this guy (who treats her like garbage) just because he's hot and then she constantly tries to deny that she's attracted to him.  I get it - that's kind of the point of the book (the main character being attracted to someone she doesn't want to be), but I just kept thinking, "Why?  What's the attraction here?"  And, then, when she finally does start to see some redeeming qualities in him, she completely denies them and insists that they still hate each other.  After making out with him and saying that she feels completely intimate with him, she then immediately does a complete 360 and says that she has no interest in being with him.  Never. Again.  (She likes to say that, but we all know that never ain't gonna last long!)  Once again, I just felt frustrated.

So, I guess I was hoping for something amazing and found that this just wasn't it for me.  This will have to be one case where I am in disagreement with the majority.  All that being said, I will probably read the next book in the series to see if it improves.  I haven't completely given up on these characters - I'm hoping that they can redeem themselves (there were glimmers of redemption in this book - hopefully they will come out more in Onyx.  And I really do like the story concept.  Oh, and Dee - I really liked Dee.  Overall, I'm giving Obsidian 3/5 Stars.