Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Lux #1

Déjà vu. That's what I felt when reading this book.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was this girl who met this boy, and the boy was a gorgeous, but a jerk. She was kind of fascinated with him (because he was gorgeous, and also mysterious), but they didn't get along. One day, something happened that almost killed her, but the boy saved her, and he did it by doing something that should have been impossible. Turns out the boy's not human, and he has enemies. Now she'll be targeted by those enemies too.

Sound familiar? That's because not only is that the plot of Obsidian, it also perfectly describes Twilight, Die for Me, Hush, Hush, and probably other books I haven't read. It's not a bad plot, exactly, but I'm getting a little tired of reading the same thing in every YA paranormal romance.

I'm not a fan of the "human girl meets supernatural boy" aspect, either. Either both parties should have superpowers or neither should. The discrepancy makes it hard to have a healthy relationship.

I did like Katy a lot. It was fun (and a little surreal) to read about her book blog, and I loved that she didn't just sit back and let everything happen to her. I also appreciated that, instead of whining about moving to a small town where she knew absolutely no one, she was determined to make the best of it, which was a nice change from the all-too-frequent YA angst. I think Katy's character made this book actually stand out from the crowd I mentioned before.

Granted, the alien aspect of the story was different as well, but it really just seemed like the same setting as I Am Number Four. And while the Luxen were pretty cool, I was not impressed by the Arum. Evil should never be explained by saying, "that's just the way their species is." Good and evil aren't about what we are, they're about what we choose, and eliminating that choice by making a whole group innately bad makes the story seem superficial and juvenile. I want stories to give me reasons for people to do the things they do, and "they're all like that" is terribly unsatisfying, unless it turns out that they're actually not and that's a major part of the story. (From what I've seen so far, that doesn't seem likely here, but I guess you never know.)

This book the plot of Twilight with the world of I Am Number Four. If you liked those, I am sure you will like this one. Personally, I found it fairly unoriginal, but I liked the writing and the characters enough that I will probably read the sequels, maybe.

Quality: Fair
Enjoyability: Acceptable