Reviews

Obsidio by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman

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lifeinpages's review against another edition

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5.0

Magnificent!!! There are no words!! Read this! Read this now!!

zahramoosa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

novelheartbeat's review against another edition

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4.0

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.

Spoiler

Honestly, probably because no one actually died so there was no real sacrifice (THE SYNOPSIS EVEN SAYS "HEROES WILL FALL AND HEARTS WILL BE BROKEN" DAMMIT), which is something I like in finales. APPARENTLY I'M MORBID OKAY.

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.

Spoiler

I knew Ezra and Nik were going to be fine, so when they "died" I felt literally nothing. NOTHING. I didn't believe it for a minute. I did, however, cry when the little girl (is it absolutely terrible that I don't remember her name?!) got shot because I just had this feeling that something horrible was going to happen to her, so I did actually believe that one. Even though she didn't die, lol. I also cried when AIDAN was shut down. As soon as he killed all those people I knew what the consequence was going to be. But I figured he would come back! Honestly I was mostly worried about that cat, because um we all know how Jay feels about cats. Thank you Amie, because I am 100% certain that you are the sole reason that kitty is still alive. Actually, we can thank Amie for the fact that all of our beloved characters survived, because Jay even said in the panel at the Obsidio tour I went to that he had a "burn it all down" mentality about the ending. Basically, he wanted to kill everyone (to no one's surprise). I think maybe that's why I was underwhelmed, I've come to expect devastating loss from him, heh.

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!

This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.

blue_kiwi93's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Obsidio is the third book in the illuminae Files series by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I really enjoyed the journey that we went on to uncover the rest of the story with

Spoiler

the Betech corporation

attacking the mining planet Kerenza IV and the Heimdal jump station.

One thing that really bothered me was the argument that kept getting used by the soldiers to justify their actions. Various soldiers and even characters who weren't planet side were basically saying that the citizens of Kerenza IV deserved what was happening to them (they were being starved, murdered, and sexually harassed by the soldiers) because they were there on the planet holding an illegal mining operation in the first place. That' is a BS argument and justification and I wanted to scratch my eyes out every time I heard someone say "but the citizens were here illegally anyways."

The book is long ending at 615 pages and there were some parts that seemed to drag on and on. I honestly don't think the story could have been any shorter because we would have ended up not getting certain information that was vital to the story. I understand why it was as long as it was, I just needed the boring parts to not be so boring.

Overall this book did not disappoint. This was an action packed sci fi and I'm happy I read the series. I give this 5 out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I listened to this audiobook for free on Libbyapp.com

Content Warnings

lucy_lowe_'s review against another edition

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5.0

“Nik, are you still wearing that ****ing parachute?"
"Maybe..."
"You know you're going to be flying in space, right...?”
― Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff, Obsidio

I'M NOT OKAY. THIS WAS TOO INCREDIBLE
TO HANDLE.

I can't belive this series is over, this book was the best in the trilogy by far, and had me laughing and crying throughout.

mahoupunk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

hollybolly's review

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adventurous funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

biblioemily's review against another edition

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4.0

So good! I do wish Rhys and Asha's story was fleshed out a bit more, and the beginning started slowly. But then I binge-read the last 200 pages, ignoring all other responsibilities! I really love the subtle humor of these books, and the sarcasm. Really fun.

monkeinabox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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