Review: Obsidian & Onyx - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux series, #1) (Link to Goodreads)

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux series, #2) (Link to Goodreads) 

Released: May 8th, 2012 / August 14th, 2012

Purchased the E-books on my Kindle

Description on Goodreads for Obsidian: (Onyx under cut as to hide any spoilers)

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.



Description on Goodreads for Onyx:

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

Onto the review!

Every time I saw this series on a blog, I cringed. I had such hatred for this series when I didn’t even read the summary or any reviews. Why? The love interest’s name is Daemon. You just know that means trouble. Not that I don’t love a character who’s trouble, but why did his name have to be Daemon? Daemon = Damon and in my head, it’s the same as DEMON. It makes me think of Satan, the devil, and the pits of hell. I judged his character by his name, and this had never happened to me before. Yes, I admit, I’m not a fan of some character names every once in a while, but I accept them and move on. I was so annoyed with the name Daemon that I ignored anything by Armentrout because she had created that name. I was also annoyed because people were obsessed with this character. I can’t stand it when people get to caught up in team whoever versus team whoever and the fact that everything surrounding the Luxen series (Obsidian, Onyx, and Opal) was only about the character Daemon.

So what did I do while Hurricane Sandy roared her way through New England, while I was confined to being inside, reading by candlelight (er… flashlight)? I downloaded the free sample of Obsidian, book 1, on my kindle and by the time the sample was over, I was hitting “1-click buy” faster than you could say Daemon.

I’m honestly glad I waited as long as I did to surrender to this world Armentrout created. If I hadn’t waited, I would have had to wait for Onyx, the second book in the series, when I was able to buy it within seconds of finishing Obsidian. And now I am sitting here, fuming. Why? Because Opal, the third book in the series hasn’t been published yet. Begin fan girl freak out: THIS IS NOT FAIR ARMENTROUT – you’ve got like a zillion Covenant novels out (okay, only 3 with #4 on the way) but Opal isn’t important enough to have been published yet? Let’s GET ON WITH IT SO I CAN GET MY FIX. End fan girl freak out.

I love the Luxen series (Obsidian & Onyx). There, I said it. I judged a book/series by its character’s name (cover?) and almost missed out on an enjoyable series. I blame this on myself, yes, but I also blame every annoying banner by every other fan on every other blog who has declared herself Team Daemon… even though there isn’t another team to be on in the series… yet. I feel like it was tainted. I also feel guilty for jumping on the band wagon after it’s initial blow out, much like the Twilight series when it became popular (although, I honestly did read it before it became popular, I bought it the month it was published in 2005). Why do I feel guilty? The story is excellent and the characters are rounded and have goals/expectations that they work to get through. I’m still hung up on how much I despised a series before I gave it a chance.

And now I just feel silly. The e-book versions are a steal, around $3.99 to $4.99, to which I would have easily paid up to $10 per book, which says a lot about an e-book (considering most are less than $10). There’s a prequel about a minor character that we won’t see until Opal (again with the waiting, this is getting difficult!) which is around $.99-$1.99, which would be well worth the buy.

The main characters, Katy and Daemon are sickeningly adorable, even though they fight their attraction to each other in almost every scene. There is action and plot lines I hadn't read before, and the characters are very surprising and refreshing during most scenes. There is also so much sexual tension, my kindle sighed as much as I did. Why do girls in books have to have morals? Why in life do girls have to have morals? It’d be such a better place is girls were allowed to be as horny as guys and not be judged for it. Life, Y U SO UNFAIR?

Anyways, I recommend this series to those who want a sci-fi/ contemporary novel (hard to explain without giving it all away) with a very intense couple who WILL make you breathless for more, but not so much that you feel stupid or guilty for enjoying it, because it’s entertaining as all hell to read. Opal, Y U NOT IN MY HANDS YET?

Happy reading!