Reviews with content warning for Violence - Obsidio

So I adored the first two books of this series. I was so intrigued by the way it was written. It wasn’t a typical novel. It had chat logs, texts, video surveillance, etc. This book series got me interested in science fiction. But this book in particular was a bit of a disappointment to me.

So normally the first two books are about a couple. We had Kady and Ezra in Illuminae. There was Nik and Hanna for Gemina. This one promised the same thing with Asha and Rhys but it didn’t happen as much as it did in the first two books. Asha and Rhys took a back seat to the drama that was happening with Kady and the ship she was on. I honestly can’t remember what the ship was called, I’m so sorry. I was confused about what was going on with the ship and what they were trying to do, to be honest. There was just so much science and war terms.

The characters were okay. Like I mentioned above, Asha and Rhys were the “it couple” for this book. But they took a back seat so I didn’t get to know them as well. I don’t really have much of an opinion on them. I did like Asha pretty well for the brief times we did get to read about her. Her determination and her love for a child that wasn’t even hers warmed my heart.

Basically I spent my time being confused while reading this book. This book and the series in general, has a problem with having a lot of scientific terms and theories. I got a C in science for my entire high school and college career. I only know about the human body and brain and I barely know that much. There were also parts of the book that were about war and strategy. My only knowledge in that is playing Stratego and I won that game by getting Russia early on and slowly taking over Europe. So you all can imagine how confused I was.

Overall, this was okay. It was a nice ending to the series. I just have a small side book to read and I’ll have completed this series fully. I think this series changed the game with how it was written. I hope we see more books written like this because it truly makes reading a lot more fun!

Ps. I still dislike ADIAN. Sorry not sorry.

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booksteaandchocolate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I will be honest.. This review and rating is a completely biased review due to triggers.

I loooooved the first two books. Like loved loved. I was so excited to read Obsidio and for a good portion of the book I was pretty happy trucking along and then bam.... I had to stop reading. I know that all the books are pretty harrowing and I expected lots of rough topics in this one and maybe the writing was on the wall for where this book might go. In any case, I spent a lot of time trying to skim the next few pages to try to just get through to different conflict scenarios in the book.

I will say this though the book/series has a lot at stake, but not. The authors have real attachment to their main cast of characters and nothing ever really puts them at risk. Yes there are a few fake out moments but all the risk and horror mainly lays outside of the main casting group. There is a security from the end of the first book knowing who is the Illuminae Group lets you know that even though everything is terrible in the books the cast you like make it through it all.

With that said. The book is still impeccably written. It's fun and engaging and reading it to the end was still so great. The only reason I have to rate it a 3.5 is because of my reading experience. I struggled to get through to the end because of everything the Kerenza colony had/has to go through. It physically hurt me. I would still highly recommend this book to just about anyone since its such a good series, the only reason I struggled was due to my own triggers.

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nuin_giliath's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I thought I understood the hype after reading Illuminae, but I really, really get it now. When I started this series, I had no idea just how much of a ride it would be. Overall, it was an incredible story with endearing characters, well-developed plots, and crazy twists that made my jaw drop and head spin. I may not have always been a fan of every character at first, but I ultimately found them to be both engaging and admirable over the course of the story. They had unique personalities, backstories, and manners of demonstrating their individual strengths. I truly enjoyed following them on their journeys. The various plots, while convoluted at times, were often captivating and the writing tended to keep me on the edge of my seat. The audio recording is also fantastic - although I would still recommend flipping through a physical copy at some point due to the designs and artwork featured.

Looking back, I can't help but compare my experiences with each of the three books. Although they share many similarities in their compositions (and even plots), they achieved different levels of success. Unfortunately, I found Obsidio to be the weakest due to a couple of issues:

1) Even though I highly enjoyed Illuminae and then absolutely loved Gemina, I found it hard to become as excited about Obsidio. I struggled to care about these new characters and situations throughout much of the first half. It didn't help that the overall tone was more somber and the main threat didn't seem as present or dangerous as the past ones had been. While it was nice having the characters from the previous books join forces, there really wasn't much for them to do until the last 25% or so. The lack of connection to the new characters and a less thrilling plot resulted in the pacing feeling much slower in comparison to the previous books.

2) From the very start, I noticed that this last book had less of a sci-fi feel when comparing it to its predecessors. Whereas Illuminae and Gemina involved threats such as spaceship chases, a deadly airborne virus, space parasites, a malfunctioning wormhole, and collapsing parallel universes, Obsidio had genocide, starvation, curfew, suicide, detention centers, Nazi-esque brutes, and a small resistance force. None of these aspects felt unique to this genre and they comprised the main focus for the first 60% or so before the final space battle began. Even though the first two books featured tragic moments and huge losses, they didn't feel as depressing due to the sci-fi elements which caused them. Here, I had to stop reading a few times because things became too emotionally heavy for me to handle. I realize this might not be the case for everyone, but after two books which focused on sci-fi action, I didn't expect to see such realistic misfortunes depicted.

A final (and more minor) complaint… I wish the characters that we had come to know and love from the previous book(s) weren't so frequently sidelined in favor of the newcomers. I would have preferred to have a greater awareness of all of them from the start. Then we could have learned a little more about them and their experiences from book to book instead of dedicating one novel to them and neglecting further development beyond that.

Even with its occasional clunkiness, this finale was satisfying and the entire series was quite entertaining. If you don't mind some sci-fi and haven't checked this out yet, you should -- if for no other reason than to admire the originality behind its design. If Obsidio had been told using only traditional prose, I'd probably rate it a 3.5. However, the sheer creativity and effort it must have taken to tell a cohesive three-book story through unconventional methods is astonishing and impressive. So 4-stars it is.

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