Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Obsidian. *

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout Onyx (Lux #2)
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher:
Entangled Teen

To Sum It Up:

After being healed by Daemon, Katy starts exhibiting some strange powers of her own. She’s unable to control them until the mysterious new guy at school, who understands the situation, offers to help her. This obviously doesn’t sit well with Daemon, who doesn’t trust this newcomer at all, but it’s either that or let the Department of Defense find out what Katy can do. Daemon and the rest of the Luxen are already wary of the DoD when Katy spots one of the last people she ever thought she’d see with them. Something doesn’t add up, and Katy and Daemon are determined to discover what the DoD is up to.

Review:

With its cool, incandescent aliens and government cover-ups, Obsidian was a surprisingly fun read. Although I wouldn’t say I loved it, I was still excited to read Onyx. I liked that Daemon and Katy were still hurling verbal barbs at each other in this one, because that was a huge part of Obsidian’s entertainment factor, but overall the sequel didn’t quite win me over like the first book did.

My biggest problem with Onyx can be summed up in one word, or rather, one name: Blake. There’s only enough room for one smug guy in this series, and sorry, Blake, but that role has already been more than adequately filled by Daemon. From the moment Blake showed up at school screaming “new kid!” I just didn’t like him. You know when someone keeps turning up unwanted and can’t take a hint? That’s Blake in a nutshell. The sole upside of his presence in the book was Daemon constantly calling him the wrong name, much to my amusement.

What really bothered me was how Katy trusted Blake, this person she just met, so implicitly. Based on the Katy from Obsidian, I thought she was smarter than that. I also couldn’t help being slightly annoyed with her for questioning Daemon’s feelings for her. She worries that he only wants to be with her because of the connection that was created between them after he healed her following the fight with the Arum in Obsidian. I found myself a little impatient with Katy’s line of thinking and some of her decisions this time around, but it’s not as though they were so bad they made me wince or anything like that.

As for Daemon, he’s still pretty much the Daemon you know and love and occasionally want to punch in the throat. Personally, I’m still not madly in love with him, but he does crack me up, and he truly does care about Katy. Plus, anybody who hates Blake is fine by me. I wasn’t sure if the Daemon in Onyx was going to be a nicer, sweeter version of the Daemon from Obsidian. It bugs me when a dreamy alpha male is introduced in the first book of a series and is then progressively watered down in the sequels. Luckily, Daemon’s jerk factor was so high in Obsidian that he could afford some tamping down without turning into a wimp. An overwhelming amount of his appeal in the first book was his gargantuan ego and smartass-ness, so though Daemon does display more of a sensitive side in Onyx, his other charming personality traits are still very much intact.

I was disappointed to see Dee with a much smaller role here, along with Katy’s human friends, Lesa and Carissa. To think that their page time probably went to Blake. Boo. Overall, Onyx felt a little uneven compared to Obsidian, though once again, anything to do with uncovering the Department of Defense’s secrets was gripping, and the ending packed a wallop.

All in All:

Blake was kind of a blight on this, but even when he wasn’t around, Onyx still didn’t quite measure up to Obsidian. Onyx wasn’t without its moments, but it wasn’t a knockout, either.

4 comments:

  1. I think there's no better way to have described this book. You probably hit every point I had to admit while reviewing this one. Hated Blake (and I cracked up at your mention of him being the unwanted infiltrator), got so damn impatient with Katy, loved the semi-softness of Daemon and was happy to see that it didn't come at the expense of his jerkness. This one was certainly more frustrating, and that made it less enjoyable for me. Opal was better for me, so I hope you enjoy it :D

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    1. Glad I'm not the only one who couldn't stand Blake! He just irritated me to no end. I've read Opal, and unfortunately, I was even less enthusiastic about it. I just felt like I was reading the first two books all over again with some slight modifications to the characters and the plot.

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  2. Hmms I have heard such mixed reviews of this series! I am not sure yet whether I want to commit to it!

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    1. I really liked the first book, but I haven't enjoyed the sequels as much. They've started sounding too much alike to me.

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