Review: Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous books, Obsidian and Onyx. *

Opal (Lux #3)
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled Teen

To Sum It Up:

Daemon and Dee have their brother, Dawson, back, but they’ve also suffered a loss that Katy blames herself for. Dawson is determined to rescue his girlfriend from the Department of Defense’s clutches—with or without anyone’s help. No one wants him to get taken by the DoD again, either, so Katy, Daemon, and the rest of their group begin planning a rescue operation. They wind up having to rely on information from one of the last people they’d ever trust, but they have no other options if they even hope to break into the DoD’s secret facility.

Review:

I believe that the novelty of the Lux series has officially worn off for me. Opal was a long, slow read that I never thought I’d finish. I really had to push myself through some parts where it seemed like absolutely nothing was happening.

So much of this book felt repetitive to me, as though the series has settled into a fixed pattern. Katy worries about something. Daemon assures her that everything is going to be all right. Katy gets distracted by Daemon’s hotness. Katy and Daemon commence extended smooching session then return to matters at hand, like dealing with the evil Department of Defense. Start all over again with Katy stressing out. I’ve always thought the aliens vs. the government story line was cool, and Dawson was a welcome addition; his despair over being separated from his girlfriend, Beth, was so sad. At this point, though, I need more than that to remain invested in the series.

Opal seemed overly long to me, and I even lost track of how much time had passed in the book once or twice. There’s a big build-up to the big break-in at the DoD’s top secret facility where Beth is being held, but the emphasis is all on the training and the planning, which I didn’t find all that interesting. After a while, I just wanted Katy, Daemon, Dawson, and everybody else to just storm the place and get it over with.

In my review of Onyx, I went on a mini-rant about one Blake Saunders. It was too much to hope that he had disappeared for good at the end of that book. I knew he’d return, because Blake has the persistence of a bedbug infestation. Ugh, and he’s got the gall to act all arrogant! What I didn’t expect was the new low to which he took creepiness; seriously, Blake is a real piece of work.

While there’s a lot of tension to the story in Opal, the novel’s unhurried pace tends to knock the punch out of it. This book really dragged for me, and I couldn’t shake a sense of déjà vu that a lot of scenes and dialogue were very familiar. I do have to say, the ending was such a shocker that even though I’d thought perhaps this series and I were going to part ways, we can’t now. I may regret it afterwards, but I feel obligated to hang in there for one more book because I need to know what happens after a jaw-dropping ending like this one.

All in All:

There’s finding a comforting familiarity when you read the sequels in a series, and then there’s feeling like you’re reading the same thing over and over again. Unfortunately, Opal leaned toward the latter for me. I hope the series regains its footing with the next book because Obsidian was such a fun read.