Welcome to the blog tour for Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff! Today I'll be sharing my thoughts on the book, plus a fun giveaway. Enjoy!
About the Book:
Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Book Three of the Illuminae Files series
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 13, 2018
Rating: 4 stars
Source: Review copy sent by the publisher
Official Summary:
Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?
Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.
With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.
My Review:
Note: I am going to do a somewhat abbreviated review for this blog tour post! I started writing my usual lengthy review and realized that I was crossing into spoiler territory. I'm going to wait to post my full-length review until a month or two after publication date - definitely not for a blog tour. But you'll definitely get the vibe of my excitement for this conclusion from this short review!
Obsidio is the third and final novel in the Illuminae Files series. Just like Illimunae and Gemina, this book is written in a nontraditional type of narrative, including transcripts, notes, files, documents, entries, etc. This book follows Asha Grant (Kady's cousin) and Rhys Lindstrom (a BeiTech Specialist). There are plenty of cameos of Kady, Ezra, Nik, and Hanna.
In fact, this book is sort of written with two different (concurrent) plots; one plot follows Asha and Rhys on Kerenza, in which Asha works at a hospital as a pharmaceutical intern, and Rhys is brought in from orbit as some sort of Specialist (I've already forgotten, don't judge me). The other plot follows Ezra, Kady, Nik, and Hanna on a ship called the Mao, which combined forces with the passengers of the Hypatia. They are heading towards Kerenza for the final showdown.
I was not expecting the dual plots, but it was very cool to watch unfold! I had wondered how the previous four protagonists would show up in the final novel, and they certainly did, in a big way. As did Asha and Rhys, the "new" protagonists.
I won't say much more on the plot - you'll have to read the book! You'll have to see for yourself how things play out, how AIDAN is a factor, how the teens take on BeiTech. I will say that it was not difficult to get back into the story, even though I read Gemina ages ago, in the pre-pub ARC stage. The authors have a way of bringing you back into the action without you needing to reread the previous books. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with rereading them!
On the romance: it's a second-chance type of romance, which isn't my favorite. Asha and Rhys had a wild, fun, addictive romance back in the day (when they were sixteen or so), and then Asha's parents caught them, and Asha was forbidden to see Rhys, and Rhys was sent to military school. Three (ish?) years later, they meet again, but this time, they seen to be on opposite sides of the war, with Rhys working for BeiTech, and Asha siding with the resistance. How's that for a romance? You'll have to see how things went. Again, second-chance romances aren't something I usually enjoy, but that didn't necessarily mean I didn't like this romance.
Obsidio is an action-packed, page-turning, mind-numbing conclusion novel that will have you on the edge of your seat and glued to the pages. It comes in at a whopping 615 pages, but that'll feel like nothing when you start reading. I'm a little sad that the series is over, but definitely ready to see what else this dynamic duo writes!
The Series:
(Click on the covers for more information!)
About the Authors:
Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of These Broken Stars and This Shattered World, and Illuminae, the first in a new series starting in 2015. She writes science fiction and fantasy for teens, and her favourite procrastination techniques involve chocolate, baking, sailing, excellent books and TV, plotting and executing overseas travel, and napping.
She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, their rescue dog, and her considerable library. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.
Jay Kristoff is the award-winning author of THE LOTUS WAR trilogy, a Japanese-inspired steampunk fantasy. Part 3, ENDSINGER, is out now. He's also co-author of the upcoming ILLUMINAE (with Amie Kaufman), a YA Sci-Fi... thing, to be released by Knopf/Random House in 2015, and NEVERNIGHT, the first part of a new fantasy trilogy kicking off in 2016.
Jay is 6’7 and has approximately 13380 days to live. He abides in Melbourne with his secret agent kung-fu assassin wife, and the world’s laziest Jack Russell.
He does not believe in happy endings.
The Giveaway:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of Obsidio, US Only.
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