Obsidio by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
My rating: 4/5 cats
a strong ending to a seriously enjoyable trilogy. this series had so many obstacles to overcome in the realm of THINGS THAT KAREN DISLIKES READING ABOUT, it’s a █████ miracle that i liked it as much as i did. or at all. outer space, romance plot after romance plot after romance plot, snarky precocious overskilled teenagers, gimmicks aplenty – it’s more or less designed for me to hate it. the only thing missing would have been to have it be about twins. who are also birds. made of olives. and YET.
i was entertained, i was invested in the story, i laughed a few times (although there were just as many eyerolls), my heart swelled with that anticipatory rallying spark that hits it every time i hear one of my personal anthems, and at one point, no lie, i gasped aloud. a cat in peril’ll get me every time.
these books are the fastest 600-page bricks you’ll ever read. and while i am frequently unenthusiastic about gimmicky books, the very sort of gimmicks responsible for speeding up the reading pace here, in this series, i’m fully on board. they’re well-designed and fun instead of being a gimmick-parade for no reason. i appreciate the variety of storytelling modes, and they just…work; the blend of POVs and narrative voices and styles and worldviews are very well-balanced.
AM I NOT CHARMED?
█████ aidan. i would read one million books about aidan.
i am not what i once was, either, buddy. i feel you.
thanks to the terrific badassery of aidan and pauchok, i was able to overlook all the YA romance ████ wafting offa the other characters, the stuff that usually bores my teats off, and even the WE ARE ON A SPACESHIP angle didn’t send me running. plus, plenty of it was on terra firma, so.
but still. still. aidan. pauchok. winners of my heart.
SO – either i am growing up and becoming a person of broader tastes and a greater tolerance for things which used to annoy me, or this series is good enough to transcend the ██ that ███ me off.
either way, i’m sad to see it go.
i will miss you.
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