Book Review
Title: Obsidio (Illuminae Files #3)
Author: Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
Genre: YA/Sci-Fi
Rating: *****
Review: So Obsidio is the only book in the series I haven’t re-read and although I gave it 5 stars the first time I was reading it after loving Illuminae and Gemina so I have a feeling my rating might change. We re-join Hanna is the courtroom although speaking remotely as she begins the conclusion of their tale which takes place back on Kerenza 4 where we are introduced to Rhys Lindstrom. Rhys is a tech specialist working for BeiTech specifically on Mobile Jump Gate Magellan which is set to operational in less than two weeks so he has been sent down to the planet surface to help out since a resistance movement has been slowly killing off BeiTech soldiers in what seems like accidents. Things get very real when he hits the surface as a bomb is set off killing some soldiers and injuring more. We are also introduced to Asha Grant, Kady’s cousin who actually survived the initial attack and is working as a medic, however, she is taking care of a young girl named Katya. She meets Rhys at the hospital and it turns out that this pair has some serious history, they were dating before but after an incident results in Asha getting stabbed, Rhys is shipped off to military school and Asha was sent to her aunt Helena. It also seems like Asha may have been pregnant and lost the child as she has a name tattooed on her wrist in addition to her name and Rhys’ on her ribs. We then cut to the Hypatia immediately after the destruction of Jump Station Heimdall where everyone has met up but the security chief Ben Garver isn’t happy about the situation at all.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, it turns out there is a strong resistance at work on Kerenza who are aware that the mobile jump gate is almost ready to work once more meaning the threat of their deaths is really hanging over their heads but hell there are some people like Carter willing to die in order to push their schedule back to buy the cavalry time to arrive. At this point no one on the planet has an idea of what has happened with the Alexander or Heimdall, they are just hoping beyond hope. I still don’t like Rhys at all, although I won’t deny that his relationship with Asha was passionate it just seems toxic and I can’t support that and with how much his loyalty bounces around in this novel I just can’t support him as a good character. Meanwhile, Syra has commandeered the Mao much to the distress of Ben Garver and is planning to return to Kerenza in just over 17 days which is now how long it is going to take to power up the mobile jump gate after Carter’s heroic actions in pushing back the schedule. I also have to say the means of communication the resistance is using is ballsy given that it is in plain sight but it is advanced and requires a specific code in order to read it which is something only people working in the mines would have, so much like Hanna and Nik they are using their local knowledge to their advantage. That being said the mass grave with all the dead non-essentials makes me sick to think about but it is something that happens in war time but it is still heartbreaking to think about how many families have been killed or torn apart by BeiTech. Asha is smart like her cousin but in a different way, she can manipulate just about anyone into doing just about anything and when she mentions to another rebel, Bruno, that he is ex-boyfriend they decide to use him as an opportunity and after just one face to face meeting alone, Rhys is trapped on Asha’s hook which might give them the advantage they need to turn the tide of the battle taking place on Kerenza every day.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, things aren’t going well aboard the Mao, between Ben constantly harassing Syra in order to be heard and relay the concerns of the Heimdall residents to someone in command and Syra not responding because she doesn’t trust anyone she doesn’t personally know, tensions are running high. That isn’t the only problem as Ella, Nik and Hanna have been side-lined because they don’t serve a purpose on the ship, despite that Kady has recruited Ella and Hanna to help compile all the information they have on what BeiTech has done just in case they don’t make it out while Ezra has recruited Nik as a gunner despite Syra’s direct orders not to recruit him because he is a member of the House of Knives. AIDEN is also finding many problems as the Mao wasn’t designed to handle over 3000 people aboard and he has calculated that at the current rate they are using oxygen they will all suffocate four days before they reach Kerenza unless something is done and I am concerned that AIDEN might flush people out in order to save lives in a similar situation to what he did with the Copernicus. And this is only the beginning as there is dissent rising on the ships especially among the people Ezra has been assigned to train as pilots. However, there are moments of hope in this, take Ben Garver for example, while I believe him to be an absolutely piece of shit for the most part he has been taking care of his godson and the wife of his best friend who died when Falk cut off the oxygen to the habit sectors on Heimdall so there is some good in him despite his crappy personality. However, AIDEN has a conversation with Ella and he mentions that the ship may soon need knives and sharp ones at last meaning that with all these tensions it is only going to take a small spark to ignite it given the divide between the original fleet members, those from the Hypatia and the Alexander and those from Heimdall.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, one thing I don’t like about Obsidio is the constant change in location, I know Illuminae did something similar but it didn’t feel jarring like it does here. For the most part in Illuminae the transitions between locations was smooth and in Gemina we were on Heimdall for almost all of the novel, here we start getting into things on Kerenza and we are ripped back to the Mao and when we start getting into things there we are ripped back to the planet which I find jarring and it really take me out of the novel. On Kerenza Rhys witnesses the brutal murder of a little girl and finally gets the program that this isn’t going to end well for anyone and decides to help Asha. Together they come up with a plan to send message out through the BeiTech system in tiny package that can be reassembled on the other side and they can receive messages in the same way. However, while they are working on the computer system they are almost caught and it is Rhys’ quick thinking that prevents them from being killed but they are finally doing something to stop the horrendous actions taking place. We then jump back to the Mao where AIDEN kills a little over 2000 people with carbon monoxide to resolve the oxygen issue on the ship but he does spare the baby named after the ship she was born on, Hypatia and her parents showing us that AIDEN has a heart but Kady has to take him offline afterwards but tensions on the ship are starting to blow over. We are only halfway through the novel but this bouncing back and forth is giving me a headache but Obsidio is turning out to be a major kick in the feels.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, so much happens, it start with a mutiny aboard the Mao led by none other than Ben Fucking Garver, I hate that man so much right now. However, between Kady, Ella, Nik, Hanna, and AIDEN they shut that shit down so quickly and Hanna’s knee connecting with Garver’s ball was the best moment in the book so far. With all the key players back in play they have less than a day to come up with a plan for taking the Magellan and jumping back to the core systems but it is a long shot. However, they receive the transmission from the planet which results in Asha and Kady having a reunion and Martha learning that her daughter Katya is still alive and that they all might see each other soon. Despite this things aren’t going well planet side as during the time when Rhys was fiddling the computer systems someone stole a whole ton of explosive and Steph was caught with some of them but refuses to break and tell BeiTech where it is resulting in her death. Christie orders that everywhere is searched as the last thing any of them want is for things to go south when they are meant to be pulling out the following day. During one search, Rhys and Duke have to back to the barracks so Rhys can repair Duke’s broken helmet and I have a bad feeling that something is going to go boom very soon. I am not 65% into this novel and I am only now starting to get really into it and I think that is because I don’t really like Asha or Rhys as characters and I don’t relate to them well and the location jumping doesn’t help in that regard.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, we are entering the endgame of the novel but after Duke’s death, Rhys turns on Asha knowing that she had something to do with the explosives which she didn’t but he hasn’t come clean about the 4 soldiers he killed so she could save Katya but it looks like the end for her. Back on the Mao the final preparations are being made for the battle to come and I have to say that Isaac Grant is a gift from God as he has seemingly adopted, Nik, Ella, Ezra, and Hanna into his family alongside his own daughter and niece. All of them know that the odds aren’t in their favour here but they are going to go out fighting and with Kady at the helm with Ella and AIDEN I have faith in the rag tag group that has been through so much, especially since they have the element of surprise and Rhys hasn’t given up the fact he betrayed BeiTech yet or the fact that help in on the way to Kerenza, so I don’t know whether he is lying or he just doesn’t want to get shot himself. IT turns out there was a bigger deception going on than I first thought as Asha’s arrest means that her palm pad was sent to the Churchill allowing Ella and AIDEN to destroy it from the inside out and allows Ezra’s team to get Hanna’s team on the Magellan. The battle has begun in earnest now with the miners turning on the BeiTech troops on the ground, that coupled with the fact that AIDEN has set up the Churchill to fire on its own fighters, it gives our group a real chance at winning and once again I have to say LEANNE IS FUCKED! Especially since her own son now knows she is responsible for everything that has happened to them and he wants revenge more than anyone.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, so much happens that I can’t go into every single detail without this review being a million times longer than it already is. All I need to say is the battle is immense and for a moment it seems like our heroes are going to lose but AIDEN turns the tide of battle in their favour and he also proves that he is more human than anyone gave him credit for. In the end it takes the almost murder of little Katya for Oshiro to command the BeiTech troops to stand down and finally end the war they began so long ago. The final courtroom scene was brilliant as we see our heroes alive and well as well as being there to see justice done to the woman behind it all. However, I did like at the end that we learn AIDEN is still alive drifting but alive and he is still watching over the seven heroes that he has taken through this war from Kerenza, to the Alexander, to the Hypatia, to the Mao before finishing back on Kerenza. I still stand by my assessment that Obsidio is my least favourite book in the trilogy but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t absolutely amazing in every possible way, I just personally connect to the characters in Illuminae and Gemina a lot more. If you haven’t read this series then definitely pick it up, the mixed media format means you can fly through these 600+ tomes in a few hours.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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