Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout : Discussion (Contains SPOILERS)

 

Those last 100 pages were something else.

All throughout the book I noticed how Blake and sometimes even Daemon kept hinting at how bad the DOD is and even that there’s worse things than what you can imagine they do to the people in their hold. But, now that concept is really taking shape after what happened to Katy.

I’m glad that Daemon finally stepped up and changed his character a bit, which was a huge improvement from how he was in the last book.

We didn’t really get to see much of Dee in this book but that’s only because Katy had to hide her powers from Dee. Hopefully, now that Dee knows about what Katy can do, we’ll be able to see more of her in the next book.

Blake is just-ugh. I had my suspicions about Blake throughout the book, but sometimes it was easy to forget how weird he was acting. Although, towards the middle of the book, you could definitely tell there was something icky about what his true intentions were. Even though Daemon told him to not come back, you already know we’re going to see more of him later in the series.

Also, I don’t know who I hate more: Blake or Will. While it’s somewhat understandable how Blake was only doing all of this to help his friend Chris, Will is just crazy. He turned in his own family, and even wedged his way into Katy and her mom’s life. It was really despicable how he was revealing everything to Katy and seemed to have no shame about what he did. I really hope the mutation doesn’t work out for him.

The events leading up to them finding Dawson had me suspicious about what was going to happen once they reached the place where he was supposed to be held. First, it all seemed too hopeful. Daemon not really healing Will and Katy being free. Then, they were on their way to get Dawson and Katy was describing how good that was going to be for Daemon to finally see him again hoping that all turned out well. Next thing you know, when they get there Dawson isn’t. From the way they described the place, it seemed like what ever happened in order for Dawson to be free lead to Dawson taking it upon himself to not wait for anybody coming to visit him. So I wasn’t too entirely surprised when Dee burst out of the house with Dawson behind her.

It was a nice ending, even though we don’t immediately get to see Dawson’s reaction to Daemon because he seemed empty when Daemon approached him.

I was pleasantly surprised seeing how nice Matthew was to Katy because if anything I would’ve thought that he was going to hate her guts the most after everything that has happened, but now I think in the next book it’ll probably be Ash and Andrew who really have it out for her even though its not her fault.

I didn’t feel like there was much rising action leading up to the huge conflict at the end. Maybe it would’ve been better if what happened to Katy took place before everything went down. And while what happened around the end wasn’t pretty, the scenes didn’t feel as dramatic as they could’ve been. Though, I got to give points to the author for both scenes where Katy was describing in major detail what she was experiencing, both the good and the bad.

After Katy met Bethany and then went on to produce major power herself later, I was curious to know what she must’ve looked like in a third person point of view. Like she had to have looked somewhere close to how Bethany did if she was so powerful that even Blake was trying to RUN AWAY. Which really surprised me since Blake always kept talking about how he’s more experienced than her, but yet he did nothing to stop her when she was about to harm both him and his uncle.

Something that caught my eye in that scene is that when she was displaying such a great amount of power it also reminded me of the last time she did something like that in Obsidian. In both of those scenes DEE WAS THERE. Which was kind of suspicious to me because now it has me thinking what if Katy is somehow connected to Dee also, but not on the same level as her and Daemon are. Even though Katy never described feeling an alien connection to Dee, it could be a possibility.

I’m giving this book 4.5 stars because while I did enjoy it, it seemed like it was missing a few elements that the last book had such as being dramatic. This book felt quiet compared to the first one. It also wasn’t as fast paced as the last one. In Obsidian, there was anticipation leading up to each event. With this one, the events were just happening one after the other. Other than that, I really appreciate the character developments some people went through in Onyx. Also, you can’t forget how Daemon and Katy are together now and it seems like they have more mutual respect for each other. So I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next book.

Simmer by Kaitlyn Davis Review (Contains SPOILERS)

Simmer, the second book in the Midnight Sun series, was amazing! It was definitely a step up from Ignite in terms of how the plot and character development went! If you haven’t read Ignite yet, I suggest you go read it now, since this post contains spoilers!

Obsidian Discussion by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Contains SPOILERS)

Okay, it can’t just  be me but that ending was really abrupt. If you had the edition that was actually Obsidian in the Lux: Beginnings version, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Usually when you have a single book you kind of know when to expect the ending because of how many pages are left in your ‘turning the page’ hand. In this edition, since I didn’t know how many pages exactly the first book would be, when I turned the page I got, BAM, the acknowledgements page, which was a complete shock to me. I expected there to be another chapter or two to slowly transition to the ending, not the type of ending that Obsidian had.
Daemon and Katy’s relationship kind of infuriates me. As much as Daemon has the smug smart ass look going for him, I wasn’t happy with how he messed with Katy’s feelings in the book. The two most significant situations that come to mind are when he made out with her at first and the last scene they had in the book. Honestly if someone ever did what Daemon did to Katy to me by just leaving abruptly like that I would go to great lengths to not speak to them for a while. He took her feelings for him and just played with it like it was a ball of Play-Doh. When he was done playing, he just put her down and left. Now that I think about it, it reminds me of what Ash said about Daemon thinking of Katy as a shiny new toy.
The last scene also pissed me off. I just kept looking at their interactions throughout the book and felt that Katy could’ve responded more strongly to Daemon. It’s a good thing Katy reacted the way she did to him in this scene. It was about time Katy realized how effed up it is the way Daemon treats her, even though he was just ‘protecting her’ and ‘didn’t really like her at first’. Yeah right. How can you just go from treating someone the way he did for more than 200 pages if you subtract some of the decent scenes they had together and then all of a sudden, at the end of this book, declare you are ‘attracted’ to someone. Even though Daemon has some good qualities, I would not want to meet nor interact with him in real life. He really is a class A jerk.
Probably one of my most favorite things about this book is the little subplot line about Katy and her blog. Those scene were to die for. Her reactions to the people around her about her blog were awesome. Ranging from Dee telling her she likes her blog to Daemon actually freaking watching one of her videos in front of her. If that was me I would have died. I applaud Katy on how she reacted to those moments.
I am confused about Dee and Adam’s relationship. I get that they had an on and off type of thing going on. But, I was confused about how one scene they were at the dance and Dee was upset because Adam didn’t want to be there to the next where they are sitting with each other on the couch all friendly.
In the scene where they were fighting the last Arum standing, I felt like the part where Katy rose up in the air and all was cliche and cheesy. It feels like something I would see in a bad movie. I don’t blame the author for the reason why i felt that way. I just associated that scene with some past movies that have done things like that. This scene felt to me like it was perfectly describing something you would see happen in a movie commercial. Just add some dramatic music and you’ll have a scene from a movie commercial. Although, I really hope the reason as to why she was able to do that is fully explained in the next book because right now it just has my brain reeling about what happened.
I do hope we meet more Luxen in the book. I also wonder if the kids that sat with the Luxen at lunch are also like them. Most likely, but we’ll see anyways.
I got to give credit to this book though for pulling me out of a major reading slump. I just saw it sitting next to me, scanned a couple of pages, saw some funny interactions between Daemon and Katy and finally decided to read it after I finished some schoolwork. Next thing you know, for two days I spend my free time only reading this book. Thank you Jennifer L. Armentrout. This book was exactly what I needed.
I doubt that Daemon’s brother and Bethany are dead. I feel like there was a reason the author wrote in the dialogue between Daemon and Katy that he never saw the body and was not able to in order to have room to write about the possibility of his brother coming back.
I rate this book with four stars because even though I loved how fast paced it was and how I was never able to tear my eyes from it and one page became another, then one chapter became another, and by the moment I realize it I finished the book…I had to deduct a star only because I felt that Katy responses to Daemon’s actions weren’t all that realistic. I feel that she should’ve gave him more of a cold shoulder than she did in the book because of how hot and cold that dude always was. I hope that he cleans up his act in Onyx.
I’m also curious to know what Onyx is referring to. Since Obsidian referred to the fact that it’s what is required to kill the Arum. My best theory is that Onyx is what could be used to killed the Luxen perhaps? Although, then that leaves you to wonder what the sequel to that, Opal, could possibly mean. Maybe you can use Opal to kill both? Seems fitting.

Heir of Fire Discussion by Sarah J. Maas (Contains SPOILERS)

This is a discussion post on the events of what happened in the third book of the Throne of Glass series, The Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. Therefore, there are major SPOILERS ahead. Read at your own risk!

Red Queen Discussion by Victoria Aveyard (Contains SPOILERS)

In celebration of the sequel, Glass Sword, coming out this week, this is a discussion on the Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard talking about all the fangirl worthy moments on what happened. There are major SPOILERS ahead, so read at your own risk!

Ignite by Kaitlyn Davis Review

Ignite, the first book in the Midnight Sun series by Kaitlyn Davis, is about a girl named Kira who discovers that she’s a conduit. A conduit is a human being that evolved to constrain vampires. There are two types of conduits: the punisher and the protector. The punisher is the type of conduit that is only able to kill vampires using their powers. However, the protector is the type of conduit that is only able to use their powers to harm vampires. What’s unique about Kira is that she’s a mixture of both—which is forbidden.

Even though Kira was born in Charleston, South Carolina, she spent most of her life so far at a boarding school in New York. Now for her senior year, she’s back in Charleston. At her high school she first meets Luke, a friendly face who welcomes Kira to the school and introduces her to his friends—Emma, Dave, and Miles. From her new friends (who all stand out because they’re not from the town) she gets oriented at the school just swell. She also learns about the different groups at the school. You have your jocks, nerds, goths, and pretty much everyone in between. Except there’s one group that stands out, and that’s the misfits. They all seem to have an interest in Kira, which she doesn’t understand why. Moreover, her friend Luke has an above average hate against them. Apparently, from what Kira has been told it’s because of an affair between Luke’s ex and Tristan, but Kira is smarter than that and knows that there’s more to it than just that.

Something that I noticed in the book was how fast paced Kira and Tristan’s relationship was. At first, Tristan seemed to avoid Kira and just admire her from afar. However, eventually at one point in the book Tristan is all of a sudden open with how he feels about Kira which is something that was odd since this is all in just a few months. Even though it wasn’t extremely fast as some book relationships are, I felt like Kira and Tristan’s relationship should’ve been something that didn’t get so serious by the end of the book or where Tristan should’ve hinted more at his feelings in the beginning in a consistent manner instead of the way he was being inconsistent at first.

You have two types of supernatural elements here: the one that we’re already familiar with: vampires and one that the author crafted herself: conduits. The romance in this book is satisfying seeing as how there’s a bit of a love triangle feud going on, but Kira does lean more toward one of them in a romantic way so there’s not much confusion. It was a pretty good book overall which is why I’m rating it 4.5 stars. I would’ve gave it a five star rating, but the way Kira and Tristan’s relationship progressed seriously did bother me. Throughout the book, Kira learns a lot. Not only does she learn about being a special conduit, but she also learns more about the town, the people in it, and most importantly about who she is.