After the events of Gemini, our protagonists (Kady, Ezra,
Hanna, Nik, and Ella) are trapped on the ship Mao and are running out of
resources. With the jumpgate destroyed, there is no way back to the Core
System- their only option is to return to Kerenza and its hostile Bei-Tech
occupation. As they suppress mutinies and reluctantly accept the help of a
dysfunctional battle AI, the team must find a way to defeat the overwhelming
amount of enemy troops and ships at Kerenza.
Meanwhile, on Kerenza itself, the colonists are hard at work
under the harsh Bei-Tech occupation- mining the hermium necessary for Bei-Tech
to fire up their jumpgate and escape. Faced with the horrors of the situation
at hand, Rhys Lindstrom, a Bei-Tech trooper, is disgusted. When he is contacted
by Asha Grant, one of the colonists and his girlfriend from before he enlisted
in military service, he decides to help the insurgency against the occupation.
They must delay hermium production until the Mao can come and rescue them all.
I really liked this novel, just like I enjoyed the previous
books in this series. All of the ragtag bunch of characters were written
extremely well. The unorthodox combination of files, video transcripts, and
message logs the authors used to convey the story was very interesting to read
and portrayed a feeling of authenticity to the book. There was a perfect combination
of suspense and action, keeping the reader at the edge of their seat. In fact,
I think the suspense in the book is done extremely well- it starts to build and
build and finally it crescendos into action. Readers of the previous books and
books with a story told in unorthodox ways (Like World War Z) would probably
enjoy this. Additionally, people who like sci-fi, space-traveling action novels
would also love this book.
Reviewed by NK, Grade 10
Montrose Library
1 comment:
The final book in the Illuminae trilogy, Obsidio, returns to the very first location in the series-an inhospitable speck of a planet in deep space: Kerenza. Asha Grant, cousin of the series' first protagonist Kady, has survived the initial invasion of their homeworld. She now remains trapped as BeiTech, the an interplanetary corporation responsible for the invasion, holds her planet hostage. She works undercover to keep refugees safe until any sign of hope arrives, finding a potential way out with BeiTech soldier Rhys Lindstrom. Kerenza's harsh environment worsens and with more trouble is approaching from beyond the atmosphere, Asha is running out of time to save her home and her family,
Obsidio is a great concluding novel for the Illuminae series. It does an excellent job maintaining the sense of danger and struggle that the previous books establish, and Asha is yet another strong and still unique protagonist. While Obsidio delivers on the expectations established by the prequels, the love interest in this novel is a bit boring considering both Illuminae and Gemina follow the same pattern. That is my only real qualm with the novel, however, as Obsidio does not relent and does not disappoint, taking the reader on a harrowing and real quest for survival. If the first two books in this series were appealing, Obsidio is definitely not to miss, and I can recommend this series to anyone interested in books that are not about flowery writing and fluffy relationships. While it is a science fiction novel, science fiction is not an element in the story and so the series is open to all YA readers.
Reviewed by William L., Grade 12
Glendale Central Library
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