“Live a life worth dying for.”
Obsidio might not be the 'perfect' book for me, but I can't fault it because it was engaging, enjoyable and entertaining. I started a few pages of this book, went to sleep and finished the rest in one sitting the next day. I couldn't put it down.
Obsidio, like the rest of the books in The Illuminae Files series, has a unique format which makes it a treat to read. However, most of the story is told through camera surveillance footage and reads more like a traditional novel. This meant that I got attached to the new characters, Asha and Rhys, pretty quickly because there's a clearer sense of their thoughts, emotions and actions through the narrative.
There are too many characters in Obsidio, which means that some characters aren't as developed as others. There's characters like Kady, who we know almost everything about, and then there are characters like Ezra, who are just there. There's awesome characters who fade into the background such as Hanna and Nik, who played such a huge role in Gemina, but aren't really involved in the events of Obsidio until the end. Then there's new characters whom I either got attached to pretty quickly, but remained underdeveloped or that I just didn't care about.
However, I still love the characters and certain aspects related to them. AIDAN is the stand-out character and the driving force of this series. I never would have thought that the PoV of a very psychotic and unstable AI machine could make me so emotional. There is also a really precious scene between Kady's father and Ella and I loved the friendship between the main characters and the beginnings of the Nik and Ezra bromance.
The topic of war is also portrayed in an interesting manner. Obsidio tries to show the effects of war, the different players, the atrocities and brutalities and how it affects the common person and the soldiers. It also makes the villainous BeiTech slightly more nuanced and human through the soldiers that work under it.
While reading Obsidio, it felt like the world got too complex and the authors didn't know how to proceed with it. The books in The Illuminae Files series are the same story with different covers, settings and main characters, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them.
I'm still not a fan of the tone of this series or the humour. The humourous moments appear in the wrong places and are over the top. Humour is subjective though, but it doesn't work for me.
The plot is still the best part of this series. It scrambled my brains and blew my mind. The plot progression is interesting and the ending is fantastic. I wanted the characters to succeed and get home safely. I wanted them to make the company that started it all pay.
The Illuminae Files is a unique and epic series and I had such a fun time while reading it. However, while I highly recommend this series, I don't think I'll go back to it anytime soon.