Obsidio (Illuminae Files, #3)

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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I have been trying for weeks to figure out what I was going to say about this book, and the ending of this series. I have finally given up on finding the "right" words to use, and am just going to give it a shot here. So ...

I have loved this trilogy since before Illuminae released. It is so unique and compelling and terrifying and amazing. So when Obsidio was in the works I was terrified. Were they going to let me down? Was it going to live up to what I had built up in my head? Was I going to love this book as much as the first two? Would I be sad when it was over?

I should have known better than to worry, except about the last question. Of course I was sad when it was over, there was no more book to read! Obsidio more than lives up to its predecessors, both in audio and print form.

Now, from here on, while there will be no spoilers for Obsidio, because it is the final book in a trilogy there will probably be spoilers for Illuminae and Gemina, so if you haven't read those, consider yourself warned.

Obsidio spends quite a bit of time in the beginning back on Kerenza, but I would say more than half of the book is spent with our good friends who survived the disaster over at Heimdall. So don't you worry about not seeing Kady and Ezra and Hannah and Nik and all our other friends and family that have been through some shit. We get to spend a good deal of time catching up with them. And of course everyone's favorite insane AI comes to play as well. I think AIDAN is one of my favorite characters ever. He is so interesting and you are not ever quite sure what he will do next. He/It is so great. And terrible.

As we have come to expect, things Do Not Go Well for our survivors. There are very few things that actually go right for them. Seriously, blow after blow after blow, and I don't think I would have been strong enough to survive any of their paths. It is rare that my heart hurts so fully for the suffering of a fictional character, let alone the whole cast of them.

And of course you can't talk about either the audio or print version of any of the books without giving a thousand shout-outs to the production and design teams. The full cast audio with select sound effects is like watching a movie it is so good. And the print version ... I almost wish I had read this one over listening to it because there are some things that are difficult to convey with the audio, but they do a fantastic job getting the point across. I think the best of both worlds would be to listen and follow along in the hard cover. But nobody has time for that! I may end up going back and listening to sections while I follow along, especially the AIDAN bits. That computer is crazy.

If you can't tell already, Obsidio was an amazing read. As a reader I am actually honored to have been able to read/listen to this trilogy, as odd as that sounds. So thank you Kaufman and Kristoff for taking all of us on this amazing journey. I am almost in tears as I type this, I think writing the review has brought it home that this trilogy is really and truly over. There isn't another book to anticipate.

What did YOU love most about this series? What are your suggestions for other books that will make the pain of this being over less?