Review: Obsidio - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Asha Grant came to Kerenza to escape her past. Too bad he just caught up with her.

Asha survived BeiTech’s initial assault and has been working undercover with the hopelessly outmatched resistance ever since. The last thing she expected to worry about was her ex-boyfriend, Rhys Lindstrom who just landed planetside. Is he her way out – or guarantee she never gets off this frozen rock alive?

But Asha’s not the only one with problems. Her cousin Kady’s ragtag band of survivors are headed for Kerenza – without enough oxygen to last the journey. Oh, and there might be an insurrection brewing.

With BeiTech hurrying to repair their damaged jump gate, and a mass extermination planned for the Kerenza civilians, only a miracle could save them now. And everyone knows that miracles are just statistical probabilities…right?

BRIEFING NOTE: From bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – and select journal entries from Marie Lu – comes the heart-stopping, heartbreaking finale in the trilogy that broke the mould and has been called “stylistically mesmerizing” and “out-of-this-world awesome.”

Illuminae Files:
Memento (Prequel Novella)
Illuminae
Gemina
Obsidio

Visit Amie Kaufman's website or Jay Kristoff's website for more information

Review:
With the Hemidall Jump Station destroyed the survivors on Hypatia have no way to get back to our Solar System, they're stuck in the far reaches of the galaxy with no hope of help arriving and not enough supplies to last them. Their only chance is to head back to Kerenza to see if there is anything left of the mining colony BeiTech set out to destroy. Meanwhile, on Kerenza, Kady's cousin Asha is one of the survivors of the initial assault and has been secretly working with the resistance ever since. BeiTech has control of the colony but everyone knows that as soon as they've managed to repair their damaged jump ship the Kerenza survivors will be murdered and BeiTech will be free to leave the system with very little chance of ever getting caught for their crimes. Time is running out, the only question is can the miners delay repairs on the jump ship long enough for the Hypatia and Hemidall survivors to reach them?

I fell in love with this series the minute I picked up a copy of Illuminae so it's no surprise that Obsidio was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. This series has been absolutely incredibly from start to finish and I'm very happy to say that it went out on the highest of high notes. If you've read the previous books then you'll have a good idea what to expect from this book, it's in the same clever format full of interviews, emails, instant message conversations, diary entries, video logs and so much more. I still can't get over how creative these books are and how incredibly well the format works for the story. Somehow Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff manage to create such brilliant characters and then put readers through an emotional wringer that is actually pretty exhausting but ridiculously satisfying at the same time.

It won't surprise fans to know that this book is just as fast paced, action packed and full of jaw dropping twists as the previous two. We get to meet some fantastic new characters and I loved seeing what has been happening on Kerenza while we've all been away. It's pretty heartbreaking to see how much of the colony has been destroyed but I loved seeing how clever Asha and the rebels were and the way they are fighting back. At this point they've got nothing to lose and they're determined to take down as many of BieTech's soldiers as they can before they die. We also get to spend plenty of time with our favourite characters from previous books, everything has been so cleverly written that little hints from previous books suddenly make so much more sense here. I decided to reread Illuminae and Gemina before starting Obsidio and I'm so glad I did, not only because they were excellent enough to stand up to a reread, but also because there are so many little things I'd have missed without that refresher.

It's very rare to find a series that I can rate 5 stars from beginning to end but that's what you've got with the Illuminae Files. I'm so sad it's over but I have loved every minute of the journey and it couldn't have had a more perfect and fitting end. I know this is a series I'll be rereading in the future but in the meantime I can't wait to see what else Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff come up with. I already love everything else I've read by them - both written together and separately - so they're definitely auto-buy authors that I can't recommend highly enough.

Source: Received from Rock the Boat in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
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Book Trailer: Warcross - Marie Lu

You'd have to have been hiding under a rock to have missed yesterday's release of Warcross by Marie Lu, this book has been the talk of the YA community for months now and it's one I have been desperately waiting to get my hands on! I'm planning on reading this very soon but in the meantime here is a bit more information about the book and the brilliant book trailer to whet you appetite and make sure you're as excited as I am!

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu - when a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths.

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game - it's a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships - only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she's going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. Emika's whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she's only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.

Visit Marie Lu's website for more information



So who else is planning on reading it soon? Or perhaps you were lucky enough to get an arc and have already read it? If you have I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment to tell me how fantastic it was!

Review: Gemina - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.

Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

Illuminae Files:
Memento (Prequel Novella)
Illuminae
Gemina
Obsidio

Visit Amie Kaufman's website or Jay Kristoff's website for more information

Review:
As the Hypatia continues it's journey to the Hemidall Jump Station where they are hoping to get assistance and spread the word about the actions of BeiTech on the mining colony of Kerenza, Hemidall find themselves fighting their own battle of survival after being invaded by a BeiTech cleanup crew. Hanna, the ship captain's spoilt and pampered daughter, finds herself teaming up with an unlikely ally as she tries to save the station, Hypatia and the entire universe from BeiTech's clutches.

I absolutely loved Illuminae when I read it last year so Gemina was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016. As excited as I was to read it I was also a little nervous, we've all been stung before when a sequel to a favourite book fails to live up to expectations so I was worried that might happen here. Thankfully I couldn't have been more wrong because Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff knocked it out of the park and they actually managed to create an even more amazing story in Gemina.

The story is told in the same format as the previous book so it's full of interviews, instant message conversations, emails, transcripts from video footage and so much more. This time around we also get to see the inside of Hanna's journal which has been beautifully illustrated by Marie Lu and just makes the book even more interesting to flick through. I'm still amazed at how well this mixed format works for telling the story but somehow it just fits perfectly. You'd think that it would be harder to connect to the characters but if anything I found myself getting invested in their story even more quickly than I normally would and it certainly makes for an incredibly addictive read. Even though it comes in at over 600 pages this is the kind of book you could end up devouring in one sitting because it's an incredibly quick read full of action and some incredible plot twists that will have you on the edge of your seat.

I didn't think I was going to like Hanna much in the beginning, she comes across as very spoiled and not at all what I'd think of as heroine material but there is a lot more to her than meets the eye. Her father's idea of bonding time was to talk battle strategy and learn martial arts so she actually has a unique skill set that sees her in good stead when the station comes under attack. Nik is a roguish bad boy who is immediately likeable, he comes from a family of criminals so he's used to living under the radar and surviving on his wits so he's the kind of guy you'd want to have on your side when you're in trouble. They are up against a ruthless enemy though, a crew with more manpower who are better trained and have far better equipment than Nik or Hanna could ever hope to find on a civilian ship. Their only advantage is that they're on home territory, they know the station like the back of their hand and they have an ace up their sleeve in the form of Nik's cousin, Ella, who is an expert hacker.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot so I'll just say that Gemina has a bit of everything: heartstopping action, brilliant banter, blood and gore, scary monsters (both human and other), a touch of romance and twists that'll slap you around the face with their brilliance. This series is absolutely outstanding and I can't think of anything else out there that quite compares. The final book on the trilogy is at the absolute top of my wish list and I can't wait to see how the authors tie everything together in the end. I suspect that Hanna, Nik, Kady and Ezra have a long way to go before they find safety from BeiTech.

Source: Received from Rock the Boat in exchange for an honest review

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