Review : Onyx by Jennifer L Armentrout

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Onyx (Lux #2)
Author : Jennifer L Armentrout
Publisher : Entangled Publishing
Publication Date : August 14th 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarre connection. I’ve sworn him off even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But against all common sense, I’m falling for him. Hard.

Our relationship issues aren’t out biggest problem…

The Department of Defense is here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we’re linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And when a new boy shows up a school with a secret of his own, things get complicated fast. I need to choose between my own instincts and Daemon’s.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. Daemon’s never going to stop searching until gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies.


Personal Thoughts

Jennifer Armentrout's books are like guilty pleasure for me. They aren't exactly memorable, but I admit that they are enjoyable. I wasn't as big a fan of Obsidian as other readers were. Nevertheless, I had every intention of continuing the series just to see what the author did with her alien world. Months before the release of Onyx, reviews that raved on and on about the book kept trickling in. Unfortunately, I personally didn't see the appeal to the book. Thinking that I was maybe going through a bad reading phase, I tried the book again a couple of weeks ago, but I still had the same problems I had the very first time.

After the events of Obsidian, Katy and Daemon now share a strange connection. Thinking that Daemon's growing feelings for her are a result of this connection, Katy dismisses his advances, but she still finds herself falling for him. At the same time the DOD starts sniffing around and if they find out that Daemon and Katy share a connection, there's a high chance that Katy may never see the world again.

While some of the characters really progressed in the story, some also went downhill. Katy was a character I truly admired in Obsidian. She was feisty, smart, sarcastic and very funny. This time around, I found her to be plain annoying. I hated how the smart girl I loved turned into a silly character who kept making one poor choice after the other, some that had drastic and deadly effects. I didn't expect Katy to be perfect. Nobody is ever perfect, so it's interesting to see characters have flaws, but Katy was on the roll with her horrible decisions, endangering everyone around her. So, I wasn't a big fan of her in this book. However, later on in the story, she became a lot more mature, realizing the extent of the damage her decisions had caused, but by then I had already lost the respect I had for her in the first book. Now Daemon on the other hand, really grew in this book. I didn't have a very high opinion of him in the first book. I thought he was arrogant, conceited and a huge jerk. I appreciated the fact that his character evolved and became a vast improvement from what he was in Obsidian. In Onyx, he showed glimpses of his sweet, caring nature. Also, he was a lot more polite and respectful to Katy. I'm a little disappointed with how Jennifer Armentrout handled the secondary characters in Onyx. For the most part, some of the major characters from Obsidian, especially Dee, were missing. Armentrout introduced a new love interest into Katy's life, who was utterly bland. While reading about him, I had the faint impression that he was "forced" into the story. Overall, I wasn't very happy with the characters in Onyx.

Obsidian didn't have a very strong plot line. In fact, it focused mostly on the chemistry between the characters and it was more of an introduction to the series. So, I was expecting a much more powerful story line in Onyx, which I didn't get. As much as I enjoyed the sexual tension between Katy and Daemon, I got bored after some time with it because I wanted the plot to move, but it only remained still. With an interesting premise such as aliens, this series has a lot of potential. Although I thought the first half of the book was pretty slow and boring, the last part was much better. That's when the story really started to pick up and it had everything that I needed. It became action-packed and exciting. I wished Armentrout had inserted the element of excitement and tons of action from the very beginning itself. I would have given it a much better rating for sure. One of my other complaints is how predictable the whole story was. The plot twists were expected and the villains were foreseeable from their introduction. Readers who enjoyed the relationship between Katy and Daemon will be pleased to hear that they still shared sizzling chemistry that burned up the pages. Jennifer Armentrout is talented for writing explosive romances. but that simply wasn't enough for me.

I'm probably going to be the odd one out with my rating from this book. From what I've already see, it has a very high rating on Goodreads. I hate being the black sheep, but I had high hopes for this book, none of which were met. I might not have enjoyed this book very much, but you might enjoy it since I know a lot of others did. I will probably read the next installment, Opal, when it comes out, but I'm in no hurry to read it right away.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5

Big thanks to Entangled Publishing for providing me with an ARC of Onyx.