Obsidio

The Illuminae Files, Book #3, by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

And now for the conclusion to this crazy-awesome trilogy, Obsidio!

I never, ever expected to read a YA sci-fi book that was based in an enemy/war-occupational setting, but HOLY CRAP, it’s so well done!

Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman have managed to capture elements of a war-time enemy-occupation that many people overlook – or don’t wish to capture. [More after the spoiler line!]

Asha is the main-main character [Rhys is definitely a main character, but I feel like Asha is more critical to everything, and her POV might be more present than his? Maybe her sections just felt more important], but she doesn’t undergo too much of a character arc so much as her opinions about things change. I know that’s kind of a character arc on its own, but it feels a lot more minor than other characters in this trilogy.

Rhys, on the other hand, completely changes from beginning to end. While his “core” stays the same, his views and “goals” change.

More about both main characters after the spoiler line!

We get more of the whole crew in this book, and less time is spent focused on Asha and Rhys as was spent on Kady and Ezra in Illuminae, and Hanna and Nik in Gemina. Keeping that in mind, you’re obviously more invested in the outcomes for Kady, Ezra, Hanna, Nik, and Ella [and AIDAN!] than Asha and Rhys, but it doesn’t feel like you’ve missed out very much.

I also rather enjoyed the conclusion [which I’ll dive into more detail below the spoiler line]. It was an ending that, had I known Jay Kristoff had written this kind of ending, I would have been better prepared for the ending in The Nevernight Chronicles. Needless to say, though, that’s not a detraction at all from the enjoyment factor of this ending.

**SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. DON’T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS. THIS ISN’T A DRILL. THERE ARE DEFINITELY SPOILERS AHEAD. AND MAYBE SOME JAY KRISTOFF PRAISES. MAYBE.**

No one wants to talk about the inhabitants/natives being starved or being murdered and put into mass graves. No one wants to talk about how people agree to sacrifice their lives for the greater cause or how hard it is to cope with being trapped when their loved ones are either part of the rescued numbers or murdered. They manage to talk about it in a way that lets the impact of it all hit the author, but doesn’t let it become overwhelming – or, conversely, normalizing it.

What happened with the little girl Asha was watching over, though, was brutal. [Thanks, Jay Kristoff. I’m sure you helped, Amie Kaufman, but I’m blaming him.] It was completely necessary, though, to really drive how the war-time enemy-occupation complications and outcomes.

While, again, the love story here between Asha and Rhys is a little expected, it isn’t exactly cliché. At least, not like Hanna’s and Nik’s was.

AIDAN’s character arc is INSANE. I love what Jay Kristoff did with AIDAN. [Are we really surprised on that? We shouldn’t be.] Especially if you were able to read “Memento”. He really evolves from an AI that strictly follows his rules as expected [as, at least, what his rules would normally drive an AI to do] to “someone” who reconsiders what his “rules” could mean in unexpected situations. How he ends up caring for [and being protective of] Kady by the end of the series is really amazing. His character arc is crazy and, while not exactly unexpected, not entirely expected, either. At least, not exactly as it ends.

All-in-all, this is a series I loved reading, and I’ll probably end up rereading it again in the future!