SOPHIE LI

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they’ll find seven months after the invasion? 

Meanwhile, Kady’s cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza’s ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha’s past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. 

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

What I liked

The characters! I love that the MCs from Illuminae and Gemina return. I also love Asha and Rhys, the two new MCs who are introduced in this book. My personal favourite is AIDAN, who is full of personality and growth, despite being an AI.

The super awesome, kickass female MCs. Kady, Hanna and Asha are strong, willful, and independent. They are not afraid to fight for the people they love and the values they cherish. I’m also happy to see female supporting characters such as Sierra and Winifred who lead with confidence and compassion.

The themes of artificial intelligence and war. We see the points of view of even the minor characters on either side of the war, who have friends, families or other people they care about. I like that characters are portrayed as humans, and that there is no one true villain.

Plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Dialogues are written with humour and wit.

The unique format. Consistent with the first two books, Obsidio is a collection of briefing notes, surveillance camera footage transcripts, chat logs, etc. I listened to the audiobook version, so the format may not be as pronounced. However I did sample a short segment of the print edition (impromptu bookstore visit) and I am impressed by the layout of the pages and the occasional illustrations from Hanna’s journal.

The audiobook is awesome. Love that the voice actors injected personality into each of their character roles. I also love the sound effects and the occasional background music. Did I mention that, rather than just one voice actor, there is an entire cast!?

What I didn’t like

With the addition of two new MCs (Asha and Rhys) and the inclusion of POVs of minor characters, I almost feel as if there are TOO many characters with less attention devoted to each one.

The Bottom Line

Illuminae and Gemina set high expectations for Obsidio, but the last book in this series does not disappoint. It is jam packed with action and plot twists, and a cast of characters who you will cheer on.

What do you think about the Illuminae series? How do you feel about books with multiple POVs? Is there such a thing as TOO many characters?