Obsidio, by: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

       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.

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My Rating: ★★★★★

       I have been waiting for this gem for over a year, and I must say, it was worth the wait. The only downside to such a long time in between releases is that I didn’t get that flow of reading the books back-to-back. With such an intricate plot and interwoven characters, it took me about 50 pages before I felt like I was “back into” the story. The good news is that even though I didn’t remember every detail from the past couple of books, the authors did a fantastic job of filling in the blanks to remind readers like me what the heck was going on.
       Since I didn't read this series one after another, it made getting reacquainted with this particular cast of characters so much fun. Even though these teenagers have gone through a lot in the last two books, they still have so much heart and spunk to bring to this story. In this particular series, there is a new “couple” introduced in each book, and Asha and Rhys round out the ragtag group. While the first four members of the Illuminae Group have something that makes them significant, Asha and Rhys are two ordinary people.
       One “character” that kept me coming back for more was AIDAN. This artificial intelligence has evolved from a logistics program to the point of having a soul. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff explored such a unique idea that one day, computers may be powerful enough to think for themselves; they also did it in a way that made it seem very real. Over the course of the series, and in this book especially, we see its character fully develop to the point of emotions and self-awareness. I loved reading the sections of the book that featured its character also because of the writing style that the authors used. The voice that developed was uniquely AIDAN, and I couldn’t help feeling that as I read through its point of view.
       I think I have an idea of what kind of thought and planning went into telling this story, but I’m sure that the actual amount might give me a heart attack. There are so many small details that were accounted for, and this intricacy is what makes the book extraordinary. This book is the first of its breed, and hopefully, its popularity will bring more authors to tell stories this way. Every time I read an Illuminae book, I feel like I’m with the characters on the ship, and I’m going back through the files at the same time. It takes an exceptional kind of novel to do that.
       If you haven’t picked up Obsidio yet, or are thinking about starting this series, I highly recommend it. This series is one of my all-time favorites, along with Amie Kaufman being one of my favorite authors. Don’t let the size of it scare you away; once you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down.

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       Have you read the Illuminae Files yet? What did you think of the series? Let me know in the comments! (Also be sure to mention what sci-fi series I should read next!)

Your ███-kicking reader,
Ashton

Live a life worth dying for.

― Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff, Obsidio