“I haven’t done this since-since dad was alive. And I’m sorry to cry, because I’m not sad. I just didn’t expect this.”
Damn.
Those words hit me in the chest like I’d been sucker punched.- Oblivion 2.5 by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
Oblivion 2,5 or just Oblivion 2, yes it hasn’t really a name, is similar to the first Oblivion in that is created as a recreation of the second book of the Lux series, Onyx. Only from the perspective of Daemon. This book was the first one I read, as the I listened to the audiobooks on the others and there were some interesting flaws I noticed on this book. It made me wonder if the same occurred in the previous books, just that I didn’t notice since it was read to me.
The flaws being that there was a fair amount of spelling errors in this book. Like it hadn’t been edited properly. I am not bothered by it, mostly because I’m used to it from reading amateurs’ texts to help new writers, but I was surprised by it. Hadn’t the books become a hit by now? Couldn’t she afford someone to spell check it? I could expect the spelling errors and so forth from the first book, but not the spinoff of the second book. Well, as I said, it was not what bothered me by this book but I did think that it was worth mentioning for those who expected to not have a lot of random question marks all over certain parts of the book.
?”Daemon…”? She placed her hand against my chest, and satisfaction swelled inside me.
“But back to the trace. You know what that means.”?- chapter 5, Oblivion 2.5.
Now, the plot is pretty much the same as Onyx. I mean really the same. I understand why Armentrout didn’t even care to give this one a name since it was just the same book all over again. Sure, it is from Daemon’s perspective but it lacks what made me enjoy the first Oblivion so much and that is his inner thoughts. This book is dialog heavy, and since the dialog is the same as in Onyx it doesn’t tell you anything new. Daemon and Katy spend all there time together so the scenes are not different either so it has no substance and feel like it was made to earn the writer more money instead of being its own thing.
There are only a few scenes that differentiate from the first book and all those are from when daemon isn’t with Katy. Which is around three to four scenes. Only the last one feels like it is of importance. The other two is just random talks that doesn’t give anything.
The only thing good you get is that the fate of Adam feels heavier in this one since he actually feels connected to Daemon. In Onyx I felt like Armentrout had forced him down our throats, like making him in love with Dee suddenly even though the previous book had established that they saw each other as brother and sister. Almost like she tried to make us care for him suddenly so what happens to him will hit us harder. I didn’t for me. In this book, I at least felt something. Not much, but something. Like it had more purpose at least.
I still like Daemon’s sarcastic nature but I still felt like it was toned down from the first Oblivion. I would think it was because of the lack of inner thoughts. In this book the writer has mostly just described what Daemon did such as he frowned (we know.), he was surprised (we know!), the walked over to her (WE KNOW!). All this was in Onyx, why just repeat the same thing.
So, did I enjoy it? I liked it better than Onyx, but I didn’t like Onyx anyway so… What made this better than Onyx, or should have made it better if I read this one first, is Daemon. I still like him better as the main character compared to Katy, though I still enjoy Katy but just not as much. I feel like Daemon has more life in him and he never felt as forcingly stupid as Katy was in Onyx. That said, I wouldn’t recommend this book if you have read Onyx recently. This book should be read far after or before Onyx. Not along side it like I’m doing.
I will give this one a lower rating than Onyx which had a 5 out of 10. I will give this one a 4 out of 10. It had all the same problems as Onyx, minus the dumb main character but it also took away all that made the first Oblivion book so good, such as Daemons inner thoughts, new scenes that enlightened the original book and so on. This just felt like a cash grab but I will still give it a 4 instead of lowering it futher since I’m fairly sure that a lot of this enjoyment of this book is to read it afar from the original series. Which means I’m reading it wrongly. That in itself can remove some of the enjoyment so I would not deter other readers from reading this but I would give a fair warning not to read it as I did.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
Read with Senefer 