Thursday, August 7, 2014

*Gizmos Book Reviews* Origin (Lux, #4 by Jennifer L. Armentrout

*Synopsis*

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything. 

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on? 

And will they even be together?


*My Thoughts*

While Opal left readers screaming from a very diabolically written cliffhanger, Origin goes even further into the darkness as JLA discovers new ways of torturing her characters, especially Katy, who finds herself separated from her friends and family and at the mercy of people who claim to be the good guys. 

While Katy is discovering new things about Daedalus, Luxens, Hybrids, and a new group that the book is named after, Daemon has promised to burn down the world in order to get her out of Daedalus's hands even it it means surrendering to their requests. Never far from anyone's minds are the welfare of Dawson, Dee, and Beth, but apparently Katy's mother isn't all that important or necessary to this series. 

Origin introduces even more characters, intrigue, betrayal, romance, and action. The story see-saws back and forth between Katy Swartz and Daemon Black, so readers can actually get inside the arrogant character who has charmed his way into the lives of more than a few satisfied customers and spawned Glee clubs around the world who sing his praises to anyone willing to listen. 

I actually finished Origin in the early morning hours, and was ready to jump into Opposition, the final novel in the Lux series, before sanity prevailed and sent me scurrying off to bed. While you really do have to give JLA credit for not holding back on the things she does to Katy and her characters, I would have liked even more action, and less chapters dedicated to New Adult arena sexual situations. (For the record, there are 3 of them which I fully admit to having skimmed over). 

Origin is a hard pill to swallow because characters who have been around since the beginning die. Characters that you hated before, redeem themselves in a classic way by going out fighting. Characters that you thought were on Katy/Damien's side, prove themselves to be pawns in a bigger game. Katy does get some revenge, but it comes with an heavy emotional toll.

The comparisons between Katy and Alex from JLA's Covenant series will always dominate reviews. It's the nature of the blogging arena. I really think you need to step back and just focus on whether or not Katy actually grows as a character, or reverts to her Obsidian days. While Katy does go through some intense situations, she also learns how to defend herself without relying so much on Daemon and others to protect her. Her relationship with Daemon is mostly positive now, without all the screaming, and temper tantrums.

I often wonder how many authors actually use characters out of other authors books, and get away with it like JLA does? Do authors require permission from the author and publisher to use their characters and do they get paid for using their own creatively created characters? Can we not have a bit of originality in our stories without the use of fictitious characters already in use?

By the time you are done reading Origin with yet ANOTHER nail biting and hair pulling cliffhanger, you really do have to wonder who the good guys are, since nobody is safe, and everyone has a reason, they claim, for doing the things they do, and whether or not the bad guys are really bad after-all. 

Author - Jennifer L. Armentrout
Title - Origin (Lux # 4)
Published by Entangled Teen
Released: August 27, 2013
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance
Format: Hardcover 364 pages


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