2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Obsidio by Amie Kaufman, the third book of the The Illuminae Files series.


Pages: 618 pages


Length: 1 Month (July)


Participants: Dominique, Marleen .


Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Yay! Excited to finish this trilogy next month :)

Yes! I'll propbably do audio and physical for this one.

Yes I hope I can do that too, I’ve heard the audiobooks are great for this series.

Marleen wrote: "Yes I hope I can do that too, I’ve heard the audiobooks are great for this series."

I did book two on audio and it was great!

I started this one as my first book of July. Doing bits with audio and bits without, I think I like the dialogue/chatty bits with the audio but prefer to read the longer video transcripts without. I’m 7% in now.

(view spoiler)[So it looks like the couple we are following in this part is one from opposite sides... That’s different. Curious to see how they will handle this. I found the first conversation a bit too easy, considering the circumstances. And I wonder what that bio-weapon will bring. We’ve had some kind of ‘nature’ threat in each part, the disease that turned people into maniacs, the creepy alien things in the last part, I’m sure some extra threat will pop up here that is connected to the bio-weapon. (hide spoiler)]

29% now.
(view spoiler)[These books are pretty formulaic, with the couple getting together to fight the threat, and the impending countdown. But I don’t mind the formula. What I like this time around is that we are not just focusing on our new couple-to-be, Asha and Rhys, but also on the people we already know, who are on a mission of their own aboard the Mao. Meeting everyone again has made me realize that I like Kady/Ezra a little bit more than Hanna/Nik I think. But it’s good to see everyone together.
I wonder how AIDAN will evolve in this book, because it feels like he is a little unhinged. Might be dangerous. And Garver is so annoying.
I like the rebel team on Kerenza, with their hidden messages and secret communication. What’s with Asha’s tattoo that says Samaira, did I forget something crucial from a previous book or is that something/someone we haven’t heard of yet...? (hide spoiler)]

63%
(view spoiler)[So much shit hitting the fan... AIDAN doing his thing again and killing off thousands of people to preserve oxygen and food for the rest was horrific. I didn’t expect him to do that again after the connection with Kady had evolved and everything that had happened. But apparently it’s still very dangerous to trust AIDAN, even though he did help end Garver’s mutiny in the end. That mutiny storyline was a little intermezzo within the bigger story that felt like it was over very quickly. Poor captain Boll :(
Rooting for all the ‘kids’ trying to save everything, on Kerenza and Mao. But similar to the last two books, I am sometimes annoyed with the too lighthearted banter and flirting in the middle of dire circumstances. Not the time and place for that stuff... (hide spoiler)]

I’ve finished! 4 stars for me, same as the first two books.

(view spoiler)[So much going on at once again, I like seeing the pieces move around on the chessboard in these stories. I wasn’t fooled by the apparent betrayal of Rhys turning in Asha, I understood right away they were doing it to smuggle the palmpad on board. But the Garver thing in the hallway did fool me, probably because I hated Garver and thought they were unwise to trust him.

I like that AIDAN sacrificed himself in the end, and that part of him survived too. But speaking of survivors, in all of these books I somehow keep expecting that one of the main characters will die. The stakes are so high, and we’re in a war, and there’s dramatic goodbye scenes all the time. But every time the main people all survive. Am I weird for kinda hoping one of them to die? Even in YA books, that could happen, right? Even little Katya survived, which in my opinion she didn’t have to for the story. But maybe I’m just mean for wanting good guys to not survive… (hide spoiler)]

I’m going to read the prequel Memento later this month too, and will post my thoughts here.

I'll be starting this weekend!

Marleen wrote: "29% now.
These books are pretty formulaic, with the couple getting together to fight the threat, and the impending countdown. But I don’t mind the formula. What I like this time around is that we a..."

L'm halfway in the book
(view spoiler)[ I like the fact that we get to meet Kady's cousin, she has an attitude. I don't know what her tattoo means but pretty sure since you're done you might have the answer. The audio is pretty good. AIDAN is malfuntioning big time, hopefully he's not going to do something bad. I like the relationship he has with Kady, even though he's not human, you can tell he has a AI type affection towards her. (hide spoiler)]

Yes, it wasn’t something from the previous books, you find out later what it means.

Marleen wrote: "63%
So much shit hitting the fan... AIDAN doing his thing again and killing off thousands of people to preserve oxygen and food for the rest was horrific. I didn’t expect him to do that again after..."

(view spoiler)[ totally agrre about the banter. It`s a dangerous situation and the banter/flirting was not necessary. (hide spoiler)]

Marleen wrote: "I’ve finished! 4 stars for me, same as the first two books.

So much going on at once again, I like seeing the pieces move around on the chessboard in these stories. I wasn’t fooled by the apparent..."

Finished 4 stars for me also.

(view spoiler)[ It was a good ending of a series. I did expect someone to die (Ezra) since it was the 2nd time that «he died» Aidan was very unstable in this one. Even as a AI he admitted that he loved Kady. Thinking he was gone, surprise, like he said at the end I am AIDAN. I liked the relatioship that was developping between Kady and Hanna, one lost her dad and the other thought the same thing and her dad was hurt but alive. Loved Nik and Ella. (hide spoiler)]

I'll also read Memento

I just sat down and read Memento in one sitting.

(view spoiler)[I really liked it! It was great to go back to the start, back to the Alexander. I thought it was interesting to see how Olivia’s few conversations with AIDAN influenced him to the thought patterns we know from the later storyline. What I found impressive is that they actually made me care about this new character, even though we spend less than 100 pages with her.
I also never realized that the Phobos disease from book 1 was caused by Beitech’s bioweapon on Kerenza. Maybe they explained that in book 1 but I didn’t remember? Anyway, I was glad that was mentioned but it tidied up a loose thread for me in book 3 where I was expecting the bioweapon’s effects to be part of the plot, not realizing we had already seen it’s effects in book 1. (hide spoiler)]

I’m glad I read the whole series, thanks for reading it with me!

Marleen wrote: "I just sat down and read Memento in one sitting.

I really liked it! It was great to go back to the start, back to the Alexander. I thought it was interesting to see how Olivia’s few conversations..."

I had to buy it. not expensive. Will tackle it this weekend!

Finished Memento
(view spoiler)[ it was a great start for this series. The conversation between Liv and Aidan months before the tragedy made it ckear what happened. She knew it was charging with all his questions and especially when it referred himself as I. Olivia was a great character, if only they believed her<\spoiler>

Great series. Thanks for reading it with me! (hide spoiler)]