It isn't quite the end of the world but it's close. The
Luxen, powerful aliens who can assimilate human DNA, have
invaded the United States. Destruction, murder on a grand
scale, is all that lies in the future for humanity. Katy,
a half-Luxen hybrid, is holed up with her friends Archer
and Beth. On a dangerous expedition to get food and
medical supplies for Beth, Katy is taken hostage by a
group of Luxen. This group happens to include her lost
love, Daemon. From the moment he rescues her on, it's a
race against time to avoid two different genocides. They
have to stop the Luxen from destroying thousands upon
thousands of humans. They also have to stop humans from
destroying all the Luxen—including all the innocent
aliens—and the weaker members of humanity. In a series of
daring rescue operations, army negotiations, and
disastrous journeys, Katy and Daemon must help their
friends find a solution to the alien crisis without
getting themselves killed in the process.
For a book with so much action and destruction in its
premise, Jennifer L. Armentrout's OPPOSITION is
surprisingly lacking in action scenes. While they do
occur rather frequently, they are short and often
anticlimactic. Various hand-to-hand combat scenes end
without much bearing on the plot and without much
hostility when they are done. Several personal battles
end without any resentment or frustration on the wounded
parties. The space in between is filled with beautiful
romantic moments between the protagonists, but for a
science-fiction adventure there is not a lot of
adventure.
Between Katy and Daemon, Katy seems to spend most of her
time angry or in a defensive mode; this is very much in
the book's favor. While she is quite a traditional female
romantic lead, she has some genuine anger and inner
conflict over everything which goes on. As a human, she
is appalled by the way humanity is being destroyed. As a
hybrid, she is horrified at the idea of innocent aliens
being slaughtered. She is devoted to her friends to the
point of risking her life so Beth will have prenatal
vitamins. She is even brave enough to agree to let an
alien of another species feed on her energy, painful
though it would be, in order to gain his help in the
coming battles between them and the Luxen. Katy is an
excellent heroine who would no doubt have been very much
a heroine even if she had not reunited with Daemon. His
presence does add some more sentimentality to her
sections of the story, but on the whole it is her
character which drives her motivations and they are not
always related to Daemon's presence in her life.
The romance itself strikes me as frustrating. Even though
they have been separated for their own good, at the first
opportunity they come together again. Both of them seem
to be aware of the consequences of continuing their
relationship right under the noses of the Luxen. This
does not stop them from behaving in foolish ways in the
beginning of the book. Being surrounded by powerful,
angry beings (some of whom have the power to read minds)
would deter some people from being openly romantic with
each other; Daemon and Katy seem to have no self-
preservation instinct when it comes to their love.
There are numerous pacing issues in OPPOSITION. The
reader is plunged from private residence to Luxen
encampment to government base to underground tunnel to
private home again without much of a transition in
between. It can sometimes be hard to even know where the
characters are and what they are meant to be doing. This
is made worse by the fact that the book shifts from
Katy's point of view to Daemon's at the drop of a hat.
Though these shifts are clearly labeled, if the reader is
not careful it is easy to forget which of the two are
speaking.
On the whole, this book has a wonderful concept but some
of the execution does not hit the mark. As the conclusion
to a longer series, OPPOSITION should be trying to close
loose ends without opening up more questions. From the
very beginning, this book creates more drama and romantic
tension than can possibly be necessary. The action
sequences being few and far between can add some tedium
to a science-fiction story which as a shorter or
differently-focused piece could have been a truly amazing
conclusion. If you are interested in straight science-
fiction stories with a little romance, OPPOSITION might
not be the best choice. It can be fascinating at times,
but it's hard to switch between romance and aliens at the
drop of a hat.
In the stunning climax to the bestselling Lux series,
Daemon
and Katy join forces
with an unlikely enemy to ensure the survival of not only
their love for each other,
but the future of all mankind.
Opposition
will bring forth a new dawn to the Lux
universe, where man must stand with alien to survive, and
the future, no matter
the outcome, will never be the same.
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