Book Review: Oden (The Invasion Trilogy, #3) by Jessica Frances

Oden by Jessica Frances

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

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This is me, on the last page of Oden, being torn between doing this…

and this…

So I settled with this one, 

I got emotional a lot reading Oden, both because the story just got way more intense here and because of the fact that I was so close to the conclusion of The Invasion Trilogy. I said it before that I wished this series was a tetralogy instead of trilogy so I could have more chance to see my favorite couple fighting for their love. As much as I loved seeing them having bunches of beautiful, happy moments peacefully, I just fell in love with the way they fought their way through a lot of awful times relentlessly without ever backing down for once only to prove that their love always remained undamaged in the end.

I lost count of how many times I cried only to feel it dried itself and flowed again minutes later. In this book three, Ms. Frances ‘played’ in a whole deeper level of intensity of every aspect: drama, action, romance, and thrill. There were far worse danger, torture, loss, physical fight, mental breakdown, and internal issue happened to each characters. Mattie and Marduke received the worst test among the others. Even their arguments which never became a real further issue between them, it slowly shaped into trust issue this time.

After we were brought into a chaos situation while on Earth, then to a strange planet Roth filled with monsters combined with fire attack, it was Oden where the final adventure took place. Oden, as Marduke’s home-planet, were in no different state than the other planet under their possession. War happened endlessly, death could be seen just everywhere. Both humans and aliens were fighting for their life against the seemingly merciless evil power.

While both Earth and Roth were about survival, Oden was about fighting to the very last drop of blood to get every stolen thing back. I was so damn speechless at Mattie’s braveness. She’s the most kick-ass heroine I’ve ever found in a book. Her heroism was unquestionable. She was hurt mentally and physically worse than any other character, over and over, yet still managed to overlook her own wounds to try her best helping the others. My heart broke for her and Marduke thousand times. Saying they both were so strong was understatement.

If in Roth Marduke seemed to start picking a side of where he stood between Mattie and his people, he later confirmed his decision firmly here. Not only he ‘touched’ me by always putting Mattie as his top priority, but he also didn’t hesitate to fight Ival on Mattie’s behalf ―which he almost never did before. It made me so glad knowing in the end there was nothing Marduke feared anymore, not his brother, not even the baggage of keeping family’s trait looking down to human race. He even surprised me by ―not once, but many times of― confronting Ival about him and the rest of their people having no emotional feeling.

“Humans are too emotional. We aren’t like them, Marduke. Whatever… you’re feeling for the human, it’s not normal.”

“Just because we’ve been taught not to feel love our whole lives, doesn’t mean we’re not capable of it.”

(Chapter V, Oden)

It was so funny sometimes how sarcastic Ival to Marduke and Mattie. It cracked me a lot how Ival pointed out Mattie and Marduke’s relationship…

“You two are repulsive. You,” he points his finger at Mattie, “don’t speak to someone of Marduke’s… standing like that. And you,” now his attention changes to me, “should demand more respect. Why you… love a woman who treats you like garbage is beyond me.”

(Chapter II, Oden)

Lololol! Someone sounds bitter!

Marduke slowly showed a great understanding about human’s feeling by paying attention closely to Mattie’s behavior. It was a really huge step and very important progress in Marduke’s change of state from apathetic alien to alien with feelings like human. Oh God, I just loved loved loved this couple so damn much!

“You’re too forgiving. Why don’t you hate me?” I whisper, afraid to voice my question any louder in case it jolts something inside her and she realises she does hate me. I would deserve that, but I couldn’t live with it.

“Because I love you and I know you are kind and brave. You’re a good man, no matter your species or what your family is like.”

“I don’t deserve you,” I admit, knowing that is true more than ever. 

“Well, too bad because you’re stuck with me.” She smiles and then leans in to kiss me.

(Marduke; Chapter II, Oden)

*meltingmeltingmeltingmelting*

That was one of many reasons Ms. Frances became my favorite author. She paid attention to everything on her books. Like… every single thing. She didn’t just focus on building the story plot, she concentrated on advancements in every aspect as well, such as the changes within the characters. She took progressive approach and slowly built them up to rational conclusions.

And HOLY GOD the ending!!!!

I loved it I loved it I LOVED IT!

Ms. Frances opted for a slow building-up ending. It was a happy one, don’t worry, but she led us around the phase of acceptance first before getting us there. It was such a painful moment trying to move on, accepting every loss, accepting the fact that so many happiness had been taken away forcefully, but in the end they realized that to win was not not losing any during the war but losing everything yet still working out a good life afterward.

‘My future with Mattie looks bright, and that is more than I could ever ask for. Everything is going to work out for us. As long as we have each other, we can face anything and survive it.’

(Marduke; Chapter XVII, Oden)

It felt bittersweet to close the last page of Oden. The Invasion Trilogy is the best fantasy trilogy I’ve ever read my whole life. This one is perfection. Every scene is vivid picture in my mind until now. I personally think everything in Earth, Roth, and Oden are materials worth to be made into movies because just by reading them I could feel such real feeling of suspenseful, scared, grief, and so on. Imagine what it’d feel like seeing them as moving-images. Jessica Frances might be a new author for me but she quickly becomes my best favorite author. I wish to read more sci-fi books from her in the future…

Ahh… how to end this without igniting melancholic situation? LOL!

Read this trilogy, people! Trust me: you don’t want to skip this trilogy. I’m serious, really. I’m not going to say anything anymore.

Just read the book and you can thank me later.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.