Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) - Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Blurb: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.
The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.
BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:
I LOVE THIS BOOK! UGH, ITS SO AMAZING! The format of the book is different, unique and stands out so MUCH! I've only read a few books that have a few illustrations in them but this book blew them out of the water. There were labelled diagrams of spaceships and drawings of space, stars and SO MUCH MORE! It was beautiful! It was one heavy book but oh boy it was so worth it. I had to let my arms rest while I was reading this book... that's never happened before! AHAHAHA
Okay, the fangirling at the start of my book reviews need to be a little bit more controlled. I shall start talking about the book now.
At the start of this book I was a tad bit confused because of the layout. However, the whole interview thing with Kady and Ezra at the beginning played out like a movie and it was so beautifully written. You know when two different interrogations intertwine and the movie jump cuts between them.. yeah that's what happened and it was lit {do people even still use that word anymore} Even with the awesomeness of the start of the book and the character interactions.. it was still pretty difficult to understand. I had no idea why they were being attacked and I need things like that clarified to fully understand. It did take a couple hundred pages to finally get with it and start to officially love the story, but apart from that it was all good.
Lets talk about characters!
Kady is a hacker and decides that she never wants to speak to her ex-boyfriend ever again. Which bring me to Ezra, the adorable sarcastic idiot who broke up with Kady the day the world decided to end. However, this is classic teenage love so obviously they still love each other but won't admit it.
So when their planet gets destroyed by the enemy, they end up on different ships. However, the planet killing ship is still after them so they are trying to get as far away from them as possible. Even with them being on different ships for different reasons, Ezra still tries to communicate with Kady but wants to give her space. IT WAS CUTE ALRIGHT?
I'm not going to say anything else about these two because they pretty much tell the whole story through their relationship. Their development as characters and their surrounding relationships were one of best things I've read. I strive for good characters and development and this book definitely delivered that. Everyone in this book felt like real people and they definitely played their age {If you know what I mean}. The sarcasm, the immaturity and basically everything else a teenager does. AHAHAHA I can relate to the sarcasm so it was amazing to read and laugh along to.
LET'S TALK ABOUT THE COMPUTER THAT WANTS TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD?
Did I grab your attention? Good, because Aiden needs all the attention he can get because he is insane. A lot of us bookworms talk about him like he is a real person, but in relaity he is actually just a really evil and menacing computer with an agenda. HOOWEVERRRR, if you read between the lines he is also trying to save people. {If you have read this book and disagree with me, please don't kill me} Even though what he was doing was wrong, he wanted to do good and protect what was close to him. {was that too spoiler-ish?} That's all I'm going to say about him because he is something you need to read for yourself and make your own choices.
Now you might think.. a teenage love relationship, intergalactic war and a mad computer? What else could possibly happen in this book? Well.. actually quite a lot but another plot line emerges about half way through. Its basically an undead disease called Phobos. When it was first introduced I was a bit like "ugh.. really? is this going to turn into the walking dead?" but nahhh.. I was SO wrong! It worked really well with the rest of the plot lines. It also influenced quite a lot of the story but not to the point where it relied on it. That's amazing story telling right there!!
I've said all I can about the plot and my view on the story because I fear that if I say anything more I will ruin it for you. You won't get the special feeling I had when I first read this book. ahaha, however I did want to hit myself for not reading it sooner because oh boy I was missing out!
The format of the book was bloody amazing. Like I said before it is so special and unique that I was amazed. The book was told through a collection of files, interrogations, security cameras and IM chats. Not only that but we got visuals of intergalactic fighting.. through the use of words. They were scattered all over the page to look like laser beams travelling through space. Plain black pages with words on them to illustrate the ships travelling through space and time.
Ugh, it was just amazing and thoughtful and it made to whole experience just 10x better.
You guys NEED to read the book for a CRAZY, AMAZING ride.
That's all I'm going to say because if I say anymore then I am going to be talking for hours!
