Illuminae by
Amie Kaufman and
Jay Kristoff
Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she'd ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But the warship could be the least of their problems. 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 biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what's really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.
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.
“You deserve every star in the galaxy laid out at your feet and a thousand diamonds in your hair. You deserve someone who'll run with you as far and as fast as you want to. Holding your hand, not holding you back.”
Is it weird that I feel exactly that about this book? It literally deserves all the stars in the galaxy and the Goodreads 5 star rating system is grossly inadequate for this book. I mean, it almost always is but I feel it’s inadequacy quite profoundly with this book.
Also I believe I sound a little like AIDAN. Side effects of binge reading Illuminae and Gemina. I can live with it.
Thoughts on so many things!!
- Kady Grant is my new favourite female character because oh God! Girl, YOU ROCK! She can code and hack her way into pretty much anything. She is the heroine we don’t talk about on a regular basis. The one behind a computer, ruining the lives of bad guys with ones and zeroes. Also she has pink hair that she totally rocks.
“I am frequently underestimated. I think it's because I'm short.”
Girl I relate to that so hard, I can’t even.
- Ezra is an idiot. Romantic yes, but definitely an idiot. I didn’t connect with him as well as I did with Kady, probably because we see more of Kady’s PoV? But I did grow fond of him. His endearing messages, and ridiculous jokes. He does come off as sophomoric at times but he grew on me as the story progressed.
“All he cares about here on the edge of forever, is her. He does not want to die. Not because he is afraid. Simply because he cannot bear the thought of leaving her behind.”
- AIDAN gets the “Most complex character of forever” award. (I’m going to refer to AIDAN to “it’ for it is frequently mentioned how it’s voice is sexless.) I could literally write an entire blog post on AIDAN’s character and it’s role in this book! Basically it’s a psychotic AI but if you come to think of it, a psychotic AI that makes some very good points.
“I am struck by a realization: a computer will perform a takeoff or landing with all the grace of a person. It is only for combat—only for the artristy of ruin—that these vessels have pilot seats at all anyome. There is something in humanity more suited to the mechanics of murder than any machine yet devised.”
- The PLOT OMG, the PLOT TWISTS OMFG. I didn’t see any of those coming. It was all so badass? Like we get a plot twist in the last few pages? And I’m like WHO? WHAT? Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman literally don’t let us breathe. Their plot twists destroy ships (The literal kind. The ones that float in space), destroy hearts, destroy humans, destroy… you get the point. The authors are big on destroying. Yay.
“Miracles are statistical improbabilities. And fate is an illusion humanity uses to comfort itself in the dark. There are no absolutes in life, save death.”
- Can we talk about the actual format of the book?? It’s full of files, text messages, chats and pictures. Was I worried I might not enjoy the format? Hmm before I began reading, YES. Need I have worried? ABSOLUTELY NEEDN’T HAVE! Because I loved it. The format never felt like it was deviating attention from the story but it actually added more depth to the characters? That probably sounds weird because it’s descriptions that do that and we don’t have a lot of those in this book. But having text messages and chats really put me as a reader in the character’s place and I could react to stuff exactly like I would if they were happening to me.
- The romance was awesome? It’s a lot different that in most YA novels in that the main characters have just broken up and they also end up on different spaceships after escaping from their recently destroyed planet (Remember what I said about the authors loving destruction? They START off with destroying a PLANET. START.). So most of their conversations are emails and small chats and it was just so adorable and heartbreaking at the same time.
“You have me. Until every last star in the galaxy dies.
You have me.”
- Also this book is just so freaking perfect? I’ve never been so in love with a book before. Everything was perfect even when I was screaming at my book and burying my face in the pillow. I feel like this is one of those books where rereading would reveal new facts and such that would probably break my heart more. But oh hey who needs a heart?
Enough said.
Have you read Illuminae? what were your thoughts? Can you recommend me any other books set in space? Or books with unique formatting?
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