Title: Illluminae
Author: Amie Kaufman | Jay Kristoff
Genre: Science Fiction YA
Format: Paperback
Length: 599 Pages
Series: Illuminae #1
Publisher: Rock the Boat
Publication Date: 20th October 2015
My Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
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.
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.
My Review:
I saw this book on BookTube. I can’t remember who I was watching but when she showed the pages I knew that I had to have this book. It’s such a uniquely talented way to tell a story. I’m not really a Sci-Fi reader so I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.
You are thrown head-first into the novel with no information about what Kerenza is or what UTA stands for. At first, it seems like a science fiction book about war and spaceships but the second half my god, that is horror. Crazed plague (Phobos) victims screaming “Don’t look at me”, hunting you down to kill you. I couldn’t stop reading. I wanted to know more.
The banter between Kady and Ezra allows for some humour between an action-packed story. You want to know more about who the bad guys are, who are BeiTech? Why did AIDEN go crazy? Why did the Lincoln attack Kerenza?
The romance between Ezra and Kady is cute and heart-warming and I loved them.
[Ezra] “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 as and as fast as you want to. Holding your hand, not holding you back. You deserve more than I could ever give you, Kady. But I’ll give you everything I can if you still want me to.”
But the relationship between Kady, the sarcastic hacker and the pragmatic AI, AIDEN is beautiful and tense.
AIDAN: I WISH TO TELL HER I AM SORRY. I WISH TO TAKE THIS CUP FROM HER HANDS. I WISH FOR THINGS THAT I CAN NEVER HAVE, AND IN THAT, I THINK PERHAPS I AM CLOSER TO THEM THAN I EVER HAVE BEEN.
AND STILL A BILLION LIGHT-YEARS AWAY.
I didn’t just love Kady ,Ezra and AIDEN. I loved the secondary characters too, McNulty and Zhang.
I have never read either of these authors before but I plan to read more of their work. I can’t even begin to imagine the dedication and love that went into constructing this marvellous novel. The fragmented IMs, surveillance reports, blueprints, journal entries, and the loopy text scattered across the pages.
This book had me sold and I am waiting desperately for the next book and I would definitely recommend it.
