Nail-biting book-crack told in an innovative and entertaining way. 5/5 stars.
What it’s about: 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 take:
I’ve done my very best to make this review spoiler-free, so forgive me if I’m vague and cryptic!
I hemmed and hawed a while about whether to be stingy and give this 4.5 stars or give it 5. In the end, I asked myself whether I would forgo food and/or sleep to read the next installment in the series if someone were to give it to me right now. And I would. So 5 stars it is.
However. It’s not perfect. The final section with Kady and the Alexander went on for too long. And while the way the authors have made inventive use of the page to create images and other effects is mostly ingenious and highly effective, there were a couple of times it was just annoying and made it hard for me to read what was happening.
But I have decided to overlook my niggles because this is sheer genius book-crack. Do not pick up this book if you need to sleep or do anything useful for a few hours because you won’t want to put it down.
From the very get-go this is nail-biting stuff. It’s as if the authors sat down and had the following conversation (no spoilers, this is all in the blurb):
“So. The beginning. We need some trauma. What’s something bad that can happen in our main characters’ personal lives?’
“They could break up?”
“OK, great. Now. How can we make this situation worse?”
“Let’s have a massive spaceship turn up and blow up their home and force them to scramble off the planet. Lots of people die. It will be unpleasant.”
“Terrific. But we need to ramp up the stakes.”
“How about the massive spaceship is now hunting the survivors down, they have little chance of defending themselves and their time is running out?”
“Sounds good. Not quite bad enough though. Anything else?”
“How about a deadly viral outbreak?”
“Aha! Now you’re talking! Let’s go with that and we’ll see how we can make it truly dire as we go…”
*evil chuckling drowned out by the clack of the keyboard*
Overall: recommended for everyone who enjoys well-written, action-packed sci-fi. Just clear you schedule before you start.
I loved this! It is a rare you can find a truly amazing and proper science fiction novel, and this was one of the rare ones. I’m glad to see you enjoyed it just as much as I did.
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It was brilliant. I kept wondering how they were going to make it a series, but by the end I saw hints of how there could be a lot more to find out about in the future 🙂
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Nice review! I’m definitely going to add “Illuminae” to my TBR 🙂
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Thank you! I was a bit unsure for the first 10-20 pages (thought the formatting might be a bit too distracting) and then I got used to it and the story grabbed me 🙂
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good review.. not my type of thing but based on this i might give it a go x
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Thank you! If you’re not sure about it, maybe get it from the library? (that’s what I do!). The story is really gripping once you get past the initial “oddness” of the formatting tricks.
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Yay. I’ve been waiting for your review so I would know whether to buy it or not. So glad you enjoyed it and I can now rush out to the shops 🙂
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I got it as an early Christmas present to myself. I’d been waiting, but then every time I saw a review they were all either 4 or 5 stars and I couldn’t wait any longer 🙂 Get it!!
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“In the end, I asked myself whether I would forgo food and/or sleep to read the next installment in the series if someone were to give it to me right now. And I would. So 5 stars it is.”
Those are the strongest recommendations 🙂
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Exactly! I would still download the next installment right now were it available and stay up to the early hours of the morning so see what happens next. The last time I had that feeling was with The Martian. In fact, I stayed up to 3 in the morning two nights in a row to finish that! Some good sci-fi this year 🙂
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Yay!
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Great review! Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I’m definitely going to add Illuminae to my TBR after reading your thoughts 🙂
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This review is awesome, I love the little conversation you made between the authors 🙂
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Thank you! Every time you thought things couldn’t get worse for the characters… they did. I could imagine the authors chuckling to themselves and rubbing their hands together with evil glee. Meanwhile, the reader is biting their nails and reading extra fast to check everything turns out ok!
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I love your review and I swear the authors must have had that exact conversation word for word, that part made me laugh out loud, I got some funny looks lol
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Thank you 🙂 I think they did too! lol
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