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Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Title: Illuminae: the illuminae files
Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
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 a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.
Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
Initial thoughts:
This was one of those reads where there is so much hype going around about it that I knew I had to read it to see what everyone was saying. When I first got this book, it was from my local library (I purchased it later on) and I thought that it looked very different from my average read. After flipping through it a little, the book made me a little worried about reading it simply because of how the font switches and how the pages even move in different ways (I have to read things a lot slower when things flip flop around). It still looked very intriguing to me and it had been a while since I’d read a science fiction book like this one.
Plot:
What I liked:
The story was fantastic and brilliantly researched for this science fiction story. There was so much thought that went into the actions that characters took and how they responded to situation. There was a slight horror aspect to the story that I very much enjoyed and thought that it made things more difficult due to the setting of being in space. I enjoyed the exchanges between the characters in the book and how it ultimately felt like a secret hunt as I explored the universe through emails, video feeds, and documents from the ships Hypatia and Alexander
What I didn't like:
As I was reading this book, I found it somewhat difficult to keep track of who was speaking and had to sometimes go back and reread certain parts to understand what was going on. I wish some things had been a little more explained like the BioTech attach on Kerenza IV as well as where the Phobos strain had appeared from.
Characters:
*Note* There were so many characters in this book so I picked my favorites that stood out to me the most.
Kady Grant: She was very strong, but she was also a very flawed character. Seeing her flaws helped me relate to her as she worked through tough situations and through even tougher decisions. I liked her and enjoyed sass and seeing into her thoughts through her messages and files.
Bryon Zhang: Bryon was a smart and clever character and I enjoyed seeing how he used that intelligence to fight back and teach.
James McNulty: He was a bean and a fantastic friend. I really loved him and thought that he was a fantastic character who cared about Ezra.
Ezra Mason: He was very stubborn and hard headed and I enjoyed his character a lot. He was very loyal and cared about others and how they were feeling during the whole situation.
AIDEN: I didn’t know how to feel about AIDEN at first. Being an AI, it seemed like it was simply following protocol when things were going wrong, but it was learning as the story progressed. Over the course of the story, when I got things from it’s POV, I could understand its processing a little better.
Overall:
This was a fantastic read and I highly recommend it. I loved the story and how it progressed showing how things were operating within the higher-ups and down to the dregs of the ships refugees/survivors. I am a sci-fi fan and think that this is a fantastic read for even those that do not enjoy it. The aspect of human nature that played a role was very relatable and showed the struggles that people face when faced in a time of crisis.