Title: Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)
Author: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Publishing Date: October 22nd 2015
Length: 608 pages
Keywords: YA, sci-fi, thriller, conspiracy, space travel, romance
Source: Publisher
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.
Summary by Goodreads
Author: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Publishing Date: October 22nd 2015
Length: 608 pages
Keywords: YA, sci-fi, thriller, conspiracy, space travel, romance
Source: Publisher
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.
Summary by Goodreads
In the beginning
there is destruction. Kady and Ezra are on the run while their planet is bombed
and invaded by two duelling mega-corporations. They need to evacuate and make
it on one of the space ships that are fleeing their enemies. But will they make
it out alive in the end? That's what you'll have to find out by reading the
Illuminae files, all analysed and supplied by the Illuminae Group. They share
about six hundred pages of visual, audio and written data collected from battle
carrier Alexander and science vessel Hypathia where the action of ILLUMINAE
takes place.
So Kady and
Ezra are the two protagonists whose story we get to follow in ILLUMINAE. We
learn that Kady just broke up with Ezra and now they are thrown into this
horrifying scenario where their entire planet is destroyed. No time to be
vindictive. In order to survive Kady and Ezra have to find a way to beat the
enemy together. You can imagine that this scenario was pretty intriguing. In the face of death, new
hardships and more catastrophes on board almost constantly dare them to get back
together and admit their true feelings for each other. Even though they never
even narrate one chapter of the book themselves, we still learn more about the
development of their relationship through the hacked files.
So what are
those files? Videos by surveillance cameras, military documents, chat
communications, interviews, emails, diary entries and other forms of data. The
collection is splendid!
When I
first dove into the Illuminae files I didn't really know how to read them best.
I'm used to personal narrations that bring a reader close to the character's
thoughts and emotions. So I was concerned I wouldn't care about Kady and Ezra
as much as maybe other characters. And actually it took me some time to get used to the documentary
and informative narration of ILLUMINAE but after about one hundred pages I was
deeply immersed in the story. Just give yourself a little time to acclimate to the new style of narration.
Never have
I read a book where its page design was as important to the story as in
ILLUMINAE. It keeps up the authentic character of storytelling and offers a
completely new and riveting reading experience. A few basic page designs run
throughout the entire story, like chats, military reports, audio files. But
there are countless pages that got their very own special design with great love
to detail. I bow to the art department for supplying ILLUMINAE with its own
authentic style that makes up a huge part of the stunning reading experience
Amie and Jay's novel offers to readers.
Part of the
narrating scheme reminded me of chapters from THESE BROKEN STARS, where a
military investigation is under way, too. I have never
read anything like ILLUMINAE and now I'm more than curious about its sequel,
if it's told in the same manner as the first book and if there will be more hints or parallels to Amie's THESE BROKEN STARS series.
As to the
story's course of action, that is one gigantic struggle for survival. Imagine bad
things happening to Kady, Ezra and an entire planet's population. Then prepare
again for the worst! There are epic space battles, explosions, conspiracies,
hacking attacks and a dangerous artificial intelligence that overtakes an
entire ship. Further you can add a deadly plague that turns humans into brutal
zombies and ILLUMINAE into a slasher and horror story. That one was literally a
killer move of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. This book is definitely not for the faint-hearted, but for the thrill seekers! Thought you booked a romantic
cruise on a space liner? With ILLUMINAE
you'll receive the gore galore adventure!
Constant
countdown alerts until "the end" and updated numbers on the current
death toll (yep, these are totally justified) make the reading experience even more nerve-racking and dramatic.
With about
600 pages ILLUMINAE is a pretty big book. So I suggest you reserve a weekend to
enjoy Kady and Ezra's unique space adventure to the fullest!
4/5 **** ILLUMINAE - Simply mind-blowing! Best book design award 2015 goes to ILLUMINAE!
Conspiracies,
space chases, gigantic explosions, terrifying enemies, sly artificial intelligence,
emotional losses and a subtle yet sublime love story. Sci-fi, horror, thriller, romance, ILLUMINAE has it all. This book is the
full package, a space adventure promising to blow your mind. I can guarantee
you haven't read anything like it before!
"I only know one thing for sure. Whatever they don't want me to see, that's where I'm digging. I need to be where the secrets are.I'm more interested in ensuring I have a future than they think." – p. 124
ILLUMINAE you might enjoy THESE BROKEN STARS by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, A THOUSAND OF YOU by Claudia Gray and ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill. Only the first title is set in space like ILLUMINAE but they all have one thing in common: thrilling adventures, mean conspiracies and stunning romances.
* Have you read THESE BROKEN STARS?
* Click here to read an excerpt of ILLUMINAE.
* For more information about Amie visit www.amiekaufman.com. And here's Jay's website www.misterkristoff.wordpress.com
* Thanks to Oneworld Publications for sending me a copy of ILLUMINAE for review!
