review; illuminae

Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

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.

Review:
I wrote the bare banes of this review out on my phone IMMEDIATELY after I finished it. I had a lot of feels, most of them being “fuck, fuck fuckfuckfuck” and “I see what the hype is all about now”.

This is what happens when I have no access to Twitter when reading a book as intense as this one. It kept me from livetweeting my reactions as I read, but it also meant I finished up my ‘review’ pretty quickly because I was only halfway through my flight and I had to word vomit somewhere.

Fuck, but the book was completely intense.

I’d been putting it off for a while – I’ve heard so many good things about it that I was a little worried that it was over-hyped and I would be let down. Illuminae stayed on my shelf while I told myself that I would read it eventually, even while so many people told me it was worth the read, and so good.

I still worried that it would not live up to the hype. This has happened to me after all.

But this time, that was so not the case.

Fuck, was that not that the case at all.

I think I had been spoiled for one thing going into the book. The antagonist – and I worried a little that this would take away from my enjoyment of the book. Was it a big twist? Was this a “OMG HOW WHY WHEN” reveal that was supposed to blow my mind?

But I realized about a hundred pages in that knowing AIDAN was the bad guy wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially considering that is revealed relatively quickly. And nothing could prepare me for how cold and ruthless it is, and how it developed throughout the story.

Such a well-crafted character.

“Am I not merciful?” CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE.

I will admit I was thrown by the fact that Ezra was apparently dead. I was hoping that would turn out to be a lie, but also dreading that it was the truth. So much heart-pounding sorrow and worry that Kady’s heart would be broken after so many losses, that we would lose both protagonists by the end of the novel, and that would be the set-up for the sequel.

The way it was handled was wonderful, in my humble opinion.

I definitely expected Ezra’s mother to have a connection with BeiTech, but not the way she does?! I was a little speechless, just grinning at my book over the last few pages. The passenger seated next to me on my flight must have thought I was a loon.

JUST – THIS WAS AMAZING IN SO MANY WAYS???

Kady was such a great character. So strong despite her pain, so intelligent – and so flawed, allowing her emotions to get the better of her at times. Balanced out by Ezra, who is more heart than head in a way. They really complement each other, and I loved that their relationship wasn’t dragged out over the novel, and instead they fell back into flirty bantering and a relationship quickly.

The fight to stay alive to see each other again, to save each other, was honestly more compelling than any long winded reconciliation could have been.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.

Fuck, but this was amazing.