Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Published: October 20th 2015 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

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.

BRIEFING NOTE: 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.

I didn’t pick up this book for the longest time because I was literally so convinced that I wasn’t going to like it based on the way that it is set up. So I kept putting it off and putting it off… and now I feel like I could (and should) kick myself! I absolutely loved this book and I could not put it down!

So, I was shopping at the weekend, and whilst searching for a completely different book, I decided to bite the bullet and by a hardback of this book. I am so glad that I did! I absolutely loved the way that this was set up. It was so unique and it definitely kept me turning the pages. This book is set up in a case file/dossier made up of IM’s, documents, footage from cameras etc. It took a couple of pages to get used to the way this book is set up, but as soon as I did, I physically could not put it down. I HAD to know what was going to happen next and I loved the fact that the story was told in a completely unique way.

I also love the fact that, despite the unique set up, I was still able to connect with the characters and form that reader/character relationship that I feel is a must with any book I read. I actually feel like the set up helped create an even more unique relationship because I feel like – with hacked documents, footage etc. we’ve gotten an insight into characters in a way that we never would have done if it was written in the normal sense. I empathised with all of the characters here (including AIDAN – despite everything) and I found myself wanting them to succeed and pull through – even though things were looking grim!

With everything going on, I never once had the feeling that there was too much to keep up with – which I think deserves a medal considering how much was actually going on. I felt it was really easy to keep up with everything and where we were and I feel like the plot, along with the character development, kept me hooked. All of the events flowed and were kept together pretty well. I loved the fact that there were briefing notes on the corner, which constantly kept the idea that we were reading a dossier fresh in the readers minds.

All in all, I absolutely adored this book and I CANNOT even wait to get my hands on a copy of Gemina! I need more and I could definitely kick myself for not picking this up sooner! I gave this book 5/5 stars!