Illuminae
Ratings311
Average rating4.2
Maybe I'm not in the right headspace for this?? 150 pages in and I don't feel super compelled by it. I don't really like the characters, and I feel like there's no chemistry in the romance.
Review originally posted at A Reading Brit
The Plot
Illuminae is a solid read with great twists, and a complete book come the end! This wasn't one of those books where the end doesn't feel like the end. Illuminae saw the full story through, from beginning to end, with only the odd little thread leaving just enough to carry through to the sequel.
The end also happened to be my favourite part of this book. And whilst there is spoilers below, I won't go into detail about the ending. It was awesome, and everything suddenly made sense like pieces of a puzzle finally slotting together. I never guessed the twist, and that's what makes it great. Oh, and the humour. I was laughing so much, every other page had something that had me snickering. Seriously, just read this book.
I should mention, this whole book is written in a series of reports, interviews and IM messages. I haven't read many (if any) books in an epistolary format, and if they're anything like this one, I've been missing out. It blows my mind how there's a full novel, with great characters, a sound plot and even description, all in this format. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are a force to be reckoned with.
The World
I admit, whilst I said there was great description, this description only covers the immediate surroundings of the characters. The ships they were on, and that's about it. The rest of this world is a little lacking. There's some psychotic mining companies who commit mass murder, basically destroying a planet, and there's government of some form.
Beyond that, though, I feel like I don't know much. I'm sure the next book will give me more detail, because I definitely need more detail! How are things run? Humans didn't encounter any form of life after leaving Earth? How far has humanity spread? That's just a few questions that popped to mind as I was writing this review. Give me an hour and a notebook and I'll fill it up with questions I want the answers to!
The Characters
The characters is where this book really excels. In the style this book is told in, character is everything, and boy, were there some characters in this.
AIDAN
I'd seen AIDAN related merch everywhere, and loads of people talking about how they liked him. And I was just confused. About half-way in, and I couldn't grasp why a psychopathic AI that killed thousands of people was likeable. And then I got to the last quarter of the book and suddenly I loved him too. The care he showed for Kady, and to be honest, whilst he was crazy, his reasoning made sense. Yeah, it was probably an extremely solution to the problem, but it was one of the logical solutions.
His later caring for Kady, and seeing all his internal thoughts and conflicts was a joy, and I agree with everyone else. I need more AIDAN. Oh, and the way his thoughts were formatted on the page was glorious. This is a book that has to be read in paper-copy to truly experience.
“I am glad yOu aRe wIth me.”
Kady
Our badass teenage hacker/tech extraordinaire. There's not a computer system that will stand in her way. She's fierce, determined, and a protagonist worth cheering for. And I definitely cheered with her, throughout, whether I was cheering for her against AIDAN, or cheering for her against Ezra, she always held her own. She was awesome. I've included the below quote mostly because I relate.
“I am frequently underestimated. I think it's because I'm short.”
Ezra
Ezra, Kady's ex and the reason she keeps fighting when all other hope is lost. Ezra is super romantic, but also definitely has a mouth on him. He's not afraid to stand up for what he believes in, and he provides the occasional comedic relief too, which I respect. The quote below sums up why I like him so much. His somewhat child-like humour kept me entertained through, as well as Kady's somewhat withering responses to it.
“I am now raising my... oh, dear ... yes, it's my middle finger at Mr. Postgrad here.”
Would I read it again? Yeah, and if I don't hurry up and read the next one, I will.
Will I be picking up the next in the series? Yep, definitely.
Would I recommend it? Fancy a sci-fi, set on 2 spaceships, with a little romance, a psychotic AI and all written in epistolary style? Go for it! Don't fancy that? Read it anyway.
Is it going on my favourites shelf? Yes.
The story was capturing and the style (it is written as a folder of documents, reports, etc.) is unique, but at the same time made it hard to read, not like an story, but like parts that have to be added up yourself.
I listened to the audio and I was so hooked I had to get the next installments lined up! I loved the full cast of actors! It was a really unique and fun way to approach a story. All done from emails, messages, video footage being narratored as to what happened on the planet and then on the Hypatia and the Alexander ships. Trying to unrun the enemy with a biweapon thats mutating within the passengers... Don't even get me started on the AI!!
Found footage is difficult to pull off with a good plot and characters but this does it very well!! Engaging and kept me guessing.
I really dislike the whole AI turns evil trope, it might have been pretty new when this book came out but I really didn't like it, and never have. Especially because the story doesn't end when AIDAN is inactivated. The other characters were really nice though. I especially like Kady and Byron especially. Though the ending made me feel weird. They made BeiTech be part of some sort of weird family dispute. It kind of confused me.
The way the story is told is cool though, I like the fact that it told my many different voice actors in the audiobook. And the physical is full of art and labels for all the official documents. I am very glad that I did not read it physically though. Even going through it a little almost gave me a headache.
it was pretty good... like good plot, good twists, interesting BUT some of the slang is like yup this is written by a man (i can't really explain it other than that) and also the format is cool and unique except it makes it hard to read when the words are moving across two pages and it isnt printed goodly. idk whether i am going to read the rest of the series like most books the ending is what stands out and makes me want to read the other books but idk if its worth my time yk, maybe in the future.
Not my usual cup of tea but I'm super impressed how the authors could take a a series of “documents” and create a readable story that is read like a book, and which you are able to immerse yourself in. This is really an amazingly unique style of story telling that actually worked!
I. Love. This. So. Much. Everything about it is incredible. I LOVE Kady as a character, and AIDAN possibly even more. Such a unique experience and such a cool format for a book. This was completely enthralling.
This book was a lot of fun to read. The mixed media was an interesting experience. I didn't think I would like it and was expecting the mixed media to be a distraction, but it flowed pretty nicely. It had a good amount of humor. Fun read.
It's been a long since I binge-read a book in the middle of the night. A perfect cure for my reading slump, with some flaws and some cringe worth dialogues but entertaining nonetheless
I am way too biased to review this book since I love it so damn much. So here I am giving it five wonderful stars again, because I want to. Okbye xoxo
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ILLUMINAE IS ILLUMIBAE <3
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I finished it last evening.. and omg. WHAT A BOOK!!!!
It is so amazing and i love Kady and Ezra so so so much..
Cannot wait to read “Gemina” and continue with this amazing story
Este livro desafia todos os conceitos literários e dá uma nova voz ao género da ficção científica
4.5 Rounded to 5
I'm glad I grabbed the Audiobooks for this series. This is a fantastic listen!
I have been itching to find a good Sci-Fi series and this one hit the spot. Spaceships in space, people afflicted, rogue AI..whew!
Enough said...go grab this and have a listen.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
I knew going into this book that it was going to probably be different. The whole story is told via instant messages, descriptions of videos, through emails and memories. There's very, very little traditional story-telling done in Illuminae, and it works. It really, really works.
A huge corporation attacks and invades an illegal settlement, dousing them with an experimental bio-weapon. Three ships make it out of atmo, and once they're there...things go south very quickly. The main characters are two teenagers (it IS a YA book, afterall) who recently broke up. There's not a whole lot of angsty-whining, but there is some. There's a semi-untrustworthy AI, there's stupid people in command, there's something akin to space zombies.
It sounds like it would be a mess, but oh my god, no.
I really, really enjoyed Illuminae. Can't wait to keep reading.
I picked this up because it's popular amongst my students, and I was pleasantly surprised by most of it. The book has several good twists and throws together elements of cat-and-mouse ship chases (like Master and Commander), space horror (Sunshine, Alien), and even a dash of zombie-like survival adrenaline (28 Days Later, World War Z). There's also a good decision to make the ship's AI its own, thoughtful character, and I thought the authors handled machine decision-making very well. There's also a gorgeous, thoughtful approach to the visual design process, with some of the most creative mixture of text and graphics I've ever come across. There's a lot to like here.
It's also primarily aimed at high schoolers, so the teen romance and some of the tone is very YA, but fair enough.
Feeling more like 4.5 stars because the romance dialog was a bit too cheesy for me, but the twist really got me, so I'm being generous. I love a good book told through a compilation of files and documents when it's well done. And this certainly is! I really enjoyed the audiobook and might need to give it a reread in print form so I can get the whole feel of it that way too.
I really Really liked this!!! The overall plot was FANTASTIC!!!! And while definitely different, the writing style was Really fun once I got used to it!!! I also Really LOVED Kady and (most) of her character arc. The reason it's 4 stars instead of 5, however, is Ezra. I thought he was annoying, and quite honestly? Unnecessary to the story. I would have liked this a Lot better if he wasn't in it at all. Especially his “romance” (if I can even Call it that) with Kady. It felt so stale and forced, it was aggravating to have to read through those parts as well as the rest of the book. Their “romance” was completely unnecessary, and just shows how many authors love to put romance as a subplot device, even when it detracts from the actual story. Besides that however, I Loved it!!! This is a Very good sci-fi plot, and I LOVED several of the side characters!!!
