Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
“I don’t know my limit, but I’m scared to reach it. I don’t know what will happen if I do.”
I have to admit. I went into this book blind. There were enough people suggesting to me to read this book next (its my friend add question-and thanks to you guys for doing so) that I picked it up. I didn’t even read the synopsis. All I knew was what I saw – a book in the format of files, reports, etc. What I expected: boring with little world building. My final thoughts: I am not surprised Plan B Entertainment bought the film rights to this book….and I hope they put out an epic movie. Because that’s what this book was, it was epic.
The book starts off running. Yes, it’s a report documenting separate interviews with two teens, Kady and Ezra. What they tell you is this: their home was attacked and they escaped and they are now refugees on these ships that rescued thousands the day of the attack. The story doesn’t end there-duh because there’s still 500 pages left. 500 pages of pure mayhem, unexpected plot twists, and a roller coaster of emotions. I kid you not I would go one minute from squealing about the cuteness that is Kady and Ezra to biting my nails due to the AI that is AIDAN.
Despite everything in this book being collected reports, files, documents. It flows like a regular story. I never found a moment that I was bored. Through reports on video surveillance, instant messages, military action reports, you get an entire world that is set entirely on a space ship(s).
The characters are amazing. Every key player in the book has personality and brings substance to the book. Even the AI, AIDEN, has his moments when he has his moments of deep, meaningful thoughts . As the book carries on you really get attached to the characters and your heart breaks as tragedy strikes each of them in different ways. Kady is such a bad ass.
What I loved best was that you are kept on the edge of your seat the entire time. 600 pages seems daunting, but it reads like a 300 page book. There were several plot twists that leave you shell shocked and dying to find out what happens next. Sometimes sci-fi can get a little technical or a little too far fetched. But this is a grounded, page turner, that left residual images in my dreams. I am not sure 5 stars is enough.
