Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff


Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files #1
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: October 20 , 2015
Pages: 602
Rating:

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.

HOLY FUCK, THIS BOOK! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! I freaking loved ILLUMINAE to death! To be honest, this book was not on my radar at all, probably because I was taking a break from YA for the last few years. But I noticed this book all over #booktube and #bookstagram and seen how highly rated it was on Goodreads that I had to take a chance on it. Now the fact that it was a sci fi book made me want to pass it by because sci fi is one of my least favorite genres. I just find them so boring. But like I said, I just had to take a chance on this book and I am glad that I did!

I knew very little going into ILLUMINAE and I'm glad I knew very little. The only thing I new was a planet was invaded and destroyed and remaining survivors flee on these ships and those who destroy the planet are on hot pursuit to kill the remaining survivors. Sounds like a wicked awesome plot, right? But to add to that awesomeness this whole book is told in emails, documents, military files, ims, interviews and more.

Now I have never read a book in such a format like this, I'm sure lots of readers haven't, but I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about it at first. Was it going to be easy to understand everything going on? Was I going to like it? The way this book was written is the best damn thing they could'be done, I think I enjoyed this book 100X more than if it was written in the traditional way! I was freaking hooked on the first page and could not freaking stop! I remember just having to stop, because I have to sleep, right? But I would keep thinking about this damn book everytime I wasn't reading it! It was THAT good!

But let's get into it! Our main duo, it Kady and Ezra, who just broke up before chaos erupted on their planet and they are trying to flee and survive. They both up on different ships. Kady ends up on the Hypatia and Ezra ends up on the Alexander-78V while the Lincoln (aka. the bad guys) are hot on their trails to finish off the remaining survivors! But even though Kady and Ezra are both on different ships, they are still in contact with each other via emails/im's!

Now I loved Kady and Ezra, from the beginning to the ending. Both of them just trying to stay alive and get back to each other. Now besides this book being so amazing, it's also horrifyingly violent! Let's just say if you're squeamish, turn around please! I swear at some parts I wanted to close my eyes and hold my mommy, but wait, I'm reading a book, not watching a movie. lolz! I heard myself screaming! and saying EEWW quite a lot. But the horrifying things make for such a good book!

And I have to talk about HIM. I have to! If you've read the book, you know damn well who I'm referring to. I have a crush! I have a crush on a crazy psychotic insane computer. AIDAN. I swear he took the show away from Kady and Ezra for a while there. I immensely enjoyed his mind and his talks with Kady and everything about him. PERFECT.

Of course, I have to have a SPOILER SECTION, so BEWARE if you haven't read the book and don't blame me if you spoiled yourself. I did WARN YOU. But I just have to talk about this shit! James McNulty! Why? Did he have to die? I loved the way he went though and that he had a choice. He made that video and I loved that we got to hear his final words. Byron Zhang! Why? At least you saved Kady from yourself! But I loved you too!

David Torrence. Why? Wait! You're asshole self deserved to die. And Aidan adds the perfect touch to his death, playing Mozart. If this was a movie, I want to see this scene the most. And Aidan, I cannot believe you! Pretending to be Ezra to Katy to the Alexander! Oh.my.god. I'm sorry, but I didn't see that! I did a doubletake. What? I prayed Aidan was lying and Ezra was not dead. Low behold, I get to the ending and scream, FUCK YES!

But OMG. These last 100 pages, I was freaking balling my eyes out crying! I mean Kady and Aidan's last words to each other. THE FEELS! And I was SCREAMING, 'someone please find Kady before she dies'. Thank god, my prays were answered! And, Ezra's mom?! Oh.my.god. I thought I was shocked beyond believe enough already. What.the.hell. That's it! I NEED the next book now! We are now at the END OF THE SPOILER SECTION.

But DAMN. This book took me so many places. When I first picked up this book, I didn't expect to love ILLUMINAE this damn much. This book horrified me to no ends, it gave me so many feels! And made me weep for these characters, characters that you are only getting their story through these emails and documents. That is saying something! Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, Goddess and God of Science Fiction YA! I bow down to you!



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