Title: Illuminae
Authors: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Genre: Science Fiction
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 599 pages
Date Read: 7/23/2019
Series: The Illuminae Files #1
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Source: Purchased
Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Some Gory Violence and Deaths)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
“You have me. Until the
last star in the galaxy dies, you have me.”
Oh, my goodness! How could I wait so long to finally tackle
this book? I have been hearing nothing
but awesome things about this book! And yet, because there were so many other
books that I wanted to read, I did not have the time to read this book (until
now)! “Illuminae” which was
written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff was certainly an absolute blast
to read!
Kady Grant thought
that breaking up with her ex-boyfriend Ezra Mason was the worst thing to happen
to her. Then, her planet ends up getting
invaded by a mega corporation called BeiTech and she and Ezra are forced to
flee from their planet and go on the spaceship Hypatia to escape from the enemy
spaceship Lincoln. But things start to
get worse for the crew of Hypatia when it turns out that there is a deadly
virus that is spreading across the ship that is turning the people into hideous
monsters. Not to mention, the fleet’s AI
AIDAN has gone berserk and has started killing people on board in order to
protect them from Lincoln’s forces. Now,
it is up to Kady and Ezra to save the ship Hypatia from the virus, AIDAN and
Lincoln itself.
Wow! I never would have expected to enjoy this
book as much as I did! Both Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff did a fantastic job at writing this
book! The narrative was highly creative
as the story is mostly told through various documents that the commanders of
the Hypatia have collected and also through diagrams of the ship and email
messages from each of the characters. I
have never read a book where the narrative was mostly comprised of documents and
diagrams and it made this book so intriguing to read! I also loved the way that
both Amie Kaufman and Jay
Kristoff put in so much intensity
into the story as I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat when almost
everyone was getting affected by the virus and when AIDAN started going berserk. It seemed like almost everyone was going to
die in this book due to all the deaths that occurred and that just made this
book so exciting to read. I also really
loved all of the characters in this book, especially Kady and Ezra as they were
extremely well-written. I loved the fact
that Kady Grant was such a strong female protagonist who was able to use her
hacking skills to do everything in her power to save the people of
Hypatia. Ezra Mason was another
character that I really liked as his sarcastic personality was hilarious to
read and I really loved his relationship with Kady as they seem to have a love
/ hate relationship with each other, but still care about each other deep
down. I especially loved the way that Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff wrote the dialogues in this book, as most of
the characters have snarky personalities. And yet, they all sounded so relatable to me,
especially when they are trying to figure out how they will survive this
all-out war that they are forcefully thrown into.
For anyone who does
not like strong violence and death, there is quite a bit of violent moments in
this book, especially during the scenes where the virus breaks out and the
infected started attacking people in increasingly brutal ways. There is also a lot of deaths in this book
due to said virus that might upset some people.
Overall, “Illuminae” is easily one of the most
creative and exciting books that I have ever read and if you love science
fiction books with a bit of romance thrown in, then I would definitely
recommend this book! Now, I am off to
read the second book in the series, “Gemina!”
* 2015 Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Older Children (ages 8-14)
* 2015 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
* 2015 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction
* 2016 Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance
* 2016 The Inky Awards Nominee for Gold Inky
* 2016 The Inky Awards Shortlist for Gold Inky
* 2016 Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas Nominee for Mejor novela extranjera perteneciente a saga
* 2017 Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee
* 2018 Evergreen Teen Book Award Nominee
* 2019 Lincoln Award Nominee
