The Illuminae Files #!
Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Trilogy
Young Adult Scifi
Paperback, 608 pages
20th October 2015 by Knopf Books
Goodreads Rating : 4.31/5
My Rating : 5/5
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.
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.
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IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ
IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ
IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ IT READ
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Ok
tbh I've been trying to write a proper review of this book since 8.30pm but I failed.
I got writer block or anything u call it, but try as hard as I may, I couldn’t fully
express what I want to say about Illuminae in an interesting way. I already typed
4 paragraphs of my review but I stopped because it isn’t what I want.
So
im just gonna write this in point form lol.
- The hype over this book is justified. I can guarantee that. I'm so so glad that I get to read this book and enjoy it. (This book intimidates me tbh)
- It’s a scifi + dystopia. Its perfect for scifi lovers, really, And probably star wars lovers too because it mentions the space, space war, spaceships and some other aerospace things.
- Illuminae is told in a very very unique way—Its in footage style. We have IMs, emails, hacked documents, journal entries, pictures, transcription of surveillance videos etc etc, which revolves around spaceships, an attacked planet, a robot/machine and 2 amazing characters. I don’t know how Amie and Jay did that but they nailed it!!! Not only that the unique and cool formatting enhance your reading experience, it also makes you feel various type of feels for the characters.
- VERY VERY PRETTY COVER ART!!!!!! My edition is the paperback one. The hardback in its naked form is gorgeous too. I might buy the hardback edition once I found a good deal on it because hardbacks are expensive here. I love the book too much <3
- I LOVE THE MAIN CHARACTERS. KADY GRANT IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL. AND EZRA MASON!!!!! <3 <3<3<3<3<3 FOR HIM.
- I got sucked in immediately when I was introduced to both these characters. I like them both even as individuals with all their characters. Kady is an intelligent girl hacker with her ‘I do what I want to do and I do it my way, y’all are stupid anyways’ attitude and Ezra with her charming witty self. I was definitely won over, big time.
- AIDAN. God, I don’t know what to make of AIDAN. I hate it. I love it. I cried for it. I pitied it. I want to kill it. I want to hug it. I feel all of those things for AIDAN. You’ll understand me when you get there.
- VERY VERY INTERESTING PLOT I SWEAR!!!!!!! AND THE PLOT TWISTS!!!! I DIDN’T EVEN SEE THEM COMING!!!!! My God.
- Have I mentioned that I cried while reading this book?
COMPLAINS I HAVE FOR ILLUMINAE
1. Truthfully,
Illuminae is so hard to understand T___T. I had to ask a friend to explain the
basic plots for me to be able to confirm what I have in mind. That happened
because of the unique formatting and lots & lots of scientific terms. (Im
ashamed because im a biochemistry student but I always find it hard to
understand scifi books tsk)
2. There are
still a few things I don’t understand but some of them are cleared up once I
had a discussion+fangirling session with Hanan.
3. One of the
reasons for the confusion is that we don’t really have a background story
before Kerenza was attacked. The story starts right where the attack happened
and it moves forward after that, with very few notes about the past. Some
readers felt that they couldn’t really connect with the characters because of
this.
4. This book
contains a lot of cuss words but they are all blacked out as in highlighted
with black highlighter so you couldn’t see them. It gets annoying at some
points but those blackened words can be predicted. If you prefer a cuss free book,
then this is for you.
5. The romance
bit is okay but at some parts it gets cheesy. I found this being said by a
reviewer and I couldn’t agree more :
"I’ve read a decent amount of reviews touching on the subject of the
romance aboard Illuminae and how it was too much, too cliche. I’m not going to
go into a lot of detail, but the one thing I kept in mind when reading the
‘love story’ bits was this: when your family is gone, and you have the one
person that you used to love in front of you, the only remnant of your home
planet, what would you do? (& I advise that all prospective readers keep it
in their head, too.)"
Kady &
Ezra is still OTP, though <3
TIPS
TO READ ILLUMINAE
- Make sure you have someone you can go to in case youre feeling confused/need explanation. You can always PM me :)
- Focus. Don’t think of anything while reading this book. It requires your utmost attention
SPOILER/DISCUSSION (Quickly scroll pass this
if u haven’t read the book yet)
1. Zhang. When
he met Kady at Alexander, he said something like, “I do it for you” or something
like that. I don’t really get it. What does he mean by that???? Was he in love
with Kady or???/
2. WHEN THAT
ONE PARTICULAR CHARACTER DIED OMG I WAS SO SHOCKED I COULD BARELY RESPOND. I
WAS HEARTBROKEN.
3. Ezra’s
mom????? WTF WAS THAT??? God, I need book 2.
4. I was in
absolute emotional pain when AIDAN was dying T_____T Poor AIDAN T____T
*SPOILER ENDS*
If
you follow me on Twitter, you probably have seen my outrage over Illuminae
since yesterday so please read this book and fangirl with me. Please.
WARNING : ok so i understand that there is a lot of hype surrounding this book. Just because I love this book, doesnt mean that this book IS SUPER GOOD. it may not match your taste because I believe this book isnt for everyone. You may hate the book despite my overflowing praise for it. I also have a few complains like i mentioned above so i understand if some people find it overhyped. I just dont want people to go all 'im disappointed. i dont find this book entertaining at all' on me.
If
you haven’t known yet, Warner Bros and Brad Pitt has signed Illuminae up to
adapt it into a scifi movie. Honestly? I dont know. Illuminae is unique as a
book because of its formatting. Lets just see how Warner Bros will deliver the uniqueness
of Illuminae in movie form.
OH
AND THE SEQUEL OF ILLUMINAE IS CALLED GEMINA!!!!!!
(This
review I did still fail to express what I want to say about Illuminae sigh)
