BOOK REVIEW: The Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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.

You wouldn't think that a book told entirely through IM's, interviews, emails, surveillance footage summaries and random documents would work. But it does. Oh boy, does it work. The authors are geniuses and also pure evil. I started this book on New Year's Eve night and couldn't stop reading until 5:00am. I figured I had to get some sleep, but man did I hate to go to bed. I hated it!

Yeah, this was pretty much me all of New Year's Day. When I wasn't sleeping, I was reading.

 

Kady is my new favorite character ever. She is so bad ass. And she has pink hair, which I just find awesome. The book starts on a morning when she has broken up with her boyfriend (Ezra). Later that day, their planet gets attacked by some company (BeiTech) and things get crazy. First, Kady is the one who comes to Ezra's rescue. She is no damsel in distress, as she shows time and time and time again. They get put on different ships (Kady on the Hypatia and Ezra on the Alexander) when they escape their planet, but they continue to talk through email. Kady is a computer hacker and she can get EVERYWHERE. She also prefers to work alone (according to her psychiatric profile), which made me love her even more because I am the same way. She becomes determined to find out all the secrets that the top officers are keeping from them. And because she has lost everyone she loves in the original attack, she is even more protective of Ezra.

"You deserve every star in the galaxy laid out at your feet and a thousand diamonds in your hair. You deserve someone who'll run with you as far as and as fast as you want to. Holding your hand, not holding you back. You deserve more than I could ever give you, Kady. But I'll give you everything I can if you still want me to."

Despite the fact that they are broken up and despite the fact that we only know what they show us in emails, I fell in love with this couple. Kady is a bad ass and Ezra is charming and hilarious as hell. There is flirting and sarcasm and all this history. They hate each other, they love each other and meanwhile, they are trying so hard not to die. Ezra becomes a pilot and he is no slouch in the bad ass department either. He is a loyal friend and so incredibly brave. Yes, it seems like Kady and Ezra's problems are very immature, but they are barely eighteen, people. Cut them some slack. Ezra sent her an email drawing of a rose that was made out of the words "I'm sorry." I will forgive him just about anything. And then there were the countdowns . . . every so often, you would get a countdown to how long until one of the BeiTech ships was supposed to intercept them and they were crazy nerve-wracking. Kady is on one ship and Ezra is on another and there is all this tension. Will they both survive? Will the BieTech ship destroy all of them? Argh, I was biting my nails. God, I just wanted them to survive long enough to see each other again SO BADLY. 

The world building in this book was AMAZING. How did the authors manage to paint such a vivid picture of the planets and the ship and space without having an actual narrative? I don't know how they do it because they are geniuses and I bow down to their expertise. Now, there was a lot of scientific language and some of it, I didn't really get. I also didn't understand the reason why their planet was attacked in the first place. At the end, they did kind of hint at the reason and I assume we will know more in the sequel. Despite those issues, I still found myself LOVING this book!!

The conflict wasn't even coming from JUST BeiTech and their need to destroy the two ships. No, there is an airborne virus affecting some of the people who escaped the attacked planet and the AI on Alexander has gone mental and thinks it needs to destroy everyone. Or maybe he is trying to protect everyone? Who really knows? I mean, there is a lot going on. And to top it all off, the people in charge are keeping secrets from everyone, so you have no clue who you can trust.

I know AIDAN (the Alexander's AI) is supposed to be all evil and stuff, but I still loved him. 

I really, really loved the pieces with his POV. He was just kind of cool and I get why he wanted to do the stuff he wanted to do. Yeah, maybe I am part robot because I found myself relating to the machine. Ha. I also felt kind of sorry for him because he had human thoughts and yet, he wasn't really alive.

And the fight at the end?!? HOLY DHQASEYUQWTEU!!! 

Kady and Ezra had to fight the BeiTech ship, AIDAN and all the refugees suffering from the plague. Man, there was a lot of violence and a lot of bloodshed and the authors just completely ripped my heart out with the last hundred pages. I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!! And yet, I was sad to keep going because I hated for it to end. When I did finish it, I felt like giving the book a huge hug because I loved it so, so, so much. After finishing it, I was just this roller coaster of emotion and I was so mad because I WANT THE SEQUEL!! Seriously, can I just go to sleep and wake up when the sequel is released? That would be great, thank you.

This book is 1000% worth the hype! Is it too early to call this book my favorite of 2016?

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this book IMMEDIATELY!!