Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Mar 3, 2018
3 min read

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5 Stars

Summary:

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.

-goodreads

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This book veers from the norm as the main story isn't told in a traditional fashion, but is instead pieced together from various pieces of media that include transcripts of chat logs, video logs, maps, and more. Its length of 599 pages is entirely because of this format and is a much quicker read than one would expect from such a page number. It can be a hard adjust at first but ultimately you grow to appreciate its beauty and simplicity.

While made up of tidbits the story never suffers for it or strays from its purpose. That is to tell us the story of Kady and Ezra (mostly Kady) as they struggle to survive their current circumstances despite the barrage of issues thrown at them through the book. The pieces come together in a complex fashion yet not in a way that makes the book incomprehensible. Instead, we are treated to a story that leaves us wanting more page after page without failing to bring to life the story despite the limits of what chat logs and video transcripts can offer.

The characters are devastatingly human and bring to reality the pain of loss, grief, love, as well as the push for survival and growth in light of those things. At no point is any of their loss shunted aside by the authors or belittled by the other characters, instead it is acknowledged and validated even as more pressing matters forces everyone to push aside the pain to work forward. The pursuit for truth and survival moves Kady and Ezra forward through each page, start to finish. In the end, their limitations can either save them or doom them as the enemy approaches, but their story has to be told regardless of the ending.

As I'm already picking up the second in the series, Gemina, I can safely say that this book is worth the time and effort. It's compelling characters and inescapable emotions lead us from page to page down a rabbit hole with answers we need but sometimes wish we didn't have. So if you're in love with well rounded realistic characters seeking to survive in the face of the impossible (and a demented AI), then this is a must read for you.