REVIEW Illuminae.

TITLE. Illuminae
AUTHOR. Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
PUBLISHER. Oneworld Publications
RELEASE DATE. October 22nd 2015
PAGES. 599
FORMAT. Paperback
GENRE. Young Adult, Science Fiction

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.

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.
 

STANDALONE or SERIES.
This is the first book in the Illuminae Files, the second instalment will be released later this year.

REVIEW.
I choose this book because everybody was so incredibly enthusiastic about this one. I read it was about space and love and well, that combined with all the positive reviews, made me want to read it. So when I made a big order at Amazon, I decided to add this one to it.

I have got to say, that I am very happy that I ordered this one in paperback and did not try to read it on my Kindle. Stupid me, but I didn’t even know this book was “different”. So when it came in I was surprised this book was so heavy ! When I looked in it, I was blown away ! Not just text, but a lot of schematics and document style pages… so awesome ! It is something completely different from what I always read and I loved that !! SO ORIGINAL !!

So this book is collection of documents, that slowly gives us the whole picture of all that happened.

The story is about Kady and Ezra, and it starts when their planet (Kerenza) is attacked by BeiTech. They are just in a bad break-up when everything gets blown to bits, and they make a run for it. Luckily, a distress call was made and a couple of space ships come to the rescue. Kady ends up in the Hypatia, and Ezra, because he got hurt, ends up in the Alexander. There is also a third ship, the Copernicus. They flee and are on their way to a space station, Heimdall. Normally this would not take so long, but because the ships took damage it will take months to get there. And not only that, but one of the enemy ships, the Lincoln, is following them to make sure nobody will learn what happened on Kerenza.

Everyone is trying to get it together, when suddenly AIDAN (the AI of the Alexander) starts shooting at the Copernicus which results in killing the entire ship. Luckily, Kady is a great hacker, and she finds out what they are trying to hide. How AIDAN has gone “crazy”, and the reason he killed everybody is that some creepy virus (Phobos) has spread among the crew of the Copernicus. Unfortunately.. some survivers came to the Alexander..
So together with Ezra and some other people, she starts to work to make sure AIDAN won’t kill more people and the Lincoln doesn’t end up killing everybody.
Ohhh this book was so exciting !! In the beginning it took me some time to get into it, mainly because of the way it is written. Because you view the story from so many points of view, you don’t really connect to the main characters in the beginning. Later on, when things start to get more pressing, I got more into it and was really rooting for them !! 

On the other side, I really loved that it had those multiple points of view, because it gave a good oversight of everything that was happening. It showed things from multiple perspectives and not only that, but a lot of objective (sort of) views as well. All in all, you really know what is happening. 

I really liked how this story was set in space on board of different space ships. I haven’t read much books about that.. and normally it doesn’t really attract me.. but this one did. It had a bit of a Dead space feel to me.. with the virus and zombie/creepy like people. It kept me on the edge of my chair, and I kept reading and reading more, wanting to know more and more..

Like I said, I had not much feeling for the main characters in the beginning. But after a while my feelings started to develop. All those horrible things happening to them.. those are not things a 17/18 year old are supposed to get through, all those people dying.. Losing your family, your planet, your home, your stuff.. Nothing left of your life before, everything destroyed.

And if that is not bad enough already, some creepy virus starts spreading, making people into murderous crazies. The ones that are left that you know, suddenly start attacking you.. wanting to kill you.. Just brrrrrr !!!!

So yeah, I really started to like Kady after a while. She is a strong independent girl who doesn’t let others tell her what to do. And at the ending of the book, she is downright heroic. So awesome and admirable ! Ezra kept a bit of humour in things.. but I didn’t have that much with him. I prefer AIDAN ^^

After everything that happened, their break-up didn’t seem so important anymore, their issues just childish, and I loved that they developed. How they ended up supporting each other and falling back in love.. Throughout the whole book you see them developing from just children/teenagers in grown-ups. They need to, otherwise they won’t survive, it makes it more real. 

Oh and the plot twist towards the ending.. I really did not see it coming !! I was like WHAT !?!?! HOW !?!?! NO WAY !?!?! 

FAVORITE QUOTES.
“Interviewer: So. Tell me about your mother.
Ezra: You're taping this, right?
Interviewer: Audio only. Camera is faulty.
Ezra: Okay, well for the benefit of the sight-impaired, I am now raising my… oh, dear… yes, it's my MIDDLE finger at Mr. Postgrad here.
Interviewer: Mr. Mason...
Ezra: Now I'm wiggling it.
Interviewer: Terminating interview at 13:58 on 03/19/75.
Ezra: Look at it wiggl-
-audio ends-”
.
“Part of being alive is having life change us. The people around us, the events we live through, all of them shape us. And that's what I think you're afraid of. Maybe not of dying. But of this you, the you you've become, ceasing to exist.”
.
“The universe owes you nothing, Kady. It has already given you everything, after all. It was here long before you, and it will go on long after you. The only way it will remember you is to do something worth remembrance.”

FINAL THOUGHTS.
It really was something different than I am used to, but in a good way. This book is like thinking out of the box times a 100. SO ORIGINAL. I would totally recommend reading this, it is just great ! I would recommend though that you get it hardcopy, because I don’t think reading this on your Kindle (or other devices) does the book justice. So, I would love to give this book 5 Freyja’s, because this way of writing is just beyond amazing and deserves nothing less. Can’t wait for the next one !!