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.
-- Goodreads.com description --
I don't normally read a lot of science fiction but all the hype surrounding this book made me interested. I did hear some mixed reviews and the structure of Illuminae as a compilation of documents gave me lower expectations than I should of had because this book was great!
It did take me around 100 or 150 pages to get really into it, but that could have been caused by my mood. Even though, this book is structured as a collection of documents, I did feel emotionally attached to the characters. This is of course not the first book that is structured in that way but I have never read a young adult book which uses this format. Although, this made me hesitant to pick up the book, I really enjoyed the format and I think it works wonderfully with the story. Now, I couldn't imagine it being told in any other way!
There are so many unpredictable plot twists which is something I need in books. A plot twist I didn't see coming, automatically earns the book a star in my opinion. Not that Illuminae really needed this.
Before I bought this book, I heard that you'll be able to read this book very fast, that was one of the reason that eventually made me buy it. When I received I was almost shocked to find that it counted 599 pages. How are you able to read that in just a couple of sittings!
Let me enlighten you, in the beginning of the book, the information you receive through these documents is a little bit dense however, especially the last 150 pages or so, there isn't much on each page. There are pages with no words at all, or even just one word. These pages indeed make for a fast read. I didn't mind at all that the ending of the book just flew by, because I NEEDED to know what happened next and I needed some answers too! And just when you think, okay, now we've had all the plot twist, you are immediately hit over the head with a couple more of them.
This book is amazing! I didn't expect to like it so much! The concept is original, a science fiction young adult novel structured as a compilation of documents, that's not something I've heard about before, at least. I can't give this book anything but 5 out of five stars.
If you are having doubts about being able to connect with or like the characters, I suggest you read the first twenty pages or so. This will also let know you if you like the format. Although it did take at least more than a hundred pages for me to really get into it.
No comments:
Post a Comment