Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, book 1)

By Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Blurb:
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.

BRIEFING NOTE: 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.

Review: 
So a good friend recommended this book, and since I like sci-fi I thought I'd give it a try.

The actual book is a totally different set up to what I'm used to, at times I really liked the entries and at other times I found it difficult to actually follow. As my friend found out as I'm sure the first 100 pages she got about 1000 questions asked. Oops! Sorry Laura but least we can talk about it now. So the different entries were, emails, websites, video surveillance's described, and web chat conversations. I liked how it was set up so differently it made it more interesting to read especially once you got the hang of it.

So there is two main characters Kady and Ezra, they were a couple and Kady split up with Ezra literally a few hours before an attack came on their planet and they got taken to a spacecraft to be looked after, but they were split up. So they could only communicate via internal web chat.

Kady was a hacker she looked at all the private data and was spying on the ships as such and provided other people with personal and private information. Along with the help of an IT guy on the same ship as Ezra.

Things on the ships were getting worse, especially since a virus was spreading around after taking on more passengers after a space craft went crazy.

I found it quite cool how Alexander one of the ships could speak and was taking control of his own ship and not listening to his crew members as he had other intentions. At times this was really creepy and I felt sorry for the crew on the ships that he was attacking. It slightly reminded me of Brandon Sanderson's book Skyward but then at the same time it's sci-fi so it could remind other people of other authors work.

The actual story line of the book was really interesting because you got an insight of 3 people's interpretation and how they were dealing with events. I loved how Kady and Ezra could speak to their friends about their feelings that they had for each other but couldn't properly speak to one another about how they felt. Which is kind of sweet but then it's understandable because they went through such a tragic event but they are the only people they know their age from the same planet. So it kind of makes sense that they are still friends after everything that went on back on their home planet.

I found that it was good to actually have the mention of PTSD and depression throughout the book and to get Kady to do the tips that counselling give to people, like writing your feelings and emotions in a diary. I like how more authors are getting into this.

I loved Kady's connection with the IT guy I wish they got together as you could tell there was some slight feelings for one another when you were reading their chat, and especially how the IT guy kept teasing her about Ezra.

At times throughout this book it made me laugh especially the times when Alexander was talking about CCTV footage of Kady doing secret downloads or implanting virus's on ships. It was just so sweet how he only really cared about her but then at the same time he only cared about her because he wanted to save himself and be brought back to life after one of the other ships shut him down after attacking another ship.

The ending of this book was such a shock I really wasn't expecting the ending, and I can't wait to read the second book, but I have so many other books that I need to read and catch up on.

The relationships and friendships within this book were really well done, and I liked how their past was talked about so you could understand what had happened in the past and they were the way they were. I also liked how they still cared about their parents even though the circumstances were difficult and how they were teenagers that thought they were better than everyone else.

I'd highly recommend this book if you like sci-fi, talking space ships, conflict, love, twists and amazing endings.

Favourite Character: Kady

Read: 12/02/19 - 25/02/19

5 stars out of 5

Written by Sammie