Illuminae (Illuminae Files #1): Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

I can't tell y'all how happy I was to find this book on the bargain shelf this past month.

I kinda owe it to pulling me from my book slump. (It, and a couple other books this past week)

That and the sleepless nights this and those other books spawned too. Apparently I don't just blog my best at night, but read my best at night too hehe

(Well worth all those missing hours of sleep haha)

Plus this book has been on my radar for quite some time,and the bargain price just gave me that push to finally give it a good shot. And I'm so happy I did.

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.

So I started this book 2 nights ago, unsure of what to think of it.

So many people have read it and loved it, and honestly the insanely cool cover made me want to pick it up so bad.

The cover is by far one of the most awesome and intriguing ones I've ever seen. And I'm sort of a cover junkie. Meaning I will go pick up a book on a whim, just because I like the cover without even reading a description sometimes.

But I was just never sure if this book was my thing.

I love a good sci-fi book. That's not the problem. They're actually some of my favorites. And sometimes the only kind of book to pull me from a book slump outside of a really good high fantasy. I was just so unsure of how this book was formatted.... would I get a cohesive story? Would I only ever get bits and pieces and lose character development?

Is it too many working parts for one story?

I had a lot of worries going into it.

And it kept me from getting this book for quite a while.

But then BAM just happened to put it on the discount shelf recently. And I decided to snap up a copy (like I said. I'm a cover junkie, and that alone was making me want it, even if I never picked the thing up again)

But now that I'm sitting on the other side of finishing this book..... I can't believe I waited for it. It was so good! And such a unique way of putting together a story (yes I know I was all worried about that, but it actually made for a really interesting story.)

And I'm honestly smacking myself for waiting so long to start it.

I absolutely loved the story, and need to get my hands on book 2 like yesterday haha.

But it wasn't just this awesome new way of putting a story together, or even the story line itself.... Even though that was pretty awesome too, and left me on my toes through almost the whole story.

And also terrified me at times too. Not because the story is scary in any way. But because the theory behind parts of the story scares me, if it ever came to be in real life (Kinda the way I felt watching that movie The Circle this past week too. Like humanity is almost too smart for our own good when it comes to technological developments)

And I think that comes to play a huge part in this book.

And made it all that much more thrilling and interesting.

It was also these really well constructed characters though. We only ever get glimpses of them at times because of the way things are

told throughout the whole thing. But in writing a story that way, I got to really enjoy a large spectrum of characters without getting too overwhelmed, or feeling like I was missing key parts.

And I loved the buildup of relationships, and character development as the story progressed.

Especially Kady and Ezra.

They are both such strong characters, and I loved the little hate to love you relationship they had going on the whole time.

You couldn't help but root for them, and see how it all would play out.

Plus I loved all the other secondary characters throughout the story too. They gave the book that depth it needed, and provided the missing parts we didn't get from just the interaction between Kady and Ezra.

So all and all.... this story was absolutely amazing. It's so new and so fresh. And I honestly wish more authors would give me new and inventive writing styles like this more.

Seriously, if you haven't picked up the book yet, go find it on the shelf of your local book store or library and just flip through the pages real quick. You'll see exactly what I mean. And hopefully it won't scare you away like I foolishly let it in the beginning.

I give ILLUMINAE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐5 STARS⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐