The world exploded the morning Kady Grant broke up with
her boyfriend, Ezra Mason. Kady and Ezra reside in an
illegal mining settlement when the corporation, BeiTech,
decides to end it through an all-out attack. Kady and
Ezra escape, but their escape soon becomes a deadly game
of cat and mouse as the fleet's Artificial Intelligence
(AI) system, Aidan, appears insane. Will Kady and Ezra
survive as everything rapidly descends into chaos?
ILLUMINAE is a unique offering as it is told entirely
through various documents collected together in a
fictional dossier to create the overall storyline. From
interviews to incident reports to personal messages and
chats, ILLUMINAE weaves together a haunting tale. I
couldn't help but think of HAL from 2001: Space Odyssey
but ILLUMINAE is by no means as limited in scope as Amie
Kaufman and Jay Kristoff have far deeper secrets in store
for their readers.
Kady Grant and Ezra Mason are two of the best main
characters I've had the pleasure of meeting in a long
time. From their hilarious first interviews to their far
more serious moments when they realize just how bad
things are getting, Kady and Ezra are nothing short of
courageous. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff do a marvelous
job at showing us the various emotions of their
characters, as I laughed, cried, raged, and cheered right
along with them. Heck, even the secondary characters,
such as James McNulty and Byron Zhang, are just as well
developed as Kady and Ezra.
ILLUMINAE is utterly mind-blowing! I have read a lot of
books but I have never read a book that so perfectly
melds the visual and written word. Amie Kaufman
and Jay Kristoff have crafted a phenomenal science
fiction thriller that engages you as the visual images
are just as important as the actual words of the story.
Some of the pages are almost poetic or even art as Amie
Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's words practically dance across
the pages, drawing the reader further into the fast-paced
madness enveloping the fleet. I can't wait to read more
by this exciting duo as ILLUMINAE is perhaps one of the
best books I've ever read!
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 one of the
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.