Sunday, April 5, 2020

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

This book was on my TBR for so long. I had heard so many good things about it from friends and others in the book community. I also was interested in it for the sole reason that the cover was ORANGE. I know it's a weird reason to like a book but I'm a weird person so *shrugs*

I posted a photo of it on my bookstagram and my friend and college roommate Lindsey messaged me saying that she also had the book in her collection gathering a bit of dust. So we decided to read it together. She was going to be home for spring break soon and I was just working and job hunting myself so we had some time on our hands. We planned a reading schedule and I made story templates to use and a post for us each to share on our accounts (and I only realized during the last week of the reading that I messed up the reading schedule on it).

Now granted before starting this book, I straight up had NO CLUE what it was about. I read the Goodreads summary and was like: sci-fi, killer AI, plague - cool. So neither her nor I really realized we would be reading a book with a killer plague/pathogen during a VIRAL QUARANTINE. But at least Phobos is nothing like Covid-19, so it makes it a little easier (in my opinion) to get through those parts. It's more like a zombie plague tbh.

One thing I did know about the book before starting this was that the format of the story was nothing like I had ever read/seen before. Files, text chats, and AI comms instead of regular prose and chapters. I didn't know how I would like it at all, or if it would be confusing to read for my brain. Luckily, that's not what happened. The format was so unique and gripping. It was easy for me to picture in my head what was going on, just as easy as with other books and maybe easier because there was less description so my mind could be a little creative.

I found myself flying through the pages and engrossed in the story. I stopped myself from reading ahead of what my friend and I were doing. I wanted to give myself time to process it as well. And give me time to read my other book.

And like I said before I really did like the format of the story as AI files and text exchanges, as well as AIDAN's own internal dialogue (which sometimes REALLY freaked me out). I also really liked the characters.

With Kady I loved her bravery and stubbornness with everything that she did while on the ship and how she would literally break into any system or room and it was nothing to her. Ezra, on the other hand, was like a chaotic mess who was given A SHIP WITH GUNS ON IT. But I really liked his love for Kady and his dedication to her first and foremost. He was also brave and stuff, but his main thing was his love and feelings for Kady and how much her being safe and sound was important to him.

Think it's also important to talk about what is probably the third main character of this book: AIDAN, the AI on the Alexander. Now, I've had AI's that I really liked - Jarvis from Marvel as an example and then Friday - but AIDAN began as the type of AI that makes me want to throw most of my technology into the damn sea! But then at the end, he acted a little like Jarvis/Vision by caring more about humans and not just being a machine.

While reading this book I jumped through like, every emotion I've ever known and then some, and I'm pretty sure I went through the five stages of grief at one point. At first it was interesting and I was really intrigued with the story and where it was going to go, then I started to get scared with the Phobos (the fear might have also been helped with my own anxiety from Covid-19), and then sadness when things started happening to everyone as well as people Kady and Ezra cared about.

End of the story, BLEW MY MIND. I was shocked and even went back a few pages and tried to figure out how I had missed the twist and all the clues that pointed to it. I knew they were there, and my brain was so engrossed in the saving of the day that I didn't see it at all!. But that's good story-writing to me, to write something so great and put those little breadcrumbs in, yet still shock the reader at the end and make the ending as dynamic as the climax of the story.

I give Illuminae 5 stars.

All in all, I really loved this book. I had a great time reading it, and now I'm trying to figure how to add Gemina & Obsidio to my purchase list for this year with my limited budget for it. I thought the concept and format was unique and the characters were wonderfully written. I can't wait to see what happens next.

What are your thoughts on Illuminae? Did you like it or not? How did AIDAN make you feel?


If you need me I'll be zooming away to read more!



À bientôt!

Photo/Gif creds: my photo of the book (edited for vibrance), millenium falcon, joey tribbiani

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