AMIE KAUFMAN, JAY KRISTOFF
(Book 1 of The Illuminae Files)
Synopsis:
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 mega-corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra — who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.
Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents — including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more — Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
Content:
Language: Several uses of strong language, but they are all blacked out. Many uses of minor language that are not blacked out.
Violence: It is mostly told through documents, but there are fight scenes, as well as mass-killings (one done by one of the rival corporations and one by the AI). Those infected with the plague become very violent and there are some detailed descriptions of murder. Also a depiction of suicide (in order to not be infected).
Sex: there are several allusions to and jokes about sex throughout the book. The main couple, Ezra and Kady, also send teasing, suggestive, and loving texts to each other. There is one kiss, but since it’s seen through a security camera, there isn’t much description.
LGBTQ: Not present (brief mentions in later books in the series)
My Review:
This book was so good! I thought I would completely hate it because it’s told through a collection of documents, security camera transcripts, texts, etc—but it was awesome! I felt like the characters had been well developed and I was rooting for their relationship, which I hadn’t expected from a book of this format. And it was a visually stunning book too. There are a lot of pages with some cool details.
Two annoyances that I had were, one, the amount of swearing (yes it was marked out, but it was still bothersome), and, two, the improper grammar and punctuation. Because of all the texts, the writing is very informal at certain parts and there are a lot of abbreviations and intentional misspellings, etc.