Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Pages: 599

Publisher: One World

Release Date: 22^nd October 2015

Edition: UK proof, review copy

Other Titles from these Authors: Amie Kaufman: These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, Their Fractured Light; Jay Kristoff: Stormdancer, Kinslayer, Endsinger

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing shed 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 into 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 tell them what's 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 shed 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 coverage of everyday heroes.

Wow, what a novel! Illuminae is original, bold and moves at a rollicking pace – I loved it.

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s first team effort is something I’ve never quite seen before. The story of Kerenza’s defeat and the fight for survival that the ships that save the refugees undertake is told through IMs, military reports, security footage transcripts, emails and AI. I was a little worried there might be a disconnect between me and the characters, but I felt for them just as strongly as would through a traditionally written novel.

Kady and Ezra’s story was actually a lot more emotional than I was expecting it to be. Because of the format, the reader is allowed to get attached to more characters than just the heroine and hero and, well, let’s just say that a space ship being chased through space with nuclear weapons isn’t the safest of places to be… I really liked that I was constantly afraid for all of the characters (I realise that’s not normal) as Kaufman and Kristoff aren’t scared to kill their darlings; it kept me on the edge of my seat!

At six hundred pages, Illuminae is intimidating, but it actually read really quickly. It's incredibly fast-paced and impossible to put down as well as the fact that not all of the pages contain are full text. The last section in particular was mind-blowing. It was dramatic, nail-biting and completely addictive. I couldn’t believe some of the twists that were revealed, especially in the final conversations and reports. Woah.

Illuminae is clever, different and a wonderful, wonderful start to a new trilogy and I’m so excited to see all the different ways Kady manages to nearly get killed in the rest of the series.

Thanks to Rock the Boat for the review copy!

Sophie