Illuminae

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is the first book of The Illuminae Files

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.

The Breakdown:
1. I just got home from an author event with the authors of this book. It was so much fun to hear them talk about the book and where the idea started.  In case you are wondering, Kaufman had a dream that she and Kristoff were writing a book together in email form.  I love events like this, because you get to learn so much about the author's process and how their books come to life.  If you get the chance, definitely attend one.  On the downside, I did not win the chance to have my name be one of the characters that is killed off in the next book.

2. This book takes an interest approach to the format of the book.  It is not written in the traditional prose, but rather written like a post-mission/incident report.  It is in the form of interviews, emails, text, and surveillance summary reports.  It gives an interesting perspective on the story.  The main problem, for me, is that this makes it hard to really connect with the characters.

3. Despite the AI going a little crazy, I really ended up liking AIDEN.  It presented an interesting cases about the evolution of an AI. Plus, it really seemed to be starting to develop emotions, and its attachment to Kady was intriguing.

4. So the plague, known as Phobos, makes people go crazy.  They honestly reminded me of the Reavers from "Firefly" and "Serenity." As a lover of epidemiology, it was interesting to me how it spread and mutated.

5.  I was a on the fence on whether I liked this book or not until almost the very end. At the end, the authors gave me quite a surprise, and I am intrigued enough to continue with the series.  Plus this book, really does include some beautiful art in the schematics of the ships and other things.

To Read or Not to Read:
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