"Illuminae" by Amie Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff

Hi there lovelies ♥

You might have noticed that I'm reading all of those books which are very hyped in the YA-bookscene... and you might also have noticed that I'm very freaking late to the party. Everybody hasy already read all these popular books and I'm trying to catch up.
One of these very hyped and much talked about books is "Illuminae", written by two known YA-authors. It is known for being very special and unusual because of it's use of uncommon media instead of straight P.O.V. telling. That's probably why it becomes interesting to read in the first place, the experience is very different from a 'normal' book.

My boyfriend got me both "Illuminae" and "Gemina" in the beautiful hardcover edition (they're so stunning, I'm shook) as Easter presents, so shoutout to my boyfriend ;)




Summary:
It's the year 2575 and Kerenza, a small planet, is being attacked. Kady and Ezra, to teenagers living on Kerenza manage to save themselves onto an evacuating fleet. The attackers are then after these evacuation fleets. That's not the end of their problems because strange things start happening on the fleet. Kady is determined to find out the reasons, though she needs Ezra's help.


"BRIEFING NOTE: 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." - Goodreads

Facts
Published October 20th in 2015

599 pages 
(and they are indicated at the bottom so you always know how many are left....get's you sweating at some point, believe me!)


My Opinon:
Books that are hyped a lot on any kind of media are always a bit intimidating to me because I am scared that I will not like them. Illuminae was one of those, yet I was still excited to get into it.

What stands out the most in this series is the style, the usage of different kinds of media (diary entries, chats, reports, very impressive pictures, even a Wikipedia-like entry) that make up this book. At first, it was hard to get into the characters because you never really get into their heads in the traditional way. Only when the diary entries start it gets easier to sympathize with them. Still, the first 200 pages were a bit slower than my usual reading. Suddenly I was very into the story though and devoured the book quite quickly and basically fell in love. So if those first hundred pages trouble you: keep on going, its gonna be worth it!
I went from not being too invested into nearly crying (I couldn't though, I read the end while sitting in the train on my way to Uni...) because of how deeply my feelings were intertwined with these characters. It makes me a bit sad that 'Gemina' is not gonna be directly about Kady and Ezra, though I hope to get a bit of them through the new characters.

I also loved the role the Artificial Intelligence plays in this book since it is a topic widely discussed and also a topic creating a lot of worry. The fear that AIs are gonna take over the world someday is present and this book perfectly plays with these fears.

I might mention that I have not read anything by Jay Kristoff or Amie Kaufmann yet, so I am not sure which parts are accredited to which author but I really, really loved the humor and style and in my head I was chuckling a lot. I definitely am going to read more by these two to figure out which role they played in writing 'Illuminae'....I really want to know!

My previous experience with YA books taking place in space were not so successful so I am happy that I gave 'Illuminae' a try. I loved it a lot and therefor I'm giving it a rating of 10 out of 10 hearts.




-xoxo Lisa

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