Illuminae (Illuminae Files, #1)

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

[Chelsea]

Thoughts When I Finished:

When I finished this book I couldn’t even put my thoughts into words. I was sad it was over (until the next book) but I felt satisfied with how it ended. My mind was blown from the way everything unfolded and at some points I was terrified for the character. There were a lot of emotions pouring out of me when I finished reading it and I couldn’t pick up another book for a little while.

What I Loved:

I really did love the format of this book. I know people are going on and on about it but I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story in this way. The interviews were probably my favourite part though because we got to see more of the characters personalities that way.

I also really loved the villain in this book. I guess there were a couple of them but the most concerning one was the AI system. I’m not sure if you’d count it as a villain really but it was just not nice. I think someone obviously programmed it wrong. It seemed too clever for a computer though and I think that freaked me out just a little. Computers just don’t work that way and it made it seem kind of unrealistic but the plot was good enough for me to look past it.

What I Didn’t Like:

There’s not much I didn’t like about this book. The only thing I can really think of is that because of the format of this book, it was hard to get a feel for the characters like in a normal book. I found myself a little distanced from them, not really caring if they lived or died. I wish the authors could have helped us just a little bit with that because it’s not a great book without getting attached to the characters.

One other thing that bothered me (which I’m sure will be remedied in the next book), was that we really didn’t get much information about the society before this war started. I didn’t quite understand the town they came from or why the war had started in the first place. It could have used just a little more work but I still found it a fantastic book.

Who I’d recommend To:

I’d recommend this book to anyone who can go into it with an open mind. There’s a ton of people who are gushing over this book but there’s just as many who aren’t a fan. I’m seeing a lot of sci-fi fans who didn’t like it because it was too similar t other sci-fi books and tv shows. Other people just couldn’t wrap their heads around the format. I think that if you want to read this book you have to go in with a clean slate and try not to judge based off of what you’ve seen or heard.

Quick Review:

This is a great book for anyone looking to start a journey in sci-fi. It has all the parts of a great story that’s made even better by taking place in space. The unique format in which it’s told only makes reading this book more of an adventure that you’ll be sucked into. You’ll be dying for the next book after finishing this one.