Illuminae
3 • 608 pages

Ratings248

Average rating4.2

15

Spaceships and zombies and Computer AI, oh my! It's an epistolary space opera! My favorite read of 2017 (so far!). Loved the story - took me teeny bit to get into the characters, but once those were ‘set' for me, I was hooked. I listened to this on in the car on vacation. Enjoyed it so much, I made excuses to get back in the car so I could listen to more of it. When it was finished, I shunted aside the three other audiobooks I'd downloaded for the trip and immediately ordered the second in the series (and wasn't disappointed).

I'll probably come back to this one and read it again in book form as the book format offers a fun visual experience as well. The audiobook format is done with a full cast and sound effects - it plays more like a radio production than audiobook, and it's very well done. I'll note with the audiobook (as with any book in that format) you are pulled through the story and don't really have a option of skipping over bits of the story - in this case that would be the illustrations and unusual formatting the printed book offers: I would suggest if reading the printed version - don't skip over these things - you'll miss out on key chunks of the story!

There are several film references within the book - if you want a richer reading experience you may want to watch The Princess Bride and 2001 before diving in (if you haven't seen them already).

July 18, 2017