Illuminae

This was an amazing book. While it started off fairly slow and I was not sure where it was going, once it really got to the plot and what was happening, everything clicked and I loved every aspect of the story. This book is highly unique in how it tells the story of Kady and Ezra. I loved how every page was filled with something different, whether it was a chat log, video transcript, email transmissions, or readouts from an AI. This was a great reading experience unlike anything else I have ever read.

That being said, the first 150 pages or so of this book were a struggle for me. I felt that we were place in this world with little background and immediately were thrust into this story about this evil corporation attacking a hidden colony. It took me a while to come to love the characters and understand them and what their goals were. But let me tell you, once that happened I did not want to put this book down.

I have no idea where the rest of this series is going to go moving forward, but I'm excited to see what happens next with this characters and this unique storytelling. This book is also massive which may scare you when you see it, but just remember it is not your typical book with words covering every page completely. Since it is chat logs and other documents, it is a quicker read than most books. The size of the book should not at all factor into your choosing to read this.

Finally, I just want to comment on the plot and the story itself. I have no idea how you would classify this book other than saying it is an epic space adventure. There are so many aspects to this book, whether it is the survival aspect, the science fiction space aspect, or the technical computer aspect. There were so many layers to this story and how it was told. I'm not the most technical person, but I had no problem following some of the more technical aspects of this book. I think this was mostly accomplished through the dossier style of the book and the idea that the documents would need to be simplified for that.