Illuminae

I listened to the audio and I was so hooked I had to get the next installments lined up! I loved the full cast of actors! It was a really unique and fun way to approach a story. All done from emails, messages, video footage being narratored as to what happened on the planet and then on the Hypatia and the Alexander ships. Trying to unrun the enemy with a biweapon thats mutating within the passengers... Don't even get me started on the AI!!

I. Love. This. So. Much. Everything about it is incredible. I LOVE Kady as a character, and AIDAN possibly even more. Such a unique experience and such a cool format for a book. This was completely enthralling.

DNF

Uniquely fun and interesting novel that I makes you want to order the rest of the series right away. Took some time to get into the formatting, but I ended up loving it at the end especially someone of the beautiful compositions done with the AI.

I read it in one sitting. Loved it.

Geez that was basic. Considering the extreme hype surrounding this book, I was painfully underwhelmed. I guess I was entertained enough, but it's a pretty forgettable story overall. I don't think the format added anything to the story. The dialogue was corny as hell, the jokes rarely/barely landed, and the end basically had a little bow on it. I'd say this won't be a beloved book for well-versed (ha) sci-fi fans, but it's a quick read and not a complete waste of time. Just know you've seen it all before, and it's very “I'm 14 and this is deep” a lot of the time.

I liked it enough I'll probably pick up the next book, mainly because I already own it, but I'm not exactly in a hurry.

4.5 Rounded to 5

I'm glad I grabbed the Audiobooks for this series. This is a fantastic listen!

I have been itching to find a good Sci-Fi series and this one hit the spot. Spaceships in space, people afflicted, rogue AI..whew!

Enough said...go grab this and have a listen.

Kady baru saja memutuskan Ezra secara sepihak tadi pagi. Berpisah dengan pemuda itu tampaknya bukan hal yang paling berat dalam hidupnya, karena siangnya, planet tempat tinggalnya diinvasi.
Buku ini diceritakan secara berbeda, yaitu dalam bentuk hasil sadap dokumen, termasuk E-mail, skema, dokumen militer,pesan pribadi, laporan medis, wawancara, dsb. Karena bentuknya yg berbeda, agak lambat untuk mengerti jalan cerita di awal2, namun semakin lanjut semakin bisa mengikuti.
Hal2 yang cukup menarik yg ada dlm buku ini antara lain perang, pesawat tempur ruang angkasa, komputer kecerdasan buatan (AI) yang gila serta wabah mematikan. Pemanisnya tentu saja cerita antara Kady & Ezra. Aku cukup menyukai buku ini dan pastinya menunggu buku berikutnya terbit terjemahannya.

I freaking loved this book. It took me two tries to really get into it, but once I got about 100 pages in, I was hooked. The layout is so beautiful and strange, it kept me wanting to read more and more. This book made me literally laugh out loud, and it also broke my heart. I cannot wait to read Gemina.

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).

it was pretty good... like good plot, good twists, interesting BUT some of the slang is like yup this is written by a man (i can't really explain it other than that) and also the format is cool and unique except it makes it hard to read when the words are moving across two pages and it isnt printed goodly. idk whether i am going to read the rest of the series like most books the ending is what stands out and makes me want to read the other books but idk if its worth my time yk, maybe in the future.

This book is a freight train. It might take a little while to get up to speed, but chum, when it does you're going for one hell of a ride!

Make sure you've got a few hours of uninterrupted time for the last 2/3 of the book. If you're like me you won't want to put it down because you HAVE to know what happens. And um I wish someone had warned me to have a tissue handy. I was so into the story and characters that I wasn't trying to analyze anything so it sort of socked me a little hard.

The formatting was superb. I don't think I've ever seen a book done quite like this. Very curious to see if they keep the same style. I don't want to rush the authors for the 2nd book but... no, I'm rushing them. I NEED IT!

Despite the ridiculous title, my initial reaction to this was- alright! It reminded me of early BSG. Then, about 300 pages in, I stopped caring. Space battles, imho, are way more fun to watch onscreen than to read. I felt the book began to repeat itself (AIDEN especially). I also have to remove a star because EVERYONE is in love with Kady. Why is it never enough in YA novels for the main love interest to be in love with the female protag? Why does everyone and everyTHING have to be in love with her too. Is that to prove to the reader how lovable she is? Is that how young girls should measure their own worth? Hell no, so why do we see this in fiction all of the time?
Sorry, rant over, but seriously that was one of the plot drags.

Overall, as far as YA Scifi it's not that bad. I really enjoyed the amount of effort that went into the creation of the documents and schematics. Again, I enjoyed it for about 300 pages. With a sharper editing knife, this book would have been a four star read. Here's hoping book two is shorter and more point.

???They are beyond me.
These humans.
With their brief lives and their tiny dreams and their hopes that seem as fragile as glass.
Until you see them by starlight, that is.???

Wow, wow, wow!

Let me get my issue out of the way. Several characters, particularly early on, had the same glib, sarcastic voice, and it became annoying. Not because they weren't funny – very funny – but they were the same.

Apparently there is never not a good time to do a “I'm nailing your sister” joke.

I also have to warn that the style of the book is entirely reports, records, surveillance tapes, and similar, and they're formatted accordingly. Reading on a Kindle was a bit challenging, and I spent a lot of time with my nose almost touching the screen to make out some pages. But it felt worth it, somehow, to see all the creative uses and to marvel at how well the authors did this.

Now the good stuff:

The book was always entertaining, and when it really got going – the second half! – the story was exciting, suspenseful, and surprising. “You've got to be kidding me,” I muttered more than once. “This book!”

Kady was complex. Not unafraid, but willing to do whatever needed doing anyhow. Ezra was sweet, but the lead sister-nailing jokester, so that good old. But on so many occasions I found myself caring about the lives of minor characters because the authors did their work well.

Perhaps the best character was Aiden, the ship AI. Crazy, but strangely noble, and poetic, and compelling. Not evil so much as damaged. Reminded me sometimes of Morpheus in the Sandman graphic novels.

Highly recommended!

What a strange tale...

To think that in more than 500 years, humans will still remember HAL as a dangerously sentient AI and still quote Whitman and still use the same txtslang as kids today...

As a book created from a collection of datum - transcripts, chatlogs, security reports, AI monologue - it has its failings (voice, occasionally, which I won't discuss because I think my concerns are a massive spoiler) and its shining moments of mundane, beautiful humanity.

Some pages are quite stunning. Some moments are quite wrenching. Some insights are quite arresting.

Quite an interesting experience. Do not be daunted by 600 pages. They fly past like so much stardust and space detritus: grab onto that which intrigues you, and let the rest wander out into the universe.

This is by far one of the most unique books I have ever read. The style and formatting is unlike anything I've ever even seen before. At first, this made it EXTREMELY confusing. However, once I figured everything out, it was exciting and thrilling.

I was on the edge of my seat- literally- for a good portion of this book. There is suspense and it is a real nail biter.

The one drawback of this style of book is that it makes it difficult to really feel anything for the characters. I didn't give a crap about what happened to Kady. She was extremely flat and two dimensional to me, which was ironic since she was the main character. Ezra had some depth, but he definitely could have used the most. AIDAN though... I freaking loved the freaky AI in this novel. It was fascinating and had so much depth. I could go back and read this book through this perspective so many times because of how interesting it is.

Perhaps that is because the parts referring to AIDAN were actually in AIDAN's POV?

Regardless, it was an exciting book. It was fast to get through too, so don't be scared off by the high page count.