Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
My rating: 4/5 cats
holy ████████ what a ████████ fantastically fun book!
i have never read anything by these authors before. i was aware of kristoff’s books, having put them on NOOK channels back when i was doing that sort of thing, and i knew about kaufman, but her books had never called out to me. no disrespect, but i see a cover like this:
and my first thought is “not for me.” i know my own tastes, and i know that this kind of story is not likely to speak to me.
but this book was getting pushed so hard at BEA, i was curious about it, and i’ll be honest – i flipped through it and thought, “i can probably read this pretty quickly,” so it got pushed to the top of the to-read stack sooner than it may otherwise have.
i don’t want to give too much away, so all you need to know is that this is primarily an actiony romance that takes place in outer space told through a series of found footage, emails, schematics, internal memos, and other reports, including some pages that look like this:
and here’s the kicker – i do not like outer space books or romance, and i am wary of ephemera-based books, having been burned too many times before. sure, there are exceptions to all rules (because –phoebe north), but i went into this as an impartial investigator – as a reviewer trying to stay on top of what is popular and what is going to be popular.
it did not grab me from the outset. there’s a lot of teen-snark and flippancy, kady is SO girlpower competent and tough, ezra’s supposedly witty remarks were setting my teeth on edge, and there’s such a forced “look at how many women are in positions of power” show, it felt a little pandering. but that’s when i was reading it as a reviewer.
there was a point where that all changed, and suddenly i was reading it in a more familiar and comfortable role – as an engaged reader; as a fan.
and it started kicking my readerly ████████.
i never did warm to the star-crossed lovers as characters, but the story itself was incredible. there is just one twist after another, and i am happy to say that i didn’t see all of them coming. and one of them completely blew me away View Spoiler »
but those are my only two gripes – not liking the characters and feeling cross at the retraction-of-ballsiness. which sounds like two things major enough to ruin the experience, but not at all, dude. this book is a gripping explosion of fun and deep space carnage, and the bonus of a kind of variation on the zombie novel. plus, AIDAN.
oh, and this:
am i not merciful
the publisher’s note in the ARC predicts that this will “become the buzz phrase of 2015.” and i hope it does. chills, my friends, chills…
it’s clear just how much fun they had writing this. there are so many little subtle shout-outs to fellow-YA authors and easter eggs in the fine print – it’s like being at a slumber party where you stay up all night telling scary stories that are punctuated by nervous giggles and you start getting really silly with lack of sleep and you’re laughing but it’s all so ████████ horrible.
i loved this book, and i am droolingly awaiting part two.
be merciful, and bring it to me quick.
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huh. okay. now i understand why you’re ballsy enough to plunge into calculated ri$k-territory to mass-produce a hardcover ARC that’s nicer and more detailed than most finished books, give thousands of them away at BEA and STILL shell out for the full staircase ad:
this book’s gonna sell. a lot.
it’s not a perfect slam dunk, but the things i thought were thumbs-down are likely just my own personal thumbs. i will review this for real soon, but just so you know – very fun, very fast, and very unexpected.
