Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was somewhat intimidated by this book. Anyone that I've heard talk about it has really loved it, and I'm incredibly scared of hype when it comes to books. (Hence why I wait so long to pick up highly liked/hyped books). I did end up really liking it though, although for the first half I was mostly confused.
Summary
This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.
The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.
I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I anticipated I would when I first started it. When I first decided to start reading Illuminae, it's because I discovered Libby through my college's library and wanted to listen to it as an audiobook. And while I did enjoy the story, it was so confusing and there was a lot of spacey terminology that I didn't understand, but I continued to push through my initial confusion. Since I did that, I became more and more invested in the characters and the plot. Eventually, my busyness with school made it hard for me to have time to solely listen to this still somewhat confusing story so I decided to put it down. Later down the line, I started hearing peoples opinions about the audiobook; either you love it or you hate it. I thought that I hated it because I was confused but besides that there wasn't anything I disliked. Then I heard someones opinion that they enjoyed the audiobook but enjoyed it 1000% times more while also having the physical book to look at. This peaked my interest and I decided to check out the audiobook from Libby again and also pick up the physical copy as well. This is what saved this book for me.
The characters and the plot were amazing in my opinion. I quickly became attached to the outcome of Kady and Ezra. Along with the many other side characters that played a significant part in the overall outcome. One character I didn't expect to like as much was Aiden, but as I got to learn more about them, I did really really enjoy their aspect to the story. I also enjoyed seeing Aiden grow as the plot progressed, the inner conflicts that they had to deal with was so intriguing to me. When it came to the connection between Kady and Ezra, I'm not sure I fully grasped their chemistry because it seemed almost too juvenile for their age in my opinion, but I was still interested in them and their dialogue.
The plot is what confused me from the beginning. It was hard for me to picture the setting and the change of settings when I didn't even know what was going on. I was confused who the enemy was and why they were the enemy, this could be part to me multi-talking while listening but I've heard others say they were also confused while reading. I wish there was more that could make the reader understand what is actually happening and why at the very beginning of the book. This book was saved for me when I started listening to the audiobook along with reading the physical copy at the same time. It helped to see the words out in front of me and it made it WAY more interesting to hear the story and the noises and the dialogue, it was just so great. So great that I read over half the book in 24 hours (which is an accomplishment for the worlds slowest reader, myself). It also helped that I listened to the audiobook at a faster speed, that kept the plot fast and I didn't find myself looking ahead because I was attached to the page the audiobook was on.
Overall, I'm glad I jumped on the bandwagon for this book and I will for sure be reading the next book.
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