Illuminae - Amie Kaufman

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Blurb (on back of book): 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.
BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

MY OPINION: ***

I had such high hopes for this book, judging from all of the reviews I read.

It fell flat, but I didn't hate it.

It was a 600-page short read that I somehow managed to take FOREVER reading. I tried reading 50 pages per day but it didn't exactly work out, as I'm also reading other stuff for school and for personal enjoyment.

There were some high points of this book but as a whole, it was confusing and almost a little tepid in the reading world. I really enjoyed reading parts of it, such as the chat lines or the audio transcripts, but the whole thing with Aidan was confusing and I honestly didn't really understand it.

The characters didn't seem as developed but that's obviously because there really are barely any words in the book that are composed in long paragraphs like usual books. This book was a compilation of a ton of random things, transcripts, audio, pictures, AIDAN's brain, etc.

A ton of things happened in this book. It started off with an almost "flashback" of something small and then it escalated into the more serious things. We learn that Kady and Ezra have just broken up because of complications in their relationship but on that day, their home planet, Kerenza, gets bombed or blown up and Kady and Ezra end up on different ships that are both being followed by the Lincoln.

Along the way, some sickness called Phobos manages to infect the crew and members of the Alexander, the ship Ezra is on. Also, their AI AIDAN goes crazy?

I liked the whole plot line of it but something about it didn't just click with me. I am interested in continuing the series but I expected more from the book overall. It's mostly because I'm not a sci-fi kind of a girl, probably.

I would recommend this book to readers who like sci-fi and unique formatting.

Main Character: Kady
Sidekick(s): Ezra, AIDAN, etc
Villain(s): Phobos, AIDAN, etc
Sci Fi Elements: This was set in the future and was very science-fiction related.