Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Series: The Illuminae Files #1
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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.
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.
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.
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.
First, I'd like to thank Pinoy Book Tours for giving me a chance to be a part of this tour.
So, where do I even begin? I mean seriously.
The ARC that was passed around was around 600 pages and I only have three days to read it. How did that happen?
Illuminae is fast paced and unique. It's written unconventionally through a series of files that varies from transcribed interviews to description of videos. I felt ultimately smart or maybe close to those people in the intelligence groups that read classified information. You know the thing...anyways. It's not your usual indented paragraphs. It was that cool. Maybe that's why I finished it within a day because of the unconventional (well, at least for me) way it was written.
Kade and Ezra's relationship is complex. They broke up just when their home was attacked and they were forced to flee. Ezra's a second lieutenant in Alexander while Kade's a secret hacker in Hypatia. They are being pursued by Lincoln, this evil helicarrier across space. They find out things, mostly classified information, that can and will change their lives forever.
Kade is very strong. She's spunky, bad-ass, you-don't-mess-with-me-because-I-know-your-secrets-in-the-interweb-so-back-off-before-I-hack-the-shit-out-of-you kind of girl while having pink girl and petite. I love her very much. She sensed danger. She knew that the higher ups in Alexander, from where Ezra is, is hiding something. Ezra, on the other hand, is every bit of a tortured hero. He has lost people he loves the most aboard the carrier and off the carrier. He still loves Kade but wouldn't act up on it, at least not yet, because he knows that something is wrong.
What's wrong you ask? AIDAN
AIDAN is this super intelligent computer program...think Iron Man's JARVIS and Ultron. He's artificial intelligence with feelings. He runs all the helicarriers and is the only chance of surviving against Lincoln's death grip. But, now, he is rendered useless because of some crazy glitch. I'm no tech expert but from what I understand, they asked too much from AIDAN until he couldn't do it anymore so he retaliated.
This is where things get really tricky, edge-of-your-seat sort of thing. They shut AIDAN to fix him and then bring him back up again. Only AIDAN wasn't the same anymore. I thought about it. Illuminae is set in a far away future where humans could literally travel through space as if you could just book a flight to another country. Wouldn't that be amazing? We'd have artificial intelligence, which according to Stephen Hawking, will be a possible feat for human race. But then we'd have to be wary about it. Humans created computers. We created their minds. We created their feelings, even if it's hard to comprehend. And that scares me. I mean, humans turn against humans. Who says that artificial intelligence or even computers won't turn against humans?
Just a side thought there.
Kade and Ezra get back together and it is the sweetest thing in the world! Don't worry. Their love story in no way took the bad-ass aspect off of this book. I mean, really. They are the couple of 2015. I love them to bits.
Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff beautifully crafted this story. I mean, it's just amazing! Really, really amazing. It literally blew my mind. Plot twist after plot twist. Surprise after surprise and here I am clinging on to what's left of my sanity because I need the next book now.
(P.S I have no idea if you can consider this a review because I mean, really. I rambled my ass off here. Thanks for understanding)
Kade is very strong. She's spunky, bad-ass, you-don't-mess-with-me-because-I-know-your-secrets-in-the-interweb-so-back-off-before-I-hack-the-shit-out-of-you kind of girl while having pink girl and petite. I love her very much. She sensed danger. She knew that the higher ups in Alexander, from where Ezra is, is hiding something. Ezra, on the other hand, is every bit of a tortured hero. He has lost people he loves the most aboard the carrier and off the carrier. He still loves Kade but wouldn't act up on it, at least not yet, because he knows that something is wrong.
What's wrong you ask? AIDAN
AIDAN is this super intelligent computer program...think Iron Man's JARVIS and Ultron. He's artificial intelligence with feelings. He runs all the helicarriers and is the only chance of surviving against Lincoln's death grip. But, now, he is rendered useless because of some crazy glitch. I'm no tech expert but from what I understand, they asked too much from AIDAN until he couldn't do it anymore so he retaliated.
This is where things get really tricky, edge-of-your-seat sort of thing. They shut AIDAN to fix him and then bring him back up again. Only AIDAN wasn't the same anymore. I thought about it. Illuminae is set in a far away future where humans could literally travel through space as if you could just book a flight to another country. Wouldn't that be amazing? We'd have artificial intelligence, which according to Stephen Hawking, will be a possible feat for human race. But then we'd have to be wary about it. Humans created computers. We created their minds. We created their feelings, even if it's hard to comprehend. And that scares me. I mean, humans turn against humans. Who says that artificial intelligence or even computers won't turn against humans?
Just a side thought there.
Kade and Ezra get back together and it is the sweetest thing in the world! Don't worry. Their love story in no way took the bad-ass aspect off of this book. I mean, really. They are the couple of 2015. I love them to bits.
Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff beautifully crafted this story. I mean, it's just amazing! Really, really amazing. It literally blew my mind. Plot twist after plot twist. Surprise after surprise and here I am clinging on to what's left of my sanity because I need the next book now.
(P.S I have no idea if you can consider this a review because I mean, really. I rambled my ass off here. Thanks for understanding)
All thanks to Random House and Pinoy Book Tours! You, yes, you can get a chance to win HARDCOVERS of ILLUMINAE! (PH ONLY)
This book was fabulous, I especially loved AIDAN. He was such a complex character, and made me REALLY for the future of humanity if we keep develping AI.
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