{Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway} Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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.

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)

 

All thanks to Random House and Pinoy Book Tours! You, yes, you can get a chance to win HARDCOVERS of ILLUMINAE! (PH ONLY)

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Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of These Broken Stars and This Shattered World, and Illuminae, the first in a new series starting in 2015. She writes science fiction and fantasy for teens, and her favourite procrastination techniques involve chocolate, baking, sailing, excellent books and TV, plotting and executing overseas travel, and napping.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, their rescue dog, and her considerable library. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

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Jay Kristoff is the award-winning author of THE LOTUS WAR trilogy, a Japanese-inspired steampunk fantasy. Part 3, ENDSINGER, is out now. He's also co-author of the upcoming ILLUMINAE (with Amie Kaufman), a YA Sci-Fi... thing, to be released by Knopf/Random House in 2015, and NEVERNIGHT, the first part of a new fantasy trilogy kicking off in 2016.

Jay is 6’7 and has approximately 13380 days to live. He abides in Melbourne with his secret agent kung-fu assassin wife, and the world’s laziest Jack Russell.

He does not believe in happy endings.

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Wicked Review: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

Published: May 5, 2015

Publisher: Harper Teen

Acquired: Paperback

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John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected. 

I don't know why I constantly torture myself with reading books that will ultimately kill me on the inside. Maybe, I'm a sadist that way. I have no idea.

Amy Van Dorn and Matthew Malone have this complicated friendship. For one, Amy, despite her cerebral palsy and her Pathway, is a very smart girl yet she's very naive. Matthew showed her that the world isn't as wonderful as she thinks it is.

Amy made a promise to herself to make friends as she starts her senior year in high school. No one knows Amy very well, except for the fact that she has a talking computer and a walker and that she has an aide beside her. But she was determined to change that when she suggested to her mother that they hire kids her age to be her "friends" so that they can introduce Amy to other kids their age as well. Out of the four, Matthew stood out. Mainly because Amy likes him. And that he's just like Amy.

Both of them hide behind their disabilities: Amy with her cerebral palsy and Matthew with his OCD. It's like their shield and at the same time, it's their leverage against the world and against each other even. Amy figured to help Matthew get over his OCD by giving him assignments, all the while secretly pining for Matthew. Matthew was oblivious to all of the little hints Amy's been dropping, all because he's scared of his own feelings for her.

College tore them apart. Amy got accepted into a prestigious university while Matthew's trying to figure out his life, a life without Amy in it. Until this one incident that changes their lives forever. And change it did.

Say What You Will is very subtle. Or maybe that's just putting it mildly. It packs a punch that leaves you breathless. I've always been a fan of contemporary, romance or not, and no matter what people say against it, I love it anyways. Cammie MCGovern has a flair for plot twists. Plot twists are very tricky. Just like jokes, plot twists need that perfect timing and Say What You Will has it.

It's easier said than done is what they always say but sometimes, saying it is as hard as doing it. No one can really perfect that.

Cammie McGovern was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and received the Nelson Algren Award in short fiction. Her work has been published in Redbook, Seventeen, Glimmer Train, TriQuarterly, and other publications.

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Wicked Review: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Published: August 26, 2014

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Acquired: Borrowed Paperback

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The distinctive new crowdsourced publishing imprint Swoon Reads proudly presents its first published novel—an irresistibly sweet romance between two college students told from 14 different viewpoints.

The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out.

But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship.

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together....

Again, I would like to thank my Misfit Queen, Jayvee, for lending me her copy of the fluffiest book I have ever read in my entire life.

This book is the cutest book I have ever seen. The synopsis is cute. The cover is cute. The ending is cute. Gabe is so cute. Lea is cute. There's this cute Squirrel. The story is cute.

So, there are fourteen viewpoints in this story. Each one of them have both encountered Lea and Gabe one way or another and noticed something really special about the two of them. You could see the different sides of the two characters from a different perspective and not just the main character's own which is very refreshing. I mean, the resident perverted bench and the squirrel are part of the fourteen, like, who would've thought?

Gabe and Lea cross paths every time. It's like the universe planned that they see each other ALL THE TIME. Gabe, well, is VERY shy. In Filipino, he's torpe (tohr-peh). He likes Lea very much. They share interests and they run around the same circle of friends. But, Gabe finds it hard talking to people. Not that he's a tortured soul or anything. He's deaf in one ear, which I think if pretty forgivable. Lea thinks that Gabe is ignoring her and things got out of hand.

I can barely count with my two hands the time I desperately want Lea and Gabe to just GET OVER THEMSELVES AND KISS ALREADY. They had to wait until page 238 to kiss!!!!!

Can I just say that page 238 is the cutest thing ever? YES IT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER. I mean, sure, it wasn't the fireworks kind of kiss but it was enough to melt my cold cruel heart.

A Little Something Different is such an easy read. I read it within a day. The story is simple. The characters are simple. The writing is simple. No fuss. No drama. No complications. No one died. It's pure, unadulterated, honest-to-goodness kind of story.

Wicked Review: Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang

Published: September 9, 2014

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Acquired: Borrowed Paperback

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On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. 

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect?

First, I would like to thank my Misfit Queen, Jayvee, for lending me her copy. I wouldn't be devastated if it weren't for her.

She wished to be happy, and fell asleep with an entire sky above her.

Liz Emerson was popular by nature. She hung out with the cool crowd and went to the coolest parties. And yet, her life was bleak, meaningless, and empty. Suddenly, her status doesn't matter because she feels empty inside. She hate silence. She hates coming home to an empty house with the silence consuming her whole being.

Liz spent her life ruining others. She brought them down and she was too late to remedy the wounds she has inflicted. I felt sad for her really. I am a self confessed mean girl. At times, I would stay stuff I would regret but then obviously, I'd be too late because the damage is done. I've hurt everyone and it leaves a hollow feeling inside.

Liz looked back and counted the bodies, all those lives she had ruined simply by existing. So she chose to stop existing.

The book alternates from before Liz crashed her car to events that happened after she crashed her car. Normally, I'd get confused with point of view alternation, but not here. Amy Zhang did a wonderful job with writing this story. At every turn of the page, emotions pour out. I mean, seriously. I had a hard time keeping myself in check because I don't want to embarrass myself in public while I'm reading this.

She wanted to go back. She wanted to be a little girl again, the one who thought getting high meant being pushed on the swing and pain was falling off her bike.

People think that talking about feelings is easy. But it's not. Especially when you grow old. At 21, I still wish pain was just like falling off of my bike or having a paper cut. It's easier said than done. This is where Liz and I connected in a way. You see, I understood her pain. I understood why she hurt. As much as we really want someone to talk to about it, we really can't. It's one of the hardest things to do. We humans are such fickle beings. No one can really understand what goes in our heads.

It is then, when she releases her need to understand, that everything falls into place. 

Amy Zhang used to have lots of imaginary friends. When people told her to grow up, she turned her imaginary friends into characters and started telling their stories. When she isn't writing, she can be found playing piano, hitting balls on the tennis court, or struggling through her weekly existential crisis. She lives in Wisconsin with her family.

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Wicked Photo Diary: September 2015

Wicked Photo Diary is a feature on the blog where I recap what happened in my life, bookish and non-bookish, in the form of my Instagram photos. Do follow me on Instagram here.

Well hello~ October is upon us and then it'll be Christmas...*insert distressed noises* Here's what happened this September!


September 6, 2015

This is from Pamana Restaurant in Tagaytay City, a vintage restaurant that serves feel good and authentic Filipino cuisine. My family and I feasted on bulalo, that's soup made from the bone marrow of the cow, and sisig, sizzling pork belly, in celebration of my grandparent's and my brother's birthday.


September 7, 2015

#lategram. Pamana Restaurant looks like an old Filipino home. Complete with gorgeous decorations and bad-ass wooden furniture.


September 9, 2015

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

September is QUEEN OF SHADOWS MONTH! I had to go to my local bookstore thrice to scout copies of Queen of Shadows (UK White Edition Cover) and lo and behold I finally have it!


September 12, 2015

Something True by Kieran Scott

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang

I really had to. I took advantage of the last few days of the Powerbooks Store Sale and got these babies~!

September 13, 2015

 These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

I bought this a few months ago because that cover is absolutely GORGEOUS. The story is equally gorgeous and phenomenal as well.

September 14, 2015

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I got my first ever book mail. *insert happy flailing* This book is just so good. the hype certainly lived up to it!

September 19, 2015

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Another phenomenal read that I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET MY HANDS ON THIS OCTOBER!!!!

September 20, 2015

I crashed #KCinPH and met Kiera Cass, the lovely woman who created my first ever Captain of the Guard crush Aspen Leger. I missed her interview but my friends looped me in the alternate ending of The Selection Series and my heart is happy. P.S I forgot to take my glasses off so obvs, I look hella weird here.

September 21, 2015

#lategram 2.0. These are my friends whom I haven't seen in a looong time because I've been absent during the book signings they attended. I decided to surprise them. We have here America Singer, Aspen Leger and King Maxon Schreave doing a photo shoot to the delight of fans.

September 23, 2015

I watched the PHENOMENALLY AWESOME, BAD-ASS HISTORICAL MOVIE OF THE CENTURY  that is HENERAL LUNA. This movie has been out in the cinemas for quite some time now. It actually started as a film to be shown for a limited time only but due to popular demand, regular showing was provided for. The pride and joy of Philippine cinema, HENERAL LUNA is the Philippine's entry to the 2016 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film Category.

September 24, 2015

End of Days by Susan Ee

World After by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee

P.S I Still Love You by Jenny Han

Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han

Ask the Passengers by A.S King

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire-Saenz

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Well, that was a handful. Literally, my arms hurt when I lugged 9 books home from MIBF. But it was the best experience ever.

September 25, 2015

Yes, you saw that right! Carry On by Rainbow Rowell will land on Filipino soil on October 10, 2015~ mark your calendars, fellow Pinoy bookworms. Come join the fun over at Powerbooks, Greenbelt 3, 3-5pm. There will be giveaways and more. Hope to see you guys there~!

September 26, 2015

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang

I visited my local Starbucks branch because I haven't done so in a long time while reading this devastatingly, beautiful book.

September 28, 2015

I did the #WhereIRead tag on Instagram. This is the 2nd floor section of my university library. I love our library because it's very cold inside and the lights are bright unlike in my room which has crappy lighting. I'm going to miss this place when I graduate.

What Else Happened on the Blog?

Wicked Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Wicked Musings: Why I'm Such An Introvert

{Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway} Shifter: City of Wolves by Avery Burch

Wicked Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Wicked Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

{Blog Tour: Review} Lost and Found by Elle Casey

Wicked Review: Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

 

There you have it folks! I do hope you guys had an amazing September!