Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Feb 26, 2015 Madge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, sci-fi, all-time-favorites, epistolary

I'm still processing and freaking out, so I'll try to come back and review this in a few hours or days when I've calmed down some....

[2nd read] Well, I never calmed down. I've basically been internally screaming (and sometimes externally screaming) about this book for 2 years and about a month now. I'm not sure why I thought I would be more capable of writing a review after re-reading it, because it's still just so good, I don't think I could do it justice. So, this isn't a review. It's just tho I'm still processing and freaking out, so I'll try to come back and review this in a few hours or days when I've calmed down some....

[2nd read] Well, I never calmed down. I've basically been internally screaming (and sometimes externally screaming) about this book for 2 years and about a month now. I'm not sure why I thought I would be more capable of writing a review after re-reading it, because it's still just so good, I don't think I could do it justice. So, this isn't a review. It's just thoughts.

If you haven't read this yet, but plan to, fasten your seatbelt because it's going to be a hell of a ride. This is one of the fastest paced books I think I've ever read. It pretty much opens with action and the edge-of-your-seat, heart-pounding, "OMGOMGOMG" pace never lets up for long.

Not to mention the amazing design of this book. I think it kind of counts as an epistolary (maybe?), but holy crap is it different from anything else I've ever read/seen.

The feelings oh my gods. Even the second time around, I have so many feelings and I don't know what to do with them. At least this time around I can jump into Gemina right away (I never read it because right after I got it, we got a release date for Obsidio and I decided to ~~torture myself~~ wait for it to come out before re-reading this one), and then finish the series.

(view spoiler)

Kady is still one of my favorite book characters. She's such a badass. Smart, brave, resilient, resourceful. I love her. (view spoiler)

This book is tragic, gruesome, horrifying, and so much more (good and bad) and I loved basically every second of reading it both times. And I won't shut up about it.

Ok I could babble about this for probably a month, but I need to go dive into Gemina now. ...more

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Jan 20, 2018 Kira rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, aussie-author, sci-fi

This has been on my to-be-read list from the moment I saw the exquisite cover. Illuminae isn't written like a traditional novel. The story unfolds through a "dossier" of hacked documents — emails, ship schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more. The format of this novel may be off-putting for some people, but I felt it enhanced the setting and technological aspects of the story. The plot is excellent - full of twists and turns you don't see coming. The tension builds ...more

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Jan 21, 2024 Elaine rated it it was amazing

Wow. Just...wow. This book was an amazing reading experience. This book is an example of why I don't give out five stars very often - I have to keep them in reserve for those truly exceptional stories that make me stop and wonder what the heck I just read. How did the author(s) make me feel so much? Get so invested in these characters? Make me want to both read as quickly as I could to get answers and read slowly to really take in all that I could from each page. The format really worked for thi ...more

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Jan 15, 2017 Bror (Abrar) rated it did not like it

I'm dnf-ing this book at 48% I tried my best to read it because of the hype and the promise of the concept and theme but the story is more than meh and I saw nothing new and I was bored nearly all the time. ...more

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Sep 19, 2017 Alba BookPics rated it it was amazing

What in Gods name did I just read?!

Wow. Just. An incredible and huge and big WOW.

This easily makes my top reads list of 2017. I even enjoyed the acknowledgements. Honestly.

Okay so I'm not a fan of sci-fi in the least... the only other book in the genre I've ever read is Across The Universe by Beth Revis AND I did like it.

But really I had ZERO idea what I was signing myself up for when I bought this book. I admit I got it because of Bookstagram and all the hype around it.
And I am so incredibl ...more

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