Nancy's Reviews > Illuminae

I had circled this sci-fi book for over a year, but the sheer size deterred me. I knew that there was an audio edition, but I thought the format and the pictures would prevent it from being any good. But the audio edition was superb, with a welcome diverse sounding voice cast, although I still leafed through the physical book as to appreciate how it was set up.

I enjoyed the premise of finding out the story through diary entries, interviews, captain's logs, briefing notes, medical reports, etc. The narrative starting promisingly, with teens Kady and Ezra sharing their experiences on separate spaceships as they escaped from a warship that was intent on killing the survivors of their planet's massacre. But the story started to lost momentum midway through, and the idea of this supposedly epic space war being based off a corporation wanting to control a remote icy mining planet seemed implausible. A lot was packed into the book- it had romance, political thrills, heartbreak, science fiction, and a crazy AI computer- so it ended up feeling a bit frenzied to me.

Ultimately, I would give the book a 3.5/5 but I will round up as I thought the two authors made a unique book that was visually appealing. I would recommended it to teens, for it will capture their attention, and is a solid lead in to future sequels.