Illuminae Part 6: Page 485 - 599

[Carlie]

Discussion of Illuminae Part 6: Page 485 - 599 will take place here.

Happy reading!

[Craig]

Loved this book. Couldn't put it down until i had finished it. Didn't expect it to go the way it did, couple of twists in there. Saw them coming though. But yeah cant wait for the next.
Now run.

[Autumn]

This. Book. Was. Awesome. I can't wait for the next one now! I couldn't put it down it was so good!

[Carlie]

The plot twists.... I definitely didn't see them coming.
I need to second book now!
And I feel like AIDAN has changed because of Kady, it doesn't seem as crazy as before.

[t.]

Oh my God. That plot Twist. Ok, so, one of the twists wasn't that surprising and I was really hoping for it, although I'll be honest, as the pages came and went and I got closer to the end, that hope was slowly vanishing. But when Ezra happened to be alive, I wasn't as surprised as I was when the big bad wolf asked "where is my son"

Yes, Ezra had said his mom was crazy. But this is a completely new level of crazy! I mean, the woman destroyed a planet and killed thousands! And then, she expects to have a nice, comfy, heartfelt tête-a-tête with her son? Seriously?

And, as Candy said, I felt like AIDAN changed, and became less crazy and psycho. I liked the part when it started questioning why did the ones that made it gave it the ability to question certain things, like when Kady asked it if it was scared of dying, and at first it was like 'pft, of course not, I'm not even alive." but then it started to consider and turned out, yes, it was afraid.

[Icy]

I'm still unsure how I feel towards AIDAN. It was like a jealous girlfriend and was totally crazy. But after it met Kady it seemed to change. I was completely hooked by the last 20 pages: I didn't see that Ezra's mother is the one behind the attack. I'm so glad that Ezra is still alive :) I need the sequel!!!

[Jenny]

Loved it! I can't wait to see where the next book takes us! Kady eludes to some other events following her rescue, and I'm excited to hear what went down.
I'm so happy Ezra made it! I also hope they go more into his mom's storyline in the next book. I think some memos or emails from her would be good to get some back story and also just a more sinister perspective.
I agree I'm a little wishy washy with AIDAN. He definitely grew on me, and it seems like he is helping take down Ezra's mom.
Definitely some great twists that left me wanting more. can't wait for the sequel!

[Rafaela (dragonsandpaperbacks)]

I definitely loved AIDAN from the moment he was introduced to the story. He automatically became my favorite character because of the way he saw the world and just... I'm not entirely sure how to describe my love for this character. He's something new for me. I never saw him as a psycho, I could understand the reason why he killed all those people.... Though I think he could've killed Terrence and the tech guys without releasing the aflicted from Hangar 4 (my heart skipped a beat, swear to god). When AIDAN destroyed the Coppernicus it was almost merciful if it was going to be like in the Alexander, if you think about it.

I automatically loved Kady as well but her relationship with Ezra just seemed a bit cliché.Tall jock who's actually a really nice guy falls for the really intelligent, nerdy girl. Yeah.... I don't usually read those stories... but he eventually grew on me.

I was so pissed off when AIDAN pretended to be him and told Kady he was dead. Honestly, that was probably the moment I relaized how much I liked Ezra. I had to stop reading around page 502 because I was feeling really heavy, like emotionally overwhelmed with all my feelings for Ezra, Kady on Alexander with crazies on her trail, AIDAN tricking her.... and it was still 11 am. I was really close to crying on the subway.

But then in the end my favorite characters didn't die for once and I nearly shouted AIDAN LIVEEES (in the middle of class).

Ezra's mother is on a whole new level of crazy though.... She destroyed an entire planet... killed all those people with Phobos.... to do what, exactly? Ezra would never forgive her for it, he'd never love her!

CANNOT WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL!!!!

[Biblio-Athena]

As I'm writing this Illuminae is standing on a pedestal that I placed it before bowing down to it on my knees.

What a book. What....a...book.

Kady is one badass ***** (taking a cue from cutting out swearing like in the book). I mean Oh my frigging goodness. That was quite a ride. I knew Ezra wasn't dead. The way AIDAN went about it. I knew it. Totally knew it. Woohoo!!!

I also predicted that Ezra's mother was behind all of this. Seriously? Cigarette burns on her sons hands? Man o man. I bow down to Kady for being as badass as she is. Especially the way she ended the messaging to Leanne. A outright threat and a 'read em and weep' gesture with the kiss. So badass.

I admire she kept her humor throughout all the craziness. And AIDAN sort of redeemed itself. It's definitely in love with Kady.

There are more books. woohoo!! I don't know how the next ones will be but I'm super curious to find out. I hope they stay with the format. It's absolutely fascinating.

Kady Kady Kady. SALUTE!!

[t.]

Rafaela (bibliophilebanshee) wrote: "He's something new for me. I never saw him as a psycho, I could understand the reason why he killed all those people..."

I could also understand what AIDAN did to the Copernicus. It is programmed to protect the fleet, it saw a major threat and acted on it. What Kady said it's true, though, it didn't accont for miracles, and at the end, it learned that those do sometimes happen, because Kady surviving this chaos was nothing short of a miracle. Still, it was highly unlikely and had it thought of giving them more time, it may have implied yet a bigger problem. So, while I understand the why, the how is what troubled me and led me to see AIDAN as a psycho. When you're reading this and have the chance to see it all from a safe distance, you may get it, but when it goes on about how merciful it is, that's when it gets creepy. Although I did enjoy that creepy tone, it was so... I don't know how to explain it, so upsetting, but at the same time so intriguing.

Ezra's mom being behind all this took me completely by surprise, but Ezra's being alive became more than a tiny hope when AIDAN told Kady she had to survive because, if not, who would remember Byron and Dorian and this, and that, but didn't mention Ezra. That's when I became 100% sure he was somewhere.

[t.]

Athraja wrote: "There are more books. woohoo!! I don't know how the next ones will be but I'm super curious to find out. I hope they stay with the format. It's absolutely fascinating."

From the goodreads page, apparently each book focuses on the same attack, but from different perspectives. I'm not completely sure how that's supposed to work out, but I have faith it will be as awesome as the first book. I hope.

[Alex]

This book was amazing! The dossier style was refreshing. My favorite aspect of Night Film was the added documents and photos and this book took it to a whole new level. The AI and the biological warfare and the politics were so well thought out. The book was like building a puzzle to understand what was happening. It left so much mystery until the end.
It is such an emotional roller coaster. I quite literally burst into tears when I read that Ezra was alive and Kady is exactly the kind of character I have been looking for - a strong logical female who is ready to take on anything. I was very pleased with this month's choice and I already have a friend I am loaning the book to.

[Mandi]

Love love loved this book! Is anyone else thinking that this would make a GREAT movie? Kady and Ezra's relationship was great, although kind of predictable (broken up at the beginning but thrown together by tragedy and then rekindled their feelings kind of thing). I really liked the sarcasm in their conversations, and how they could make light of such a bad situation.

I was really interested in AIDAN. Artificial intelligence always intrigues me and the thought of it going haywire and having to basically be reprogrammed and retaught from the ground up or it would destroy everyone was interesting to watch. I also think it developed more emotions and empathy as it interacted with Kady towards the end.

I wish there was more information/back story on Kady's online friend and helper (see, I don't even remember his name), because I think he played a major role but wasn't really brought out as a considerable character until towards the end.

Overall, couldn't put this book down. Even though it was thick, it was a really quick read and I think all the different styles used in this book, from the journal entries to the diagrams, really added to the story and helped the reader jump 100% into Kady and Ezra's world.

EDIT: TOTALLY forgot how obsessed I was with the illness that spread turning people into savage killers. It really turned this story into a kind of Alien meets Star Wars kind a thing aka SO AWESOME.