Illuminae [The Illuminae Files, #1] by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I've put off reviewing these books for far too long, which is strange, since I enjoyed them a lot. Hey, I'm fixing it now, aren't I?

Illuminae [The Illuminae Files, #1]
by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

Genre: YA science fiction

My Rating: ★★★★

Description:

That morning, Kady Grant broke up with her boyfriend, Ezra Mason. That afternoon, her planet was invaded.
With two mega-corporations fighting over the ice-covered mining planet Kady calls home, both she and Ezra are forced onto an evacuating fleet with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But that isn't the worst of it. A deadly plague is mutating on board the ships, the onboard AI may not be as benevolent as it was designed to be, and command is keeping secrets -- secrets Kady is about to become tangled in.
As she hacks further into the data and starts to realize what is happening, she has to turn to the one person she swore she'd never speak to again -- her ex-boyfriend.

Overall Thoughts

Illuminae honestly blew me away. I came to the book with fairly average expectations... and maybe a bit of trepidation, as I'd heard that it was, ahem, not exactly a "clean" book. 

But w o w. I actually loved it. 

When I started reading, I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to understand the plot. Or get connected to the characters. Or anything, really. The writing style is just so unusual. Everything is told through a series of electronic messages, transcribed video footage, hacked emails and data, and even the occasional "web page." The beginning of the book is the transcription of interviews conducted on the two main characters. 

I was amazed at how well the format actually told the story. And honestly, I cannot imagine the story being told in any other way.
There were also some really deep and beautiful lines in this book, which I won't spoil. You'll know them when you find them.

The Characters

I really liked Kady as a main character. She definitely wasn't perfect -- okay, maybe a bit of an understatement -- but she's fierce. That's the best word I can think of to describe her. She genuinely loves both of her parents, and I really appreciated that. She's brilliant and brave, but she also makes some mistakes -- a lot of them, actually. But she doesn't ever give up.
I'm still not sure how I feel about Ezra.  He was an interesting character, but definitely not my favorite. At the same time, I couldn't imagine any other character filling his role, so I think he works for this story.
I also liked some of the minor characters -- namely Syra Boll (who really shines in the second book, Gemina). She's just a good character. She's forced to make some tough decisions, especially later in the book, and while I can't say I always agreed with her actions, she was still a very well developed personality.

Plot/Pacing

The plot was, in a word, pulse-pounding, especially entering the last quarter of the story, where the action was moving so fast it was like I was glued to the book. It's so hard to talk about the plot without getting into spoilers -- but wow. There was so much suspense! They're in a spaceship... being controlled by an AI with its own motives... being followed by another spaceship... with zombies. It's insane, seriously. The pacing was spot on and I was never bored.
I was not expecting any really good plot twists, but man, was I proved wrong. There were some mind-blowing twists near the end, which I did not see coming even when the foreshadowing was figuratively jumping off the page at me. Maybe it's just me, as I'm very, very bad at predicting plot twists with any measure of accuracy. :P

Content

Recommended for ages 15 and up.

There is a lot of violence, as well as some disturbing descriptions. Descriptions of blood and the effects of the plague, as well as descriptions of what some of the Afflicted do to the other passengers. Some of these descriptions bordered on being gory, and were near the upper limits of what I can handle in a book.
There was a lot of language, but most of it was blacked out. Like this: I see you've discovered my secret.  But it's pretty easy to tell what the characters meant to say, despite that. 
There were also some crude/sexual comments and jokes, as well as references to sexual acts. One of these, in particular, was a bit uncomfortable for me to read. 
As far as I remember, there was little to no substance abuse, but I could have forgotten some details.