Originally published: Oct 2015

Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Set in: Space

Genre: Science Fiction; Young Adult

Page count: 599

Reading dates: 5-9 March 2018

All the stars! What a fantastic read!
Set in 2575 and told through a series of emails, instant messages, official military reports, schematics and even the stream of thoughts from an AI called AIDAN, Illuminae tells the story of an invasion of the planet Kerenza by the BeiTech Corporation.

Teenagers Kady and Ezra, who were once girlfriend and boyfriend and who are now barely even talking to each other, are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. Soon, it becomes apparent that a deadly plague has broken out of one of the ships and the ship’s AI which should be working to protect them, is also trying to destroy them.
I’d seen Illuminae around a lot on people’s Instagram feeds and had picked it up and flicked through it several times in bookshops before putting it back thinking I wouldn’t get on with the format, but once I got used to it, I loved it!
This had some genuine heart stopping moments for me – the format makes for a quick read and I can’t wait to read Gemina and Obsidio!