Illuminae

[WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!]

Wow, where to begin... Well I'll just say, I've never voluntarily picked up a sci-fi novel because it's never been an interest of mine. Mostly because of the sci-fi movies I've seen over the years and the typical stories within the genre. It seems like the same story gets repeated over and over again. But, I'm so glad this book was my first voluntary sci-fi read. It's like the gateway book for those who want to read sci-fi but aren't sure if it'll be the story for them.

Like other new readers to the series, I wasn't sure if the whole email, IMs, audio recordings, and interview scripts would make the book an interesting read. I've seen some novels experiment with formatting and it ends up hurting the story rather than helping or making it a better experience. But, I don't see how Illuminae could have been told in traditional prose format. If so, there would a lot of IM readings versus prose and it would clog the reading experience.

I really admired this books for its effort into creating this new world, and the files the reader would view from page to page. I couldn't imagine how long it took to compile this novel. But, every page is engaging to read.

I did have some concerns towards the end as well as some technical legitimacy for the story. First off, the story takes place in 2575, that's so far into the future, it would be hard to predict what technological advances there would be by then. But, according to the advances going on presently, there would be way more drones, AI, and robotic uses. Wall-E may be Disney's idea on the future, but it seems way more accurate than Guardians of the Galaxy when it comes to earth like planets. The truck Kady drives in the beginning of the story seems to be old technology from like centuries ago in their time. How could it still be operating? Also, the military by that point would be using way more robotic soldiers than humans because of the robot's ability to complete a mission without any emotional or physical set-backs. I may not read a lot of sci-fi, but there seems to be some lack of logical sense for the technological advancements in this story.

Now, my issue with the end is this; the plot twist of the story is that AIDEN tricked Kady into thinking Ezra was alive and still on board the Alexander, resulting in her risking her life to retrieve him back to her ship, the Hypatia. After the reveal of Ezra's death, Kady's motivation to keep fighting vanishes and so does my motivation to keep rooting for her and the afflicted people on the Alexander. I checked out half the time while reading because I was rooting for Kady to find Ezra and live happily ever after, so to speak. Yes I like happy endings. Also because that part of the story was mostly told through AIDEN'S perspective. After awhile I eventually accepted Ezra's death and kept reading. Only to be told in the end that AIDEN told a lie on top of a lie that Ezra is still alive. At that point I was like WHAT? I mean I was happy for Kady of course, but I was kinda over the dramatic twist after twist, especially when it involved my favorite character. But, it seemed like a rushed solution and also a confusing one. It's not clear as to how he made it out alive after being outnumbered by Lincoln warlards. I'm happy they're together again, but I'm not sure I'm pleased with Ezra being out of the picture for so long then magically appearing again. It was like a "oh by the way Ezra isn't really dead" moment.

But, other than that, I really enjoyed this book. It's a great starter book for those that want to read sci-fi without being over run by theories, math problems, and scientific vocabulary no one can understand without already being a scientist. I'm usually not a fan of collaboration books, but this one was very well written. The authors were in sync with one another and didn't try to make their voice heard over the other. Out of 5 stars I give it a 4.5.

#science #AI #love #survival #scandal