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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm torn how to rate this book.
On levels of pure unadulterated enjoyment, I would totally give this book a 5. I laughed out loud, I cried my eyes out, I read lines like a freaking speed reader to get to the end of this. It had everything I look for in a novel.
This found footage type of book is super fun to read, but you have to do it right. Because the problem is that character development can get lost in the shuffle. So while this book was a riotous and wild ride, filled with every type of everything you could want in a sci-fi book, I didn't connect with the characters, at times, as much I wanted to. Kady was pretty good there toward the end, and AIDAN was a ton of fun, but Ezra was never more than a blip for me. Like I didn't even miss him when.
I think there was a lot to gain from the side characters, but golly gee, there were so many of them that I got lost at times, trying to figure out who was who. So freaking many characters that ended up sidelined, dropped, or killed brutally. Which I totally get! I mean, this book was supposed to be brutal.
I dunno. I'm not sure what this book was missing that didn't make me want to shout from the rooftops that EVERY DAMN PERSON should read it, because I really did enjoy it. *shrug* Give it a try and see what you think. And then get back to me if you figure it out.
Can't wait to read the next ones! (and by the way, so happy that ending wasn't a total cliffhanger! I was prepared, but totally relieved that there was an ending.)
PS- This is a side note that I hope doesn't get me into trouble with the goodreads gods, but if you like this found footage style, I HIGHLY recommend House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I first read this book uh... 15 years ago? And it has haunted me ever since. THIS is a book that gets down in your bones and never leaves. Haunting, creepy, interesting, and so well done. It's pretty much genius.
Enjoy!
On levels of pure unadulterated enjoyment, I would totally give this book a 5. I laughed out loud, I cried my eyes out, I read lines like a freaking speed reader to get to the end of this. It had everything I look for in a novel.
This found footage type of book is super fun to read, but you have to do it right. Because the problem is that character development can get lost in the shuffle. So while this book was a riotous and wild ride, filled with every type of everything you could want in a sci-fi book, I didn't connect with the characters, at times, as much I wanted to. Kady was pretty good there toward the end, and AIDAN was a ton of fun, but Ezra was never more than a blip for me. Like I didn't even miss him when
Spoiler
he diedI think there was a lot to gain from the side characters, but golly gee, there were so many of them that I got lost at times, trying to figure out who was who. So freaking many characters that ended up sidelined, dropped, or killed brutally. Which I totally get! I mean, this book was supposed to be brutal.
I dunno. I'm not sure what this book was missing that didn't make me want to shout from the rooftops that EVERY DAMN PERSON should read it, because I really did enjoy it. *shrug* Give it a try and see what you think. And then get back to me if you figure it out.
Can't wait to read the next ones! (and by the way, so happy that ending wasn't a total cliffhanger! I was prepared, but totally relieved that there was an ending.)
PS- This is a side note that I hope doesn't get me into trouble with the goodreads gods, but if you like this found footage style, I HIGHLY recommend House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I first read this book uh... 15 years ago? And it has haunted me ever since. THIS is a book that gets down in your bones and never leaves. Haunting, creepy, interesting, and so well done. It's pretty much genius.
Enjoy!
So that was a fast read!
I really enjoyed this book. It had most everything, space opera, zombies, an AI doing a HAL... and the two main characters have just broken up.
But what made this book shine above and beyond the plot was how the authors chose to tell the story. Everything is in the form of a briefing guide to an unknown reader (until the very end) and it is all made up of ship communications, chats, secret and hidden journals, transcripts of surveillance footage, ship schematics and more. It makes for a very interesting way to tell a story, and makes the 599 pages fly faster because of the extra white space in the book from this form of storytelling. It's like Dracula being completely written in letter format updated for the current age.
There were several plot twists along the way that I didn't completely see coming, and that's hard as I usually do. I have the next book in the series on request at my library and I hope it arrives soon! This is definitely a book I would recommend you read rather than listen too as it is such a visual enjoyment, that is crossing the boarder between a regular book and a graphic novel, just in the way some of the words are written across the page during battles etc. I can't wait to read more of the trilogy!
I really enjoyed this book. It had most everything, space opera, zombies, an AI doing a HAL... and the two main characters have just broken up.
But what made this book shine above and beyond the plot was how the authors chose to tell the story. Everything is in the form of a briefing guide to an unknown reader (until the very end) and it is all made up of ship communications, chats, secret and hidden journals, transcripts of surveillance footage, ship schematics and more. It makes for a very interesting way to tell a story, and makes the 599 pages fly faster because of the extra white space in the book from this form of storytelling. It's like Dracula being completely written in letter format updated for the current age.
There were several plot twists along the way that I didn't completely see coming, and that's hard as I usually do. I have the next book in the series on request at my library and I hope it arrives soon! This is definitely a book I would recommend you read rather than listen too as it is such a visual enjoyment, that is crossing the boarder between a regular book and a graphic novel, just in the way some of the words are written across the page during battles etc. I can't wait to read more of the trilogy!
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
A very strong 4.5-
I loved this book. Nearly everything about it blew me away. The only thing I found lacking was the beginning, which dragged on and it didn’t feel like the story picked up until the 150-250 page mark.
I loved this book. Nearly everything about it blew me away. The only thing I found lacking was the beginning, which dragged on and it didn’t feel like the story picked up until the 150-250 page mark.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have no words. Read this. Just.. read it.
…wow.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"I wonder if she is the kind to dream of happy endings and never risk tragedy. The kind to close her eyes and hope, rather than force them open and see the truth, wonderful or terrible as it is. I do not wonder long."
Me throughout this entire book:
This is one of those books that you hear incredible, spectacular things about but you can't really understand those incredible, spectacular things until you actually read it. My advice to you is, if you are even the slightest bit interested, pick this up and read it. Just read it. You've heard all the ranting and raving already and by this time you should just see for yourself. I promise you, you won't regret it.
This book is fantastic. I've repeated this phrase to my family so many times, in quiet reverence and in excited sputtering: IT'S SO COOL. How can a collection of files--interviews, audio transcripts, IMs, diary entries, weirdness pulled from a computer's core systems--somehow create characters you care about and tell a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat? Man, I have no idea. Just the fact that this novel worked at all is incredible. The fact that it was one of the best books I've read this year is difficult to process.
The whole thing is difficult to process in general.
It's just so damn compelling. The authors have this fabulous way of making you care about these random side characters that show up for a few pages and then, often, die soon after. How? I can't figure it out. It's amazing.
Plus, the parts that are in real, gorgeous prose (weirdly, it's mostly the files pulled from the artificial intelligence thingy's core) are absolutely perfect. Some of it is like poetry. Hell, there's drawings in this book made entirely of text, and the text depends on what's happening and you just have to read it because IT'S SO COOL.
Basically, I love this book and I love the authors for somehow managing to make one of the most spectacular creations I've ever seen. It's too fantabulous for me to comprehend so I'll just sit here slowly dying.
I have no more words now. This is pretty much an unexplainable book, so really you should just read it and discover all the weirdness and wonderfulness for yourself.
It's YA sci-fi and although I am not normally that much into YA I truly enjoyed this book as something completely different. I bought Illuminae because I enjoyed Nevernight by Jay Kristoff so very much and it did not dissapoint!
It took me a while to get into the way the book is set up, like a series of files. The files tell you the story, I would expect that to make me feel a distance to the main characters but it doesn't. I don't know how they made it work. It was pretty intense!
Combined with some turns I certainly didn't see coming, a fast pace and an AI that says "Am I not merciful?" that makes this a series I will certainly finish. Gemina is bought and ready to go...!
It took me a while to get into the way the book is set up, like a series of files. The files tell you the story, I would expect that to make me feel a distance to the main characters but it doesn't. I don't know how they made it work. It was pretty intense!
Combined with some turns I certainly didn't see coming, a fast pace and an AI that says "Am I not merciful?" that makes this a series I will certainly finish. Gemina is bought and ready to go...!