Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Illuminae

so. i have been collecting some thoughts throughout this whole thing and they might not be especially cohesive, but that's ok, i was always more of a bullet list person.
i like the format of this, it was really interesting and fun, even if limited the amount of what you can learn about the world. some things were weirdly the same considering we're 500 years in the future, as i already expressed.
it might be just me, but the romantic drama between 2 high school seniors was the least interesting part of this thing, i found it irrelevant and at time or two a little bit annoying, but i suppose that's 17/18yo allo people for you. dunno, never been there.
honestly in general, i did not feel much attached to or interested in the characters beyond like a superficial level.
the ai in this was so weirdly melodramatic and rambling aside from its twisted logic which i'm assuming comes from the damage sustained.
in the q&a at the end, the authors mentioned talking with psychiatrists as part of the research that went into this and it does not sound very inspiring, considering the level and amount of demonization of people struggling with psychosis is staggering and infuriating, i think it was actually my biggest problem with this book.
the authors were quite good at creating tension and making one need to read on to know what happens next, i'll give them that.
however, i'm not entirely sure about continuing the series. it's likely i will i guess? not if they continue the ableism though, i'm not gonna stand for that

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nannahnannah's review

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1.0

I'm actually pretty amazed this book doesn't have more negative reviews ... the ableism and fatphobia here are SO rampant it made me go from enjoying this book to me wondering how the manuscript as it is got published at all.
Lots of fatphobic and ableist publishers and agents/editors, I guess ...

So the plot basically opens on a tiny, icy planet "owned" by one Megacorporation--illegally--so it can mine some needed thing for free. Unfortunately for them, another Megacorporation wants the planet for themselves, and since Megacorporation A has it illegally, they figure they can just, you know, massacre everyone there! Thereby getting the planet and getting rid of anyone who could tell on them for genocide ("genocide" in quotes here because culture really didn't evolve on this planet enough).

But the lives here won't go down without a fight. There are three ships that escape, though Megacorporation B takes quick chase.

The book follows Kady Grant and Ezra Mason (who broke up just before their planet was attacked), Byron Zhang (a "chiphead", aka someone good with computers and/or AI), and the AI of the ship that comes to the planet's SOS signal, AIDAN (of the Alexander).

The book is also told as a report filed to sum up everything that happened after Megacorporation B attacked. So ... is it a creative way to tell a story? Maybe. Is it a platform to show good writing?/Is it fun to read? NO. Reports and transcripts and emails are incredibly BORING. In writing and to read! Obviously many people here think differently, but when there are no dialogue tags or ANY prose whatsoever in between the next chat line ... it's so monotonous. Especially when so many of the dialogue lines are single-line swears (oh wait, never mind, because they're bleeped out). Because it's YA, lmao.

Along the same vein, (of "I want my characters to swear, but I can't let them because it's YA, so let's bleep them out), that ABLEISM!

I think the authors wanted a zombie-like atmosphere and crisis on the closed-in environment of the ship, but it was sci-fi so they had to think of something else.

An enviro-weapon!

Which isn't a bad idea, to be honest. But what comes next? IS.

Stop using mentally ill people as your fictional monsters!!!
I literally don't care if it's """technically""" not the same because it gets passed to each other in a virus-like format and blah blah blah, if you're saying it's like extreme PTSD (which I have, thanks guys) and that these people aren't even human anymore, it's ableist as (BLEEP). Not to mention it really seems like neither author has ever even known a genuinely mentally ill person before; everything is SCREAMING and MOANING and MOANING and SCREAMING (and killing each other, of course).

It's like 1960's asylum movies all over again!! Only worse because these authors should know better!

So yeah, I wanted to set this book on fire. But it's a library copy.
Also, the authors just loved making fatphobic comparisons--what the hell is that about?

I can't wait to get rid of this book soon enough. Unlikable characters, unlikable prose (when there was a sort of prose, and just ... a book that went on an on -- plus over 200 pages covered completely with black ink?? And only like 5 words in white ink? Are you serious (200 PAGES)?

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laurajones's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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