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littlebookthief 's review for:
Illuminae
by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman
*5 stars*
preface : BEWILDERED.
okay, one moment, please, to actually collect my thoughts on how I felt reading this book ........ fuck, here we go.
non spoiler rant :
why do I have a non spoiler rant, you say? well, because there's literally not many I can say that would instantly not get you bombarded with spoilers.
okay. first of all, this is probably my first EVER ya sci-fi fiction, so I am definitely not experienced with the themes and everything. the presentation of this book ... is GORGEOUS. for those who don't know, this book is not your usual novel, because the story isn't told through words and paragraphs, but in a rather unique, e.g. through journals, encrypted messages, email and test messaging logs, and just really crazy-loopy-warpy-creative illustrations (gonna explain later in the spoiler rant). I'd say this, it's not for everybody. as for me, this novel was really fresh and because the pages itself has pictures, illustrations, and just hints here and there made it so easy to read and consume, also was very fun and DEFINITELY not boring.
as for what the story is about, i'd say, think REALLY REALLY hard what the synopsis tells you. It took me by surprise because I didn't pay attention to it at first, but the synopsis is already telling you about all that will happen in the story lol (spare my overflowing tears because I didn't notice it and was mindfucked soo many times while reading)
now, to the spoiler rant :
WHAT. THE FUCK. WAS THAT. sorry though, I really can't hold my tongue from saying nasty words in this so very "fluent and professional" review because I really just can't. WHY? WHY? WHY? Why did you have to wreck me this way?
man, this novel. in the beginning, I was unsure, because it just hit me that the first message was just a prologue and this whole time we were witnessing a past record of the whole story. gee, thanks authors. sorry for not paying attention a lot sooner, maybe I am just that dense.
the story. before that, shout out to the illustrators, for not only making me confused half way and so I had to put the book away for a minute to process stuff, but my god, you're geniuses. i don't know how you did it, but you and also the audiobook helped me ascend to a different dimension while reading this book. the plot was just so so good. pacing? to me, it was super fast. and i'm okay with that, because that mixed in with the suspense and plot twists, it all worked well. I mean, I cried a few times due to sudden shock, but I'm okay.
the characters. I love, LOVE LOVE love, kady and ezra. It was cheesy at times, since it's young love and all, but how I was SO PROUD AT THEM. One of my favorite moments was when Ezra said "I'm proud of you" to Kady, but now I can't for the life of me remember what exact page it was, and if it was Ezra, or AIDAN. on the other hand, kady's voice actor was not on par with Ezra's in terms of intonation and emotions in her voice was so often frustrating for me, but she had so many badass lines that well, I'll just f*ck with it, then (i censored it, yeay!).
so many good characters died here, and many of them are who I actually started to care about. salute to James McNulty, he was the man. Dorian? Le fevre? Their short convo was cute, but I let you go now. Torrence? f*ck him. Honestly, I was happy that he was gone. Byron? i am confused to what the hell did you do, what you ALMOST do, and what you did. You're still a hero, though, so salute to you.
AIDAN. holy shit. at first, I was like, are you f*cking with me? are we supposed to defense this peace of shit? really? no, right? no no no no no no... no no no no no ... you are INSANE. like a psychopath. what even the hell is this. it. yes, IT. why did this happen? I really couldn't understand what's inside AIDAN's mind at first. I wanted to throw away the book, the first time. But I continued, and continued, and the chaotic scene I saw in the beginning, it doesn't compare. not even close. i really liked how he "died" in the end, though. I was happy he got his part of torture in the end, as well, before he died. At least, he actually changed his mind, though only the readers know about it, though.
forgot to add :
I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE WE SPENT HALF OF THE BOOK, ONLY TO REVEAL THAT EZRA IS FUCKING DEAD AND IT WAS AIDAN THE WHOLE TIME WE HAVE SEEN OF HIM (almost ALL, THOUGH), AND I SPENT THE LATTER HALF HATING AND CRYING OVER KADY AND AIDAN, BUT THEN IN THE END IT WAS LIKE, OH SHIT, EZRA WAS ACTUALLY ALIVE THOUGH ON SHORT STRAW, AND KADY WAS RESCUED!!! OH, AND APPARENTLY OUR ENEMY IS EZRA'S MOTHER, KID YOU NOT.
that's cold, chum. real cold.
preface : BEWILDERED.
okay, one moment, please, to actually collect my thoughts on how I felt reading this book ........ fuck, here we go.
non spoiler rant :
why do I have a non spoiler rant, you say? well, because there's literally not many I can say that would instantly not get you bombarded with spoilers.
okay. first of all, this is probably my first EVER ya sci-fi fiction, so I am definitely not experienced with the themes and everything. the presentation of this book ... is GORGEOUS. for those who don't know, this book is not your usual novel, because the story isn't told through words and paragraphs, but in a rather unique, e.g. through journals, encrypted messages, email and test messaging logs, and just really crazy-loopy-warpy-creative illustrations (gonna explain later in the spoiler rant). I'd say this, it's not for everybody. as for me, this novel was really fresh and because the pages itself has pictures, illustrations, and just hints here and there made it so easy to read and consume, also was very fun and DEFINITELY not boring.
as for what the story is about, i'd say, think REALLY REALLY hard what the synopsis tells you. It took me by surprise because I didn't pay attention to it at first, but the synopsis is already telling you about all that will happen in the story lol (spare my overflowing tears because I didn't notice it and was mindfucked soo many times while reading)
now, to the spoiler rant :
WHAT. THE FUCK. WAS THAT. sorry though, I really can't hold my tongue from saying nasty words in this so very "fluent and professional" review because I really just can't. WHY? WHY? WHY? Why did you have to wreck me this way?
man, this novel. in the beginning, I was unsure, because it just hit me that the first message was just a prologue and this whole time we were witnessing a past record of the whole story. gee, thanks authors. sorry for not paying attention a lot sooner, maybe I am just that dense.
the story. before that, shout out to the illustrators, for not only making me confused half way and so I had to put the book away for a minute to process stuff, but my god, you're geniuses. i don't know how you did it, but you and also the audiobook helped me ascend to a different dimension while reading this book. the plot was just so so good. pacing? to me, it was super fast. and i'm okay with that, because that mixed in with the suspense and plot twists, it all worked well. I mean, I cried a few times due to sudden shock, but I'm okay.
the characters. I love, LOVE LOVE love, kady and ezra. It was cheesy at times, since it's young love and all, but how I was SO PROUD AT THEM. One of my favorite moments was when Ezra said "I'm proud of you" to Kady, but now I can't for the life of me remember what exact page it was, and if it was Ezra, or AIDAN. on the other hand, kady's voice actor was not on par with Ezra's in terms of intonation and emotions in her voice was so often frustrating for me, but she had so many badass lines that well, I'll just f*ck with it, then (i censored it, yeay!).
so many good characters died here, and many of them are who I actually started to care about. salute to James McNulty, he was the man. Dorian? Le fevre? Their short convo was cute, but I let you go now. Torrence? f*ck him. Honestly, I was happy that he was gone. Byron? i am confused to what the hell did you do, what you ALMOST do, and what you did. You're still a hero, though, so salute to you.
AIDAN. holy shit. at first, I was like, are you f*cking with me? are we supposed to defense this peace of shit? really? no, right? no no no no no no... no no no no no ... you are INSANE. like a psychopath. what even the hell is this. it. yes, IT. why did this happen? I really couldn't understand what's inside AIDAN's mind at first. I wanted to throw away the book, the first time. But I continued, and continued, and the chaotic scene I saw in the beginning, it doesn't compare. not even close. i really liked how he "died" in the end, though. I was happy he got his part of torture in the end, as well, before he died. At least, he actually changed his mind, though only the readers know about it, though.
forgot to add :
I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE WE SPENT HALF OF THE BOOK, ONLY TO REVEAL THAT EZRA IS FUCKING DEAD AND IT WAS AIDAN THE WHOLE TIME WE HAVE SEEN OF HIM (almost ALL, THOUGH), AND I SPENT THE LATTER HALF HATING AND CRYING OVER KADY AND AIDAN, BUT THEN IN THE END IT WAS LIKE, OH SHIT, EZRA WAS ACTUALLY ALIVE THOUGH ON SHORT STRAW, AND KADY WAS RESCUED!!! OH, AND APPARENTLY OUR ENEMY IS EZRA'S MOTHER, KID YOU NOT.
that's cold, chum. real cold.