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A review by mothreadsbookssometimes
Illuminae by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Illuminae was a fantastic book and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. I first read the Aurora Cycle trilogy, and I loved it so much that I had to read the rest of Kristoff’s and Kaufman’s works. And boy, am I having a time!
Illuminae is a very YA-friendly sci-fi mystery/thriller (I know it’s not tagged as a thriller, but it is) with minimal swearing (“censored on reports”), and only vague references to sex (jokes about “your sister” and references to acts done prior to the events of the story).
Take it from someone who normally hates thrillers, this book is good. Admittedly, there’s a lot of death and blood (only a few disturbingly gory parts, though), so do keep that in mind, but I didn’t find it too uncomfortable and I’m normally a very squeamish person.
Can’t wait for the next book!
Illuminae is a very YA-friendly sci-fi mystery/thriller (I know it’s not tagged as a thriller, but it is) with minimal swearing (“censored on reports”), and only vague references to sex (jokes about “your sister” and references to acts done prior to the events of the story).
Take it from someone who normally hates thrillers, this book is good. Admittedly, there’s a lot of death and blood (only a few disturbingly gory parts, though), so do keep that in mind, but I didn’t find it too uncomfortable and I’m normally a very squeamish person.
Can’t wait for the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, and Death of parent
Minor: Confinement, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm
I know it’s a lot of content warnings, so do proceed with caution. I’m not very good with blood/gore, but I only had a couple small parts (see below) that made me uncomfortable.
There’s a lot of death, but it’s not vividly gory until about 45% (I think) into the book when they enter the quarantine bay and 70% through when the remaining Alexander survivors escape the ship . For the most part, they just say “there’s blood/dead bodies/screams in the distance” but they don’t go into great detail with every mention of violence.