A review by tsunni
Illuminae by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The unique epistolary format is pretty neat and mostly enjoyable; I had fun with it. Some of it was less enjoyable to read when text goes flying all over the place or is stacked in various orientations. I don’t know if the format helped or hindered the characters for me, but they did a great job of being completely uninteresting on their own, so maybe the format didn’t matter as much. 

YA can be really hit or miss when I try it, and I’m chalking this one up to not being the target audience; they’re just so young. The adults being infected with YA-dumb-adult syndrome didn’t help, but their general characterization felt lacking too. Mostly what I got out of the story and characters was drama for the sake of drama, and a lot of well worn tropes. Oh well.