Back in 2015, I declared my favorite novel of the year to be Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. When I first saw its beautiful cover in the bookstore I knew I was going to enjoy the book; once I opened up the pages, I knew I was going to love it.
Illuminae is the first book in a trilogy called The Illuminae Files. The premise of the first novel is that in the distant future, the year 2575, humans are living all over the universe. The main characters of the first novel live on a planet that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. It's just a small speck at the edge of the universe. Yet two mega-corporations have a dispute over said planet and end up attacking the planet. The people living on the planet have to evacuate onto a few spaceships while being tailed by a warship.
The story follows two main characters by the names of Kady and Ezra. The two main characters had been dating until Kady broke up with Ezra mere minutes before the attack on the planet begun. Their relationship, however, is the least of their worries. The escape fleet's AI, Aiden, appears to be malfunctioning, and no one in charge will reveal what's happening. There also seems to be more going on the fleet's ship. Kady tries to hack her way into finding out the truth, only to discover the only way to figure out what's going on may be to communicate with her ex-boyfriend Ezra.
One of the most enjoyable things about Illuminae is how this already intriguing story is set up. As a piece of more experimental fiction, the story is told through documents, such as emails, schematics, military files, ane more. Even though the physical copy of the book is massive, I blew through the pages in no time at all. Discovering the truth through the eyes of our main characters and exploring this unique method of story telling had me choosing this book as one of my all time favorites.
If you chose to read Illuminae now, then you luckily won't have to wait for the second book in the trilogy! Gemina is already out and published. The third and final book in the series, which is currently untitled, will be published around the fall of 2017.
