Illuminae

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 ...

Book content warnings:
ABLEISM
fatphobia

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 show more 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)? show less

Even though I have two books going on right now, and one is non-renewable, I had to sneak a peek at [b:Illuminae|23395680|Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)|Amie Kaufman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443433956s/23395680.jpg|26653661], which had also arrived from the library, and once I was in I really couldn't stop.

First, never in a million years did I think I would ever be sympathizing with and even rooting for a mostly insane AI. But then there's a first time for everything. I enjoyed the dynamic between Kady and Ezra, and later between Kady and AIDAN. And I'm glad that all three appear to have made it through in the end. I know there is a deep divide here, but I also enjoyed the format.

What I didn't realize when I started was show more that this was science fiction crossed with some horror, and while I like science fiction, horror is just not for me. Especially not when I thought I'd read some science fiction before bed, and then wound up almost screaming out loud when the afflicted started taunting and then going after Kady. But the book was done so well that while there were a few times I wanted to stop reading (the scene I just described was one of them) but just couldn't stop reading. And now I so want to know what happens next that I'll most likely be reading the next book in the series, although probably only during daylight hours... show less

Set in the year 2575, colonists living on the remote planet Kerenza are under attack in what is essentially a war between two corporations in a dispute over the illegal mining of hermium. Survivors of the attack are evacuated to three starships. The story is an action-packed thriller involving hunting down spaceships, a deadly plague, computer hacking, an artificial intelligence-gone-rogue, shoot-outs, and, in the midst of it all, a teenage romance between protagonists Kady and Ezra.

The book is structured in an unusual and creative format, combining interviews, transcripts, computer logs, official reports, statistics, instant messages, and more. It is infused with sarcastic humor and embedded references to its obvious influences (e.g., show more Star Trek, Star Wars). It does not give much background about the source of the dispute.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I own a hard copy, but I am glad I chose to listen to the audio book. The audio production is fabulous! It is performed by a cast and felt like listening to an old-fashioned radio broadcast with futuristic content. show less

"Illuminae" is an engaging, exciting, and fundamentally original Science Fiction Must-Read novel. Alternatively, it's a Must-Listen-To full-cast audiobook, which changes the novel into an engrossing radio play.

"Illuminae" is the story of an attack by a rival corporation on a rival's illegal mining colony the is interrupted by a navy warship and the aftermath, when thousands of survivors, crammed onto two civilian ships and the, now crippled, navy warship, make a month's long run for safety, pursued a Corporate Dreadnaught that is determined to eliminate all witnesses to the attack.

The story is presented as a series of reports, recording conversations and analysis security video footage with no prose binding them together. This may show more sound tedious but it's done with such skill and with such a clever structure that I believe the authors have produced a novel form that is fundamentally disruptive. It's like the leap from "Tristram Shandy" to "Pride and Prejudice" in terms of form. This is the bloom of an almost post-literate generation that has freed itself from linear text and the straight-jacket of grammar that keeps writing on the ground and has taken to swinging through the trees with the confidence of those who've grown up comfortable with Kanji/Emoli/Gif ideography.

"Illuminae" is categorised as a Young Adult novel, perhaps because two of the main characters are teenagers, but this makes it no more of soft, easy read than "Hunger Games". The action is graphic and sometimes deeply disturbing. The emotional impact is high but not immature. The portrayal of the damaged-but-trying AI is first-rate. There are strong edge-of-your-seat thriller aspects to this book. It kept me caring and guessing right to the end.

I was so engaged with "Illuminae" that I posted my reactions on booklikes.com as I went along (something goodreads.com doesn't give me the space to do. In the spirit of the novel form used in "Illuminas", I've included the unedited posts below to give you a flavour of my reading experience.

After those posts, you'll find an extract from the audiobook so you can hear for yourself what the performance is like.

"Illuminae" is the first book of a trilogy, so, if you like this, there's plenty more to come.

Source: Unedited Posts from Mike Finn's Booklikes account from the evening of 16th to early morning of 21st June 2018



Time: 6:15 pm 16 June 2018

Subject: Reading progress update: I've read 11%. and I'm worried about how sustainable this narrative approach is

This series received a lot of positive reviews in the press and social media so I picked it up even though I've never read either author

I'm now a little over an hour in.

The good news is that I'm listening to the audiobook which is an all cast production. The actors are good. The action and point of view shifts are plentiful. The unknown but suspected falls across the plot like an early morning shadow.

The conceit of the book is that the story is told through a series of files, reports and emails compiled by a covert agency and delivered to an as-yet-unnamed client.

In this regard, it reminds me of "Sleeping Giants"

My worry is that I ran out of patience for the radio-play with stage instructions read out loud narrative technique of "Sleeping Giants" after about four hours. The book was six hours long.

"Illuminae" is more than eleven hours long and is book one of a trilogy.

I'm hoping for something clever and engaging that fills the gap left by all the stuff in a novel that isn't dialogue.

Date: 11:10 am 18 June 2018

Subject: Reading progress update: I've read 37%. - OK - so the format works if I take it an hour or so at a time

I'm more than four hours into this eleven-hour novel, which, in the audiobook version, is a full cast production.

When "Sleeping Giants" was presented in the same way, I'd lost patience with it by the four-hour mark.

This time, I'm enjoying myself.

I put the difference down to the quality of the writing - the characterisation and the emotion in the dialogue / first-person reports are excellent - I found the report on a Marine SNAFU assault quite moving for example.

There is also a nice balance between a more personal relationship between the two teen protagonists and the more role-driven interactions between the captains of the military and civilian scientific ship.

I find it difficult to listen for more than an hour at a time, but I think that has more to do with the quiet desperation of the story than to the format.

Date 6:45 pm 19 June 2018

Subject: Reading progress update: I've read 54%.just met the AI and...

WOW

No other word for it.

Six hours into something good and suddenly a switch is flipped and I'm six hours into something great.



Date 10:52 am 20 June 2018

Reading progress update: I've read 74%. - I've been here before except I REALLY haven't

I'm rationing this book now as I have real life things that I need to do today. So much for, "I' can only take one hour at a time".

Right now I'm at a part that ought to be making me yawn. I've seen all the "Resident Evil" movies (now there's a confession). I know all about having a kick-ass heroine shoot her way through rabid used-to-be-people killers in a confined space with alarms sounding in the background, red warning lights flashing and severed high-voltage powerlines arcing.

I've so been there,

But never like this.

Never with a smart brave heroine who cannot bring herself to kill.

Never with rabid used-to-be people that I feel deeply sorry for.

Never with an understanding that, when this isn't a first-person shooter game but an atrocity in which everyone is the victim, that winning isn't possible because surviving can cost too much.

Never with so much damned intensity and not a single line of prose.

In my work life, there's a lot of focus on disruption as something that changes the rules in commerce, opening up new opportunities and challenging established ways of working.

The structure of this novel is fundamentally disruptive. It's like the leap from "Tristram Shandy" to "Pride and Prejudice" in terms of form. This is the bloom of an almost post-literate generation that has freed itself from linear text and the straight-jacket of grammar that keeps writing on the ground and has taken to swinging through the trees with the confidence of those who've grown up comfortable with Kanji/Emoli/Gif ideography. To an old guy like me, it's astonishing and wonderful.



Date: 12:51 am 21 June 2018

Subject: Reading progress 100% - wonderful to the very last page

So much for rationing myself. I got my real-world tasks done and then sat on my balcony in the growing dark, listening until nearly midnight.

What a ride. So much emotion. Such a cleverly constructed plot that never felt contrived but continued to surprise and delight.

I'll write a review when the book has had time to settle.

Right now, I'm clear on three things: the audiobook format for this book is a great choice, I have two new authors to follow. I'm so glad the next book has already been published.

Extract from Audiobook version of "Illuminae"

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/263791539" params="color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%" height="300" iframe="true" /] show less

Two teens in love struggle to maintain hope as their lives fall apart in an intergalactic war. I enjoyed it, but maybe not for the reasons the authors wanted me to enjoy it. The romance is bland, the chaos is delightful. I was a lot more happy that AIDAN survived than that Ezra did.

WOW, just wow... I cannot believe how absolutely amazing this book ended up being. Now I know that almost everyone has loved it, but that doesn't always mean I will, but I LOVED this book. These authors strung together the most heart pounding crazy space epic I have read so far. I absolutely adored it at every turn. The book make me gasp, yell, crazy, freak out --- all the emotions at once sometimes.

I was lucky enough to have known about this book and know that everyone loved it but also stay away from any reviews and spoilers until I read it - so I won't be the one to spoil it for anyone either. just know that it is not what you expect at all and prepare to be amazed and shocked at every turn.

So on to this plot now that I am done show more fangirling.... sorry about that. Illuminae is written up as a casefile on an incident - the incident being the attack of a planet. The book is a record of everything that happened but mostly focuses on two people, teens actually, Kady and Ezra. The file contains messages, recordings, files from the ships, data records, lots of interesting things to read and look through. Anywho, Kady and Ezra are on different ships after escaping their planets destruction. The are both being chased but there is a bunch of hinky stuff going on too. Kady is trying to find out the answers, Ezra is trying to follow orders, and everyone is just trying to survive. Lots of suspense and lots of craziness take place.

I loved the way this book was put together, you read conversations and files as snapshots of what is happening and that made of easy reading even though the book is super bulky (599 pages). I started reading pretty slowly as the story began but about 100 pages in it took off and I could not put it down, I finished the rest in about 3 sittings, and that was only because I had to eat and run an errand.

What can I say, I loved the whirlwind of emotions this book created. The characters were so interesting and fun to follow, and the plot was so crazy that I never thought it would make sense in the end but it does.... oh so much. I cannot wait for the next one. show less

Un po’ sci-fi, un po’ young adult, un po’ graphic novel, un po’ b-movie splatter. E di (quasi) tutto solo gli aspetti positivi e con una serie di scelte stilistico-narrative fantastiche.
Due protagonisti: la ragazza nerd che fa il culo a tutti, l’intelligenza artificiale che sbarella e che in tanti punti ricorda HAL9000.
Mi sono divertita, alcune cose sono un po’ scontate ma non troppo e con quel che in più, alcuni aspetti sono un po’ tirati per i capelli (es: dei report hanno un linguaggio non credibile, Aidan mi casca un po’ troppo sul sentimentale). Però che figata!!!