Nail-biting book-crack told in an innovative and entertaining way. 5/5 stars. 
 This review was originally posted on my blog at https://clairehuston.wordpress.com/20... 
 I've done my very best to make this review spoiler-free, so forgive me if I'm vague and cryptic! 
 I hemmed and hawed a while about whether to be stingy and give this 4.5 stars or give it 5. In the end, I asked myself whether I would forgo food and/or sleep to read the next installment in the series if someone were to give it to me right now. And I would. So 5 stars it is. 
 However. It's not perfect. The final section with Kady and the Alexander went on for too long. And while the way the authors have made inventive use of the page to create images and other effects is mostly ingenious and highly effective, there were a couple of times it was just annoying and made it hard for me to read what was happening. 
 But I have decided to overlook my niggles because this is sheer genius book-crack. Do not pick up this book if you need to sleep or do anything useful for a few hours because you won't want to put it down. 
 From the very get-go this is nail-biting stuff. It's as if the authors sat down and had the following conversation (no spoilers, this is all in the blurb): 
 - "So. The beginning. We need some trauma. What's something bad that can happen in our main characters' personal lives?' 
 - "They could break up?" 
 - "OK, great. Now. How can we make this situation worse?" 
 - "Let's have a massive spaceship turn up and blow up their home and force them to scramble off the planet. Lots of people die. It will be unpleasant." 
 - "Terrific. But we need to ramp up the stakes." 
 - "How about the massive spaceship is now hunting the survivors down, they have little chance of defending themselves and their time is running out?" 
 - "Sounds good. Not quite bad enough though. Anything else?" 
 - "How about a deadly viral outbreak?" 
 - "Aha! Now you're talking! Let's go with that and we'll see how we can make it truly dire as we go..." 
 *evil chuckling drowned out by the clack of the keyboard* 
 Overall: recommended for everyone who enjoys well-written, action-packed sci-fi. Just clear you schedule before you start.