Never. 
 Never ever. 
 Never ever ever has a book left me feeling so dehydrated. 
 I cried all of my water in my body away. I cried because I fell in love with a teenaged hacker and because I also fell in love with a computer processor, and "she runs one gloved hand over the console in her arms. All of me she can hold." 
 (view spoiler)[And when they wafted off into space together, and I thought that was the end, it was also the end of me. 
 But it wasn't the end; the end was a relief, and not as bleak as I thought it might have been. (hide spoiler)] But this book is the best book I have read in - I don't know how long. Ages. And it's because of this. It is so tactile, so real, so unbelievably absorbing and emotionally charged. 
 It's the story of Kady, mainly, and a little bit Ezra - but mostly Kady. Kady and Ezra's planet, Kerenza IV, is razed by a super corporation that's thirsting for the crap that they're illegally mining. So the people of Kerenza flee on a fleet of ships controlled by an artificial intelligence program titled AIDAN, only to be pursued by the invaders who want to wipe out the witnesses of their genocide on Kerenza IV. 
 From there it's a cat and mouse game, but it's also virus horror, and romance, and pure science fiction beauty, all wrapped up in a package of what it means to be human. That pathetic tagline is pasted all over a lot of books who are about as deep as a kiddie pool, but this book means it. This book doesn't take what it means to be human and make it all about "well I took a bullet for my crush". This book plants a tense seed and lets it build, and build, and build, and build, until it explodes, and amid that explosion is some of the most skillfully conceived and emotionally dense dialogue I've read, maybe ever. That dialogue exists between a human girl and an AI system. They explore each other and grow together and they pluck at questions of humanity and genocide and family and friendship, and I'm kind of crying just thinking about it. This book is so powerful. This book has hit me like a punch. 
 Don't you dare look at this book and see a gimmick: it's a beautifully built piece of art. It's a fusion of storytelling and design. It is absolutely beautiful to look at and absolutely staggering in its conception. It's told in scraps, in reports and files and instant messaging, in the stuttering soul of a confused AI and small diary entries from an incredible heroine. This heroine is flawed in her character but flawless in her making. She's strong and cynical and bright, rash and reckless and frightening, a brilliant girl. I love her. 
 I can't believe it took me so long to pick this book up. I can't believe I hesitated. It was just amazing.