It might throw some people off the way this story is told, through online conversations, emails, and private files, but I think this was exactly the kind of read I needed at the moment. It was enough to get the story across without it being overkill. The changes from IMs to emails to status reports, etc kept things fresh and kept me engaged in the story. Given the fact that I wasn't in the mood for reading a long book, I liked the way it all was presented to me. As for the story itself, I'll admit, I was a bit confused at first. There's a lot going on, a lot of names and lingo you have to get used to. But, once you get the hang of the setting and its characters, thing just flowed together so well. I was hooked! 
 Kady and Ezra were pretty interesting characters. At times they were quite comical and I liked being in their heads and hearing what they had to say. Kady is pretty snarky and Ezra is a bit of a cheeseball, but in a cute way. I liked how even though they have a rocky relationship, you can tell the feelings are there and how the authors play it up is pretty sweet. There's also a slew of secondary characters that kept things going outside of the romance. And, let's not forget the twisty and crazy things going on in this intergalactic world of theirs. Things get intense pretty quickly and it's hard to turn away from the book. 
 Don't let the fact that it's over 600 pages scare you. I read this book fairly quickly, and that's with the remnants of reading slump lingering about. Also, despite this book being over-hyped, it might just be warranted in this case. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, especially given the hype. Those things always lead to high expectations, which lead to disappointment the majority of the time. Luckily, that wasn't the case here. I say, go in knowing that you're going to get a different kind of read. It's pretty fast-paced and entertaining. Even if you're not really into science fiction, the characters and their conversations between each other are enough to keep you flipping the pages, they're so entertaining. 
 I have high hopes for the rest of the series and I hope the authors keep up the momentum.