perf perf perf *heart eyes* 
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 Originally posted on my blog, With Her Head in a Book 
 I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 
 Sci-Fi is one of the few genres I don't see read enough; it's got a bad reputation that I can't understand. Every science fiction novel I pick is a grand slam and so is Illuminae. Months later, I'm still hung up on the tearjerker. 
 One of the biggest deciding factors in why I picked up Illuminae is the excessive praise I was hearing from friends and respected reviewers. How does everyone love this book? I had to understand the hype since the description didn't bring out my inner need to riot until I have the book in my hands. Why? To be honest, the biggest feature of Illuminae, the format, originally turned me off. Instead of paragraphs of story telling, the novel is complied of documents, hacked messages, and surveillance videos. This non-traditional style is becoming a new trend in modern lit - something I'm still unsure about despite the success of Illuminae, my first novel like this. I worried about a disconnected plot or worse, a tale that made no sense. If my life story had to be told through my internet history and text messages, I believe it would be the most inaccurate biography ever. Miraculously, the author duo tell a seamless story, though some types of pages don't work well with the entire novel. For example, I wasn't interested in the ship diagrams, the unipedia pages are weird, but the creations of the AI are poetically beautiful. 
 Readers are thrown into the year 2575 - and by "thrown," I almost literally mean thrown. There is no such thing as a "running start" or "handicap mode" to make the journey through time and space a little bit easier. Nuh uh. Before you know it, there are missiles flying. For some of us like Kady, that's no big deal. Others might find this immersive, fast-paced beginning combo'd with the unusual formatting a bit too much and will want to put Illumaine down. I have one word for you: DON'T. Everything will make sense in time. This journey is worth whatever hassle that may come from it and boy, was it a pain for me to read my eARC edition. Bonus: my ebook fibbed so the censored areas were 100% visible. Man, there are a lot of curse words for a Young Adult novel. . .it's WONDERFUL. 
 In my youth, I'd been a heavy gamer and could not help relating Illuminae to the popular games Bioshock and Dead Space. Neither are perfect fits in terms of plot, setting, and time, but are 100% kin in terms of scariness and creepiness. I'm a huge fan of horror, but cannot play the games because of the audio and I've watched every horror movie created on this planet. I loved being able to get through a book that likes to take a walk on the wild side. I was on the edge of my seat with fear and elation; I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. For once, I couldn't tell who would make it to the end or face a horrible death especially with the shocking twists (you really won't see some of them coming). 
 I had my heart broken on multiple occasions and yet as soon as I finished reading the novel, I wanted to immediately begin rereading the series. That's extremely uncommon for me. I don't reread many books. But the well crafted characters and surprises kept pulling me back toward the book. Kady and Ezra are the type of protagonists we all love and hate. They're snarky starcrossed lovers, but also dumb teenagers. Yet they're filled with so much spirit that I couldn't help but root for them. Kady is a typical strong heroine who happens to be great at computers and likes to stick her nose where it doesn't belong. But who is she beyond a kickass girl? I'm not too sure. She's lovesick, homesick, and a bit of a loner. It's as if who she is didn't matter so long as she tries to save the day and says something sassy. My favorite character, though? The AI system AIDEN. He's a mastermind and probably the most poetic villain I've ever read. I won't say much on him, but this here is enough: he alone "made" the book for me. 
 I don't know if this is a book for everyone. I want you all to read this, but I know that the style choices will not work for everyone. Illuminae is GOOD, though. Readers who tough through the beginning pages will more than likely learn to love this novel. My biggest issue is the ending. After everything terrible happening followed by something far, far worse, the conclusion is a little bit too neat and too nice. I could have done without that one tiny surprise at the end. 
 Plot: 4/5 
 Characters: 3/5 
 Writing Style: 4/5 
 All Around Idea: 5/5 
 Total: 4.5/5