Sara's Reviews > Illuminae
Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)
by
by
2.5 stars.
A space opera involving a war between two giant corporations, an illegal mining planet and two teenagers separated in the ensuing evacuation. And a deadly virus. What follows is a race against time to outrun the enemy chasing them down, as well as a new enemy from within.
I entered this with some trepidation. Science fiction isn’t my normal genre of choice, but I’d heard plenty of good reviews for this, and when combined with the beautiful pictures and mixed media formatting I thought I’d give it a go. Unfortunately it was more miss than hit. From the get go, I just couldn’t warm to Kady and Ezra. Their romance is lacking in any kind of real chemistry, which I think is due to the lack of physical contact they share because they’re on two different ships. All of their conversations are told through instant messaging and emails, and it just feels stunted and emotionless. I also found both of them incredibly one dimensional. Kady is the super intelligent computer bad ass who takes no shit from anyone. And that’s about it. There are points in her story when the narrative takes a more personal route, when I guess the reader is suppose to warm to her character more and feel some sympathy...and I just didn’t. I could not warm to her at all. I found Ezra just dull, and incredibly under developed compared to Kady. He’s too sappy, acting like a love sick puppy or warning Kady not to get into trouble. And that’s about it. There was no substance, no grey areas. His use of language when talking to his colleagues also really irritated me.
The one redeeming feature here was the second half of the book, when the story really kicks up a gear aboard the Alexander. There’s distinct moments that were atmospheric, creepy and gory - which I wasn’t expecting and greatly appreciated, especially as the romance is downplayed here. The suspense at times was also incredibly palpable, and if I cared more for the characters I could imagine it would have been highly entertaining and tension filled. As it was, I didn’t really care about what happened to Kady. Also, I think the mixed media formatting hindered the flow and pacing of the plot at times, kicking me out of the suspense to show me diagrams or weird text in swirly patterns that didn’t really add anything to the plot.
A nice concept, but not for me. My search for decent science fiction continues.
A space opera involving a war between two giant corporations, an illegal mining planet and two teenagers separated in the ensuing evacuation. And a deadly virus. What follows is a race against time to outrun the enemy chasing them down, as well as a new enemy from within.
I entered this with some trepidation. Science fiction isn’t my normal genre of choice, but I’d heard plenty of good reviews for this, and when combined with the beautiful pictures and mixed media formatting I thought I’d give it a go. Unfortunately it was more miss than hit. From the get go, I just couldn’t warm to Kady and Ezra. Their romance is lacking in any kind of real chemistry, which I think is due to the lack of physical contact they share because they’re on two different ships. All of their conversations are told through instant messaging and emails, and it just feels stunted and emotionless. I also found both of them incredibly one dimensional. Kady is the super intelligent computer bad ass who takes no shit from anyone. And that’s about it. There are points in her story when the narrative takes a more personal route, when I guess the reader is suppose to warm to her character more and feel some sympathy...and I just didn’t. I could not warm to her at all. I found Ezra just dull, and incredibly under developed compared to Kady. He’s too sappy, acting like a love sick puppy or warning Kady not to get into trouble. And that’s about it. There was no substance, no grey areas. His use of language when talking to his colleagues also really irritated me.
The one redeeming feature here was the second half of the book, when the story really kicks up a gear aboard the Alexander. There’s distinct moments that were atmospheric, creepy and gory - which I wasn’t expecting and greatly appreciated, especially as the romance is downplayed here. The suspense at times was also incredibly palpable, and if I cared more for the characters I could imagine it would have been highly entertaining and tension filled. As it was, I didn’t really care about what happened to Kady. Also, I think the mixed media formatting hindered the flow and pacing of the plot at times, kicking me out of the suspense to show me diagrams or weird text in swirly patterns that didn’t really add anything to the plot.
A nice concept, but not for me. My search for decent science fiction continues.
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Reading Progress
June 24, 2017
– Shelved
October 20, 2019
–
Started Reading
October 22, 2019
–
65.79%
"I’m finding myself really not wanting to pick this up.....the struggle continues"
page
400
October 22, 2019
–
Finished Reading