The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations- ▅▅▅ and ▅▅▅ - are at war over a planet that’s a little more than an ice covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With the enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to escape on the evacuating fleet.
But their troubles are just beginning. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to the light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak again.
Quotes:
“Part of being alive is having life change us. The people around us, the events we live through, all of them shape us. And that’s what I think you’re [AIDAN] afraid of. Maybe not of dying. But of this you, the you you’ve become, ceasing to exist.”
“I’M ON A ▆▆ING DERELICT WARSHIP ON THE RUN FROM THE PSYCHOTIC CREW AND AN INSANE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TRYING TO SAVE MY ▆▆ING BOYFRIEND. ▆▆damn right it’s nuts.”
“You have me until every last star in the galaxy dies you have me.”
“Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around it’s collective madness.”
“Am I not merciful?”
Hi. Here I am. Having finished this book.
Am I okay? Yes and no.
Here’s the thing, I get intimidated by big books and this was 599 pages long. It was a big boi. But was this book worth it? You bet your bottom dollar it was!
I completely fell for the story hook, line and sinker. I mean a space pathogen that completely renders their victims into psychotic lunatics? A mistaken, murderous AI who fully believes that it’s saving the fleet? Romance? Witty banter? Are you kidding me? This is everything I ever wanted and didn’t know I needed!
Kady and Ezra’s relationship, in particular, was really refreshing in the way that they still were able to backchat each other while death loomed over their heads.
Example:
Ah, finding humour in dire situations. We love to see it.
Now honestly, at first I thought it would drag on, just be a repetitive cycle. But I was completely caught off guard. There were nail-biting sections and ones that left me breathless. I was surprised because the story is told through hacked dossier and file documents. There are emails, maps, diagrams of the battleships, medical reports and more. Some of the parts entailed secretive intentions. Like formatting like this: Illuminae is absolutely brilliant, beside the fact some of the lingo made it hard to follow. It was the small details I loved the most. The overall format of the story was so unique and visually entertaining that I think it’s the best way to tell a story such as this one.
Greatest thing is, I think this book can just be read as a stand-alone. Even though it’s a part of a trilogy, it’s too good that it can be read by itself. Oh, there are no chapters by the way. So for those who love systematic reading, well you better get used to it, just know this book won’t be your usual.
I also have to mention it felt like I was watching a movie. Seriously, this book was so intense that at times I didn’t realise I stayed up passed midnight. It left me reeling, shocked, confused. I highly, highly recommend it. 5 stars. 10/10.
Okay I’m off to read the second book. I’m excited, so adios friends.
Let me know how the first book goes. Or don’t. Depends what you decide.
I started using Libby for graphic novels and audiobooks and I love it!! I also borrowed some books and packed some in boxes and cannot find said boxes lol so that's why not all of these are in the photo with me.
Phew 😅 Just finished my 24th book of the year (reading). 2-per-month avg is a huge step up for my reading speed. Plus it’s helped clear my TBR pile (not that I haven’t amassed a new TBR pile during that time).
Well, to quote the Foo Fighters, “on, on, on to the next one.” Next up is Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
In lieu of a year-end letter, a few family members and I put together a little wrap up of our reading lives this year. Inspired to post on tumblr by @door‘s wonderful yearly wrap ups. Write up under the cut if interested!
Reading was definitely the best thing about most of my 2020. We all had…rough years and mine was extra rough. Books, even the depressing ones, were a definite bright spot.
By the numbers! I read 125 books this year, by far the most since I started keeping track in 2015 or so. 43,176 pages, which averages out to a little under 188 pages per day. Not all days were created equal, however! I read the most books in August (18) and the least in March (7). I’m guessing I had a hard time focusing in March due to having just been discharged from the hospital (not a great place to focus, surprisingly enough) and the whole global pandemic thing. I found my groove though!
76% of the books I read this year were written by women. In the past I’ve made a conscious choice to read more books written by women, but this year I didn’t even try. I’m proud of myself! Only about 30-35% were written by people of color. Definitely a goal to up that number for next year.
A few favorites from the year. Still gotta read more non-fiction!
Fiction:
-My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite - (NOT a commentary on my real life sibling I assure you) A quick read. Darkly funny, and at times just dark.
-Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (and its sequel) - the Queen of speculative fiction (along with Ursula Le Guin of course). Possibly a little close to home as it’s based on a near future dystopian America ravaged by climate change and plague and lead by a horrifying christian religion. Re-read.
-The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco - a woman in the late 1800s west coast America dresses as a man to work for a smuggling ring. Violent, queer, sexy. Are we surprised I liked this one?
-Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (and its sequel) - Lesbian necromancers in space. That will be all.
-My Antonia by Willa Cather - I should have read this a long time ago, but that just means I got the joy of reading it for the first time this year!
-The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel - She wrote Station Eleven, one of my favorite books of a few years ago. This is a very different book (there’s no global pandemic in this one) but it might be just as timely. Told in shifting timelines, a story of what happens when people have their whole lives pulled from under them.
-The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells - Four Novellas and one Novel. Just an absolutely delightful series about an AI that hacks its security protocols. All it wants to do is watch soap operas, but humans keep putting themselves in danger. Very dryly funny.
-A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine - some really excellent world building sci-fi about politics, propaganda, and the danger of those in power.
Non-Fiction
-Say Nothing - A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe - pretty sure everyone has already read this but if not it’s well worth it.
-Born to Run - A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall - thanks Jenny for the recommendation. Very inspiring if you’d like to take up running.
-Know my Name by Chanel Miller - truly striking story of trauma, resilience, and the active failure of the system.
-The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson - like every other white person in the country, I read it this summer and learned a hell of a lot about something we really should have been taught in school.
