This has got to be one of the most confusing, annoying books I’ve ever read. A bunch of facts about an invasion, a spaceship, and a wormhole were thrown in my face in the beginning and I thought, “Okay, lots of books don’t make sense at first. I’ll get some explanations pretty soon.”
But it only got worse as it went on. I couldn’t understand the plot for the life of me. And don’t get me wrong—I love space books. I highly enjoyed Across the Universe and Ender’s Game. But the plot of Illuminae was so tedious. All the talk about a war and spacecraft went right over my head.
I think the format style didn’t work for me, which is sad because that’s what drew me in in the first place. There were reports, interviews, and endless amounts of info dumping that made no sense. The textbook style only made me feel more detached from the story and its characters.
The way I got to know Kady and Ezra was through their text messages and when half the time they were using shortcuts like “u” as “you” it really irritated me. It felt like I was reading a couple of adults trying really hard to text like teenagers. You know there are teens who use good grammar and spelling when they text, right?
I didn’t like Kady and Ezra’s relationship—they broke up at the beginning of the book, then texted each other a few times before confessing their undying love. Kady would say she used to wear Ezra's T-shirts to bed and tear up about it and I was just like, Am I supposed to care? It felt totally superficial. Also, what teenage guy would ever say this to his girlfriend:
You deserve every star in the galaxy laid out at your feet and a thousand diamonds in your hair.
Oh, please. *rolls eyes*
The bad guy was a huge stereotype who couldn’t understand human emotions, used flowery, old-fashioned words for no reason, and was grossly turned on when Kady cried and tried to fight him.
“You just expressed displeasure at my humor. Why would I attempt it again?”
“Um, because you’re loopier than Flaky McPsycho, mayor of Crazytown?”
I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get into the plot. I know a lot of people enjoyed this but I struggled to conjure up images of the science fiction elements and as a result was completely bored.
Illuminae failed to live up to any of my expectations. A super tough heroine? More like a lovesick, annoying teenager. An awesome sci-fi plot? It was confusing as heck. Better luck next time, chum.
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