Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Illuminae is not your standard sci-fi book. If you go to a book store and flip through the pages, this one will immediately stand out to you.  It does not have a standard narrative or traditional paragraphs.  Rather, it uses the non-traditional formatting of an epistolary novel.  For those of you getting ready to Google "epistolary", it means that it uses letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, e-mails, or electronic documents to build the story.  To give you an idea, I found two beautiful pictures taken by a different blogger linked here.

Illuminae is a collection of files that builds a story behind the destruction of a planet called Kerenza.  It seems that they are trying to interpret the reasoning of the attack and any remaining evidence.  They're able to do this by reading through old conversation logs, emails, transcripted voice memos, and diary entries from people who were a part of the Kerenza attack.  The main voices are Kady and Ezra.  They broke up the day before the Kerenza attack happens but following the attack find each other alive on different ships.  They are able to communicate with one another to try and rebuild their relationship and also share information from each ship.

I started out very confused at the beginning of the book because of the formatting.  I was about a third of the way in when I realized there were dates listed on a lot of the communications.  I hoped that they weren't jumping around on a timeline and that the dates weren't too important because I certainly had not been paying attention to them.  I wish there were a few chapters thrown in every once in awhile that gave some more outline to the story because I wasn't sure where my focus was supposed to go.  Am I supposed to be focusing on the character growth of Kady?  The romance between Kady and Ezra?  The slow crumbling of the worlds around the characters?  Because it reads as files piecing together a puzzle, it took me a long time until I started to realize what the main focus of the book was.  Until that point, I just felt a little lost and unsure with the direction of the book and was unable to connect with the characters.  When I did start to understand, I found it enjoyable, an easy read, and I was invested in the character's fates.  The second half of the book was far better than the first.  Without spoiling anything, there were plenty of exciting moments full of drama and suspense to keep you flipping the pages to the end.

I read this as an e-book.  The majority of the formatting was correct, but I had an understanding of what the format was supposed to look like.  On occasion something would be split on two different pages when it shouldn't have been or I could tell the formatting was off on my e-reader.  I also heard that it also comes in an audiobook format.  But I think the beauty of these books is seeing the art they have created in the physical editions.  The cover and dust jacket alone are beautiful.  If you're interested in this book, or the whole trilogy, then I would highly advise you pick up the real-deal books to really enjoy the designs.

Rating: 3 out of 5

* Positives: Strong, intelligent female protagonist; Loved the second half of the plot and the resolution to the story

* Negatives: Confused in the beginning; Wasn't fully sold on the format, but I think some of that was my fault for doing the e-reader versus physical book.