An intergalactic space war, a teenage breakup, a mysterious epidemic and a possibly homicidal rogue Artificial Intelligence (AI) system collide in the wildly adventurous Illuminae--first in a planned trilogy by Amie Kaufman (the Starbound Trilogy) and Jay Kristoff (the Lotus War trilogy).
The same morning that 17-year-old Kady Grant breaks up with her boyfriend, Ezra Mason, their illegal mining colony on planet Kerenza IV is attacked by BeiTech Industries. Thousands are killed, and the survivors forced to evacuate. Suddenly adrift in space, separately, on the battle carrier Alexander and research vessel Hypatia, Ezra and Kady find themselves in the middle of a war with BeiTech's ship, the Lincoln, in swift pursuit. With crews dwindling, all qualified civilians are conscripted into service, including Ezra. Defiant and "anti-establishment" Kady, deemed unsuitable for conscript, further develops her hacking skills aboard Hypatia. She quickly finds that not everything is as it seems with the AI defense network, leaving her to question the fates of everyone aboard the ships. Amid rumors of a violent mystery illness plaguing some passengers, will the corrupted AI even matter? Kady isn't sure of anything other than that she has to try to save them all.
Told through a massive dossier of interviews, surveillance footage, e-mails, web chats and more, Illuminae is a heart-pounding adventure that's well-rounded and wonderfully developed. Without the limits of traditional narrative, Kaufman and Kristoff manage multiple points of view and styles of writing with grace and ease. Alternately humorous, charming, horrifying and electrifying, this dizzying rush of space, cybernetics and romance is an unforgettable series debut and a game-changer for its genre. --Kyla Paterno, reviewer