Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Ebook, Audiobook, and Hard Cover) I picked up this book because I’ve heard a lot of talk about it, 
despite not being fond of one of the book’s authors. I never in a million years expected to like it so much.
I started reading in ebook format, but quickly realized that you really can’t read this in ebook. Well, maybe if you downloaded it on your television so you can make it really big.
Illuminae suffers from the same problem that comics and graphic novels do on ebook… it just does not work for me, because Illuminae is very graphics-intense. There are pictures of the ships, blood splatter on the documents, and graphic representation of madness. It is one thing to know that your character is on level 130 of a ship, with the bad guys on specific floors. It is completely another thing to see the actual picture of the ship the character is looking at, knowing she is the white circle in the engine room, and the bad guys are the stars ALL OVER THE FREAKING SHIP.
Yeah – the pictures are important.
Now, you’ll notice that I list ebook, audiobook, and hard cover as my method of reading Illuminae. At first I didn’t “get” the whole graphics thing, so I switched to audio book. But I found myself referring back to the hard copy daily to help fully immerse myself in the story. For me, this was wonderful because I could hear the character’s voices. I could hear the beep in the background, counting down the arrival of the ship that was chasing them, I could hear the banter of the fighter pilots in their own voices, and I could hear the screams of the “bad guys” running through the ship. Then, I would go to the text and see how the computer saved this information for later review, which was a treat in itself.
I think reading and listening definitely enhanced my enjoyment, because I’m not sure I would have read every word on the high-graphic pages, and thus I would have missed out on the story. Right now, writing this review in January 2017, this book is in contention for best of the year, and is probably in the top ten books I’ve ever read. If you decide to give this a try, don’t bother with ebook. It does not work. If you read in paperback/hardcover, make sure you read every word on the page, even the little sticky notes. They are there for a reason. And when the nutty computer draws shapes with words… read the words. If you don’t you will miss out. If you listen on audio book, get a copy of the paperback to read along. You really need to see the pictures. And the pictures are also a clue to a HUGE plot twist that I did not see coming, but made sense when I went back and looked at the graphics.
So, yeah, Illuminae… it is a multi-media experience. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this one.
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the best books she’d read. Any hey, dragons… I was all over that. Unfortunately, this is a case of “different strokes for different folks.”
the end. I knew this before I read it, and I had a pretty good idea who everyone picked. Problem is, that was the wrong guy for me. I had to read, with my own heartbreak, as the guy I would have chosen had his heart broken for no reason whatsoever. He did nothing wrong. In fact, he did everything right, where the guy who got chosen did everything wrong. I hated that.
for my book club this month, and I started scratching my head in the first few pages, then I went back and looked at the burb to find out what this book was about. In the beginning, this is a coming of age story about a teenage boy struggling with his sexuality. He is an obnoxious, foul mouthed, chain smoker with no redeeming qualities that I could see. For the first quarter or more of the book, we have to listen to this really unlikable kid and his problems. Then, out of the blue, the sci-fi elements pop in. I have to admit that things got better from here. These two unlikely heroes try to take on the apocalypse caused by a man-made virus. (That turns people into giant man-eating bugs) The style of the writing might be genius. We are basically reading the main character’s journal chronicling all that is going on. However, we don’t get deep into any scene, and I found myself not really caring about the characters. But I kept with it, because you know, book club and all. I hoped for that payoff in the end, but the book never takes us there. Nothing gets resolved, not the end of the world, and not even the personal plotlines. Overall, this was a very unsatisfying read for me. I’d give it three stars because the author gave us a really well thought out story. The execution, however, and no satisfying ending, were a downer for me. Warning – Don’t pick up this book if you are sensitive to really foul mouthed kids.
may be in contention for my favorite author’s list. The first book I read by her was “Over the Edge” and I loved it. I grabbed another book to see if she’d be able to suck me in again, and in this book, she sucked me in even faster. What I enjoy about this author’s writing is she pulls in the characters that have small rolls in the story, and brings them to life, so when the random person ends up in the sites of a terrorist, and our hero decides to save them, you have stakes in both the victim and the hero. I really love that. This book uses the same characters as the previous book I read, this time concentrating on a different Navy Seal as he is trapped in the jungle with a pretty attorney with two different drug rings chasing after him. Great action, great adventure and an all around great read. As soon as I am done here, I am adding the rest of the 18 books in this series to my TBR. The challenge for me will be to NOT read them back to back, because I already have about 50 other books to read sitting on my shelf.
so I didn’t even bother to look at the blurb. Wicked has all that I love about a JLA novel, but it also has a lot that I didn’t love. Jennifer L. Armentrout also writes under the pen name J. Lynn. I read a J. Lynn novel once and quickly realized why she wrote it under another name. (I will not pick up another J. Lynn novel again) Wicked, while not being quite as graphic as the J.Lynn novel, was pretty close to it. The blurb does state that the character is 22, and it does allude to a heat factor, but the sex scenes are not glossed over in any way shape or form as it is in other JLA novels. As a fan of her work, I just wish I was warned in the blurb. I understand writing in different genres, but if you are a YA author, I really think there should be at least a warning so you know what you are getting in to. Okay – rant over. I did, believe it or not, enjoy this book. The hero is not the most likable. He is a playboy who wanted to get in the heroine’s pants the moment he saw her. Not my type of guy, but okay, I went with it. I did enjoy the heroine, and I loved her sidekick, Tink the Brownie. This was an exceptional character.
We are left with one group of humans at the end of The 5th Wave. In book two, this group gets split up so we experience two different stories. The Cassie/Ben timeline continues, and is very exciting as they question every move they make. Stakes are increased when the aliens start doing the unthinkable to children five years old and younger.
is more to the story, but I can’t go into much more detail without a huge spoiler.
When Aria witnesses a crime committed by the leader’s son, she is thrown out into the outside world and left to die. But there are people out here, and she teams up with an outsider. He needs to get information on a child that was taken by the inside dwellers, and she needs to get home. They work together to make this happen.
Jennifer M Eaton 