Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Hardcover: 624 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release date: March 18, 2018

Series:  Illuminae Files #3

Source: Purchased

Reviewed by: Kara

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza--but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys--an old flame from Asha's past--reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heros will fall, and hearts will be broken.

I was so excited for this book, I repeatedly had to tell myself to calm down and breathe. I love everything about it. From the space adventure to the near-death escapades and the creative art mediums to the real-as-life characters, this is an amazing series and satisfyingly wraps up in this final volume. Our favorite characters from the last novels join newcomers Asha, Kady's cousin, and Rhys, once Asha's boyfriend, who are battling for their lives on opposing sides on Kerenza while the rest are in a battle for survival in space making their way to the mining planet.

Marie Lu's art has changed as Kady and the group are rendered in manga-like cartoon form in a few sketches. More than before, this story is split between the courtroom trial of Leanne Frobisher and BeiTech, Kady/Ezra/Nik/Hanna, and the action on Kerenza. You might think it would be hard to keep so many characters and storylines straight but Kristoff and Kaufman do it almost effortlessly. Our beloved Machiavellian AI is back as AIDAN and it seems to be evolving. It now experiences emotion and shows itself capable of deceit.

Some key changes have happened along the way from Gemina, and we pick the story up right after Nik, Hanna, and Ella have their close brush with an alternate dimension and the Heimdall waypoint is destroyed. The two groups struggle to come together, and the Hypatia is overloaded with refugees. As they decide to return to Kerenza to intercept BeiTech's Mobile Jump Platform Magellan and from there hopefully return to earth they face a seemingly insurmountable task as they must manage to overwhelm the last of BeiTech's dreadnoughts the Churchill. The two groups of the Hypatia and the Jump Station Heimdall face some conflict in leadership which brings up the age-old challenge of adult vs. teenagers as many don't think Kady/Ezra/Nik/Hanna (shortened to KENH, because this is exhausting to type) have any authority despite the fact that some of the choices they've made have saved everyone's lives.

Meanwhile, on Kerenza, Asha encounters her former separated boyfriend Rhys but bad news--he's on the side of BeiTech. For the first time we see the viewpoint of a BeiTech grunt and the orders they've given to the soldiers; in other words, we see the enemy become human. As each of them struggle with their situation, they become unlikely allies as each tries to understand the other, inviting more of a Romeo/Juliet comparison.

This is probably the part of the book that I was most frustrated with. The breakneck speed of the plot and circumstances really didn't allow as much time as before to really get to know Asha and Rhys since they're already fighting for their lives. It's certainly understandable why, but I just missed having as much of a connection to their part of the story as with the KENH part. It's simply for this reason alone that I didn't LOVE this book as much as I LOVED Illuminae and Gemina. I've no idea how they would've made it any better than it was, but because it was just so fast, I wanted there to be more "meat" or emotional connection with all of the characters, especially with the new ones. And like most series, I wanted more at the end. Maybe seeing more of the celebration and all interacting together, alive and safe, finally? Not sure. Maybe reading about the weddings? Absolutely, I would like to read about this group of teens (and a few adults) doing something more. However, the ending with AIDAN? Ahhhh-mazing. Blown away. How you inspire so much love for an electronic entity I don't know, but Kristoff and Kaufman have definitely given me feels for this Machiavellian machine monster.

Tell me your thoughts if you have them!

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Posted by Kara at 07:00

 Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff, Knopf Books for Young Readers, Science Fiction, space fiction, The Illuminae Files, young adult  Leave your mark

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Hardcover: 672 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release date: October 18, 2016

Series:  Illuminae Files #2

Source: ARC, Purchased

Reviewed by: Kara

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.
     The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.
     Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.
     When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.
     But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.
     Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

[I covered this book on my blog earlier, and since it was missing from the archive, added a quick post for you all so you aren't missing the middle title in the series.]

This second file describes the events at the Heimdall waypoint, where the Kerenza survivors are looking to reach to survive. Daughter of the station's commander, Hanna Donnelly is planning for a party with her military officer boyfriend, Jackson Merrick, and trying to score some of the local drug known as dust (think marijuana rather than anything hard). Her drug dealer is Niklas Malikov, an outrageous flirt and nephew of the local crime lord who farms lamina, terrifying fast-evolving parasites that manufacture dust. On the night Nik and Hanna are supposed to meet up, a Bei-Tech undercover operative cons Nik and his family into intercepting a secret mission allowing Bei-Tech assassins into the waypoint. Luckily, Nik skips out on the destruction to meet Hanna while the rest of the jump station dissolves into chaos and murder. As the Bei-Tech assassins continue their mission, Nik and Hanna are left as the only two free people on the station, aided by the computer skills of Nik's cousin Ella. Through Hanna's lifelong training at strategy and combat due to her father's obsession and Nik's determination, wit, and heart, they must battle or outsmart their way through Bei-Tech's 24 assassins before a second Bei-Tech fleet arrives and their hope for a future is lost for a thousand years.

Hanna is the spoiled princess turned butt-kicking warrior after she's gotten pissed her off by betrayal and her father's murder. Nik is the flirty criminal with a good heart. Basically, they're today's reincarnation of Han and Leia. Ella is sort-of Chewie and C-3PO (after he's been blown to bits in Cloud City and carried like a sack of potatoes) rolled into one. 

Honestly, I am trying so hard here not to reveal epic spoilers. I loved every minute of this nail-biting series and want to experience it over and over again. My favorite bits were the IMs because so much of my teen years were spent forming relationships over IM/internet forums. The art and design elements of spaceship schematics, roster lists, visual design spirals, dossiers, IMs, etc. were unexpected but tied together the setting and feel of the story. Addictive. Terrifying. I want more.

While Illuminae was the real stand out, Gemina was not far behind as a solid sequel and may have equaled the first had my pre-pub edition contained the rest of the art intended for the final copy. (I later bought a copy when it released.)

My copies of Illuminae and Gemina are advanced reader copies (that I've been foisting on everyone I can). THANK YOU #alaac15, #alaac16, and most especially Penguin Random House for giving them out! Currently this series is tied with one other for my favorite reads of 2016!

Note: Language, violence, sexual connotations, and visceral descriptors.

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Posted by Kara at 14:02

 Amie Kaufman, Gemina, Jay Kristoff, Knopf Books for Young Readers, Review, Science Fiction, The Illuminae Files, young adult  2 People left their mark

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

 

This book is brilliant. I was a little hesitant at first because of its unconventional format but once you get the hang of it, it's amazing. ILLUMINAE is a very original take on space exploration, especially since it's a story that's not told in prose, but in a collection of transcripts, reports, messages and various visual aids. You would think the plot would be difficult to follow, but on the contrary, it's actually very easy to read. The authors must have thought long and hard about how to play out certain scenes, and while some were a little more confusing than others, it's all very cohesive.

I was a huge fan of the TV show Battlestar Galactica and I'm assuming these authors were too. Although they are similar in genres, they are completely different stories. ILLUMINAE sheds light on the destruction of Kerenza, a mining world, by a competing mining company called BeiTech. The survivors were evacuated by three spacecrafts, helping them flee from the BeiTech spacecraft. However, BeiTech isn't the only enemy they have to survive. They also have to deal with a crazy Artificial Intelligence controlling the main battleship and find a way to survive a deadly and mutating pathogen that makes the infected go insane. Through all this, Kady and Ezra find a way to connect, even if they are on different ships. Although Kady had broken up with Ezra the morning of the bombing of Kerenza, they soon realize that working together may be the only way to help each other--and the rest of the fleet.

Although Kady and Ezra are physically separated throughout the book, that doesn't seem to bother them too much. It's almost as if their relationship on Kerenza was doomed, but now, as they're thrown into wartime and separated by a deadly vacuum, their relationship only grows stronger. Their short conversations through hacked communication lines are full of banter and teasing. You can really see how these two care deeply for one another. It might just be because their relationship is the only normal thing they have left to hang on to, or it's the only way they can cope with everything they lost, but somehow, they manage to stick and work together to save as many people as they can.

The pathogen that's a threat to the whole fleet is a little bit to far fetched for me. Scientifically, I don't think it's really possible, but who knows, since the book is set more than five centuries into the future, maybe viruses and bacteria have evolved into super(supersuper)bugs. I guess it doesn't help that some scientists are suspected to have had a hand in creating this superbug, which gained the ability to mutate very fast.

This book isn't for the faint of heart. So many people die, and personally, I think they authors killed off to many characters for my taste. As soon as I started to enjoy reading about a certain character, they were killed off. Gone! Some descriptions are also quite bloody and gory and I'm thankful I only had to read it and not see it.

This book was published as a young adult novel, probably because the two main characters are teenagers. However, I honestly think anyone who's a fan of the genre will enjoy this book. Sure the swearing is censored out (and there's a lot of censoring) but anyone who can fill in the blank can use their imagination to read it as if it wasn't censored. The format is pure genius, and the book is deceptively big with its 600 pages. Despite the large page count, it actually reads really fast. If you're going to read this book, I honestly believe only a physical copy will do it justice. I'm a huge fan of e-readers and tablets but I really think this book deserves to be enjoyed visually, and a paper copy is the only way you can appreciate it to its fullest. Whatever copy you end up with, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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Posted by Tynga at 00:01

 Amie Kaufman, epidemic, Jay Kristoff, Knopf Books for Young Readers, military, Purchased, Review, sci-fi, Science Fiction, Space, The Illuminae Files, young adult  5 People left their mark

Every Day by David Levithan

Every day, A wakes up in a new body. One day A may be a beautiful, popular straight girl; the next day A is a grungy metalhead quiet boy. A is always 16, but A is never the same person twice. A has become accustomed to this lifestyle and has never known anything else and that is ok with A.

Until A meets Rhiannon. One day, A wakes up as Justin, Rhiannon's boyfriend. It's just another day for A until he gets to school and meets Rhiannon and falls in love. The problems: A will be a different person the next day; Rhiannon thinks she's spending the day with Justin; even if A could and did try to date Rhiannon, she's in a long-term relationship with Justin.

What follows is a sometimes funny, sometimes heartrending, and often awkward courtship/friendship between Rhiannon and A.

I loved this book! David Levithan really makes the reader think: how would a relationship work with so much uncertainty day to day? If you weren't sure who you'd be the next day, is it fair of you to ask another person to love you? What if you woke up a drug addict, or with really, really bad acne?

What would it be like to make connections based completely on how much you like person, regardless of gender? A never knows what gender they will be until he/she wakes up, or what sexuality they will exhibit that day. Having lived their entire life body-hopping, A can't even be certain if they have a gender themself!

What important parts of life would you miss out on when you wake up in a different life every day? You wouldn't have an ancestry, a history, or close relationships. You wouldn't have your own bedroom, decorated the way you like; you wouldn't have your own clothes, such as a t-shirt from your first concert or a favorite pair of Converses.

Now for a momentary gripe: there are two characters introduced in Every Day that make absolutely no sense. An entire side story that goes nowhere and is, in my opinion, unnecessary. I think this book would have been better leaving the focus entirely on A and Rhiannon.

Back to positive: I loved, loved, loved this book and that includes the ending! A lot of times when I love a book and it's characters I get upset at the end, mostly because I simply don't want it to end. Well, David Levithan did such a great job with the ending to Every Day! Even the pace of the ending was great: not too fast, not too slow.

I give this book two enthusiastic thumbs up. :)  (And!  There's a sequel that just came out Tuesday!)

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 contemporary, David Levithan, Every Day, Fiction, Knopf Books for Young Readers, Library, Review, young adult  6 People left their mark