This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes. (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)

Okay, before I start the fangirling (and there WILL be fangirling), let me just ask you a favor. If you haven’t yet read Illuminae, and you like YA Sci-Fi, don’t read that synopsis above. If you already read it, try to forget it before you read the book. Because I went into Illuminae not knowing about most of that and I think I liked it even more because I didn’t see things coming. But regardless if you read the synopsis or didn’t, if you like YA Sci-Fi, YOU NEED TO READ ILLUMINAE.

Let the Fangirling Begin…

OMG YOU GUYS. ILLUMINAE WAS SO GOOD. I completely agree with Veronica Rossi’s blurb on the back cover of my copy of the book: it is totally the book I’ve been waiting for. THIS IS GOING TO BE SUCH A HARD REVIEW BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO SPOIL ANYTHING.

But this is MY KIND OF BOOK, you guys. It has all the spacey stuff I love and all the twists and turns my heart yearns for (THE TWISTS YOU GUYS, THE MOTHER-EFFING TWISTS). Yeah, if you thought you’d get a well-thought-out, eloquent review from me for this book, I’m sorry to disappoint you. INSTEAD YOU GET ALL THE CAPS AND ALL THE FLAILING AND ALL THE OMG’s. Should I add gifs? I THINK I SHALL.

Basically this was me reading Illuminae:

Bonus Points…

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff get some of my Bonus Points for the following reasons:

• Characters mention glacieosaurs a couple of times. I REALLY HOPE THESE EXIST. Either way, 50,000 points.
• Blueprints of the spaceships. I LOVE MAPS AND BLUEPRINTS. 50,000 points.
• Basically, the premise of the book. I don’t want to say the phrase because I don’t want to spoil anyone but I’ll just say this: _______ IN SPAAAAACCCCCEEEE. 1,000,000,000 points.

I only wrote down a couple quotes in my notes (because I was too busy fangirling), but I know there were a lot of other great ones. But here are the two that made it into my notes:

So, yeah. THIS FREAKING BOOK, GUYS. I really can’t say much else about it because spoilers and also because I don’t know if I would be coherent through all my fangirling. But if you have any doubt, here’s my rating for Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: