Review: "Illuminae" by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Going in, I expected a fairly quick, fun sci-fi read to give me a break from my heavier reads. HA. That's funny. This kept me on the edge of my seat, made me read in bed, and overall was a very suspenseful (but still fun!) read. Maybe would not recommend reading it on Christmas Eve when your family expects you to...actually help put up decorations and cook. 

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she’d ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
 
But the warship could be the least of their problems. 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 biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.
 
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.

Worldbuilding/Writing Style
As it turns out, I have a lot to say about the worldbuilding and writing style. First of all, the "world" is basically three space ships. And because of the writing style, we don't get to see a lot of the world in itself. But the sci-fi elements (the ships, the propulsion, the nuclear weapons, the mining colony) seemed realistic to me. Granted, I have never been on a large space ship, nor a distant planetary mining colony. The writing style, though--the writing style is why I picked the book up in the first place--I found a copy in a bookstore, looking inside, was hooked, and then like any self-respecting cheapskate, came home and got it from the library. XD In any case, it's told only through computer documents (and occasionally document documents) from dossiers to text threads to computer data. This does nothing to decrease the tension of the story--those dossiers from the Copernicus were terrifying. Chilling. Perfect. 

Plot
This seems like the classic "oh poor things, boy-and-girl are talking on separate space ships". Until it's "oh, there's a weird computer malfunction". Until it's "oh, this feels too much like 2020 with the pandemic-ness". Until it's "girl rescues boy". Until it's "umm...unexpected Turing Test-y-ness (as in Alan Turing's test)? And maybe death?". So, I mean--there were a lot of plot twists. I was totally not expecting the ones at the end. At all. They were crazy. But foreshadowed, now that I think about it, so not cheating. Wow. I loved the way the action rose and rose, and everything was interlocking...but the similarities to this year were a bit chilling. 

Characters
Kady is the best. She's a confident hacker who still needs her mom--a girl who has to grow up too fast. A computer nerd who has to be brave. A bundle of opposites. One would think it would be impossible to build a mental picture of someone from files alone...but it's not. She's so awesome. 
Ezra is also awesome, but he is such a boy. So. Clueless. I kind of love it, kind of hate it, but I can't say it's not realistic. XD
Talking about the other important character is spoilers so *highlight for spoilers* AIDAN. AIDAN's character was so interesting, because he is a computer. And I'm not sure I believe that computers could get that sentient. But at the same time, as the daughter of a computer programmer, I do know that neural networks are mysterious things, and not all of AIDAN's "life" (I don't know what to call it...) is impossible. I do, however, love the way he grapples with existence. In many ways, he's more philosophical than anyone else in the book. His ERROR messages were so poignant, too. *end spoilers*

Romance
I'm not sure if this is spoilers or not? So I'm just going to say, it's cute. 

Content
This is where it gets me. There's a lot of swearing, and while the actual swear words were blacked out, any "ing" or "s" or whatever were...not. Which, given that there are only a few words that can go with those letters, did nothing to stop my brain from filling in the gaps. Extremely irritating.
Also, there's reference to sexual activity, including viewing "inappropriate content", let's just say, and the...things that go with that. Not super explicit, but a bit much for me.
And all that is before the fairly explicit gore. And also, depictions of madness. So, yeah. 

Overall Rating
Without all the content, this would probably have been a four star book. With it, I'm forced to ding it to three stars, just because of the way all of that stuff destroyed my enjoyment a lot of the time. 

Reminds me of...
I don't know that I've ever read another book like this, but it does remind me of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (the middle third of which I would recommend, the rest...not so much XD) and the video game The Turing Test. 

Have you read this one? Do you have any other YA Sci Fi recommendations? Have you ever watched 2001: A Space Odyssey? Played Turing Test?