Illuminae

Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman
Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2015. 599 pp. Young Adult

Set in the 26th century, a remote planet's colony, illegally established, is destroyed by a rival interplanetary corporate conglomerate, sending refugees to a warship and science vessel sent to assist the colony. Suffering damage from a battle with the starships that attacked the colony, the defending vessels must flee to the nearest stargate to seek assistance. From there, one of the most engaging and creative novels I have read takes off. Avoiding many of the usual science fiction tropes, this book has political intrigue, a possibly insane AI, zombies, and because this is a YA novel, teen romance. The writing style is quite interesting as well, the story largely presented as a series of interview transcripts, email and IM exchanges, log entries and action reports, etc. Those readers who find salty language off putting will be happy to discover that it is redacted throughout the story.

This is the first volume in the Illuminae Files trilogy. I am looking forward to the next volume with considerable anticipation.

CHW