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bookboxbabe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Cursing, Violence, and Death of parent
dexlud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
infjkiki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Child abuse
tealattes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
With the unconventional formatting there was so much depth and detail. It is told in the form of a dossier compiling all relevant documents relating to the events after they have already completed, so it’s a mystery for the reader to understand how the world got to that point. Some of these documents include transcripts of interviews, online chatting, emails, scientific reports, military after action reports, public service announcements, description of the security camera footage, personal entries, even the AI’s core data- it’s evident that there are many characters and perspectives supplied. It was a fast paced read that still didn’t sacrifice plot structure and development. It’s slightly confusing at times, but that makes it all the more fun to be able to piece together the documents.
The authors executed the science portions well- they said they had an astrophysicist, white hat hacker and medical professional look over their drafts to make the book as accurate as possible!
However it’s not too dense either and provides humorous bits and even (what I would say) philosophical and emotional themes. With the context of life or death situations, the story tackles the definition of humanity as the authorities, civilians, and even the AI make decisions weighing logic and morality.
Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around its collective madness.
It is astonishing to watch the differing ways the madness shapes them. Fractures them into splinters and rearranges what remains.
It moves quickly and never is there a dull moment. I could picture the story the whole way through as if it were a movie. And the ending!!! THE ENDING!!! This book does not suffer from book one syndrome, it’s a beautiful story on its own AND it is such a promising setup for Gemina.
My favorite character was AIDAN and reading the “thoughts” and intentions of the ai was a novel experience.
(Yeah, so it has some teenage romance. It’s part of the description and I can’t criticize it for executing what it promised to. It appeared rushed but under their circumstances, I just had to root for them, and it wasn’t bad. But what I did have an issue with was the frequency of swearing. It was all censored in black but context still exists and I couldn’t prevent reading it in my head. While sometimes I can get why a character would say them, other times they were overused and called too much attention to themselves. I’d prefer to dial it back so I could better focus on the actual content.)
My largest critique is that there would often be very poetic and emotional scenes ruined by sarcasm and humor. Basically, poor timing; the switches in format and characters caused a bit of mood whiplash. It reduced the realism and it would be a like a blinking light reminder that this is a YA book when without it, nothing else would indicate that.
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Self harm
bebidocrimes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Alcohol
luna_noble's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
moonwitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gun violence
peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and War
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
lawbooks600's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Score: Eight out of ten.
I enjoyed The Aurora Cycle from these authors so I decided to give The Illuminae Files a shot to see if it lives up to my expectations. I picked up the first instalment in the series, Illuminae, and glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing. When I closed the final page, it was enjoyable, and made me hope that the next part of the series, Gemina, will be of the same quality, if not better.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Full trigger warnings: Explosions, military violence and war themes, mass death, death of people and a parent in the past, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical assault and injury, gun violence, epidemic, dead bodiesscooti's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Child abuse