Review: The Illuminae Files Series Review

I binge read this series after getting sucked in by Illuminae.  I tried to read Illuminae several years ago via audio after hearing how awesome it was but I just couldn't get into it.  The epistolary nature of the book was  hard for me to follow the first time around.  Fast forward a few more years and about a hundred audiobooks later and I decided to give it another try.  I've listened to a few more books of this type and really enjoyed them.  I'm really glad I gave this series another shot, it was worth every second.  I'm actually sad to be done with it and almost want to start over from the beginning and binge it again.  The full cast was amazing and has some of my favorite narrators in the audio world.  I highly recommend checking out the books themselves as Marie Lu's illustrations in the print books are just awesome and give amazing visuals to an already excellent storyline.


Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was amazing. It tells the story of Kady and Ezra, a former couple who have been forced to flee their home when evil corporation Bei-Tech attacks the planet they live on. When ships come to rescue the survivors of the attack, Kady ends up on one ship and Ezra ends up on another. In this universe, soldiers fight for corporations, and because we have two corporations at war, Ezra ends up being conscripted as a fighter pilot. Kady has a bad attitude, so she doesn't end up in military service but that doesn't mean she isn't a whiz with computers. Secretly Kady is a genius hacker while pretending to be inept.

As Kady and Ezra reunite via electronic means and begin to patch up their relationship, Bei-Tech is on the heels of the escaping fleet. In the meantime, the AI computer onboard on of the ships appropriately named AIDEN starts doing crazy stuff to protect the fleet. AIDEN is one of my favorite characters because you just don't know what he's going to do next. He's a computer, but he keeps giving you the vibe that he's a little bit human too, and he is completely unpredictable. Not only do the crew and passengers of the 3 ships in the fleet have to deal with their home being destroyed, an attack ship coming after them, but now they have a deadly virus spreading on one of the ships, and their AI system is going insane.

The story is told through emails, instant messages, radio transmission transcripts, and other mixed media. The audiobook is amazing because it has a full cast and each character has a voice so you almost always know who is speaking. This was such and exciting book to read. I was always on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen next. I loved the characters and the world building was amazing. This story is incredibly atmospheric and I loved every second of it. I also recommend checking out the actual book. The drawings and mixed media on the page are amazing and while not necessary to understand what is going on, they are really cool.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This picks up where Illuminae left off, but instead of telling us more about Kady and Ezra, we learn about Hanna, Jackson, Nik and Ella. We heard a bit about the Heimdall jump station in Illuminae, as the refugees are heading there. Heimdall is a wormhole station for interstellar travel and communication. Kady's father is stationed there and Hanna's father is the commander. Hannah is Heimdall's pampered princess, she is dating the cute technician Jackson, but she likes to have fun. Fun is where Nik comes in, he is part of the space mafia family who run drugs and other nasty things. He is also a little sweet on Hannah. Ella is Nik's cousin and another super genius hacker. We come to find out that Bei-Tech isn't only out to shut down Kerenza's mining operation, they are also out to take over Heimdall. When a strike team invades the station because there is a mole planted on Heimdall, Hanna, Nik, and Ella are found defending the station from the bad guys.

Just like in Illuminae, the cast of characters finds themselves fighting several different battles at the same time. Nik's mafia family runs drugs remember? Well the critters they use to produce those drugs get loose and start attacking anyone they come across. Oh and the wormhole generator is broken, and all the dimensions of space and time will be destroyed if our motley crew can't fix all of the the above mentioned problems. Our favorite insane AI along with Kady, Ezra, and the rest of the survivors on the Hypatia make a return to help Hanna, Nik, and Ella.

I loved this book. It was funny, atmospheric, the world building was awesome, action packed, and I loved all of the characters. Like Illuminae this is told through mixed media. The full cast of characters was as amazing as the last book. I also recommend checking out the print book so you can see Marie Lu's amazing illustrations.

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As with the previous two books, the audio cast was spectacular. I highly recommend the audio version, the print version is excellent as well. As with the prior books I did both at the same time and the illustrations from the print book just add a little something extra, but the full cast really gives life to each of the mixed media transmissions presented in the story. I will say I could have done without the date and timestamps being read to me every time we switched who was speaking or what the transmission in the file was. If you were reading the print book you would have skimmed over that part, but it was read to you on the audiobook and after three books you know who's voice is which character by now. That is really my only complaint.

Obsidio jumps settings quite a bit. Heimdall has been saved, but the Hypatia is on her last legs. We meet some new characters as we learn that there are survivors on Kerenza, oh and AIDEN is still insane and doing his own thing. As with the previous books, the gang is fighting more than one problem at a time before all is said and done. Our new characters Rhys and Asha are on opposite sides of the Kerenza conflict. Rhys is a techy soldier working for Bei-Tech, but he has a strong moral code and doesn't exactly know or support what Bei-Tech is doing on the ground on Kerenza. He has spent most of his time working on the mobile wormhole generator that Bei-Tech flies around with in their fleet. Asha, who happens to be Kady's cousin, works in the hospital and she is just trying to survive. We come to find out that Rhys and Asha had a romance in the past that didn't exactly end well for either of them. Rhys has to decide if he wants to join Asha and the resistance or if he wants to fight for the company that brought him to the planet. Meanwhile the refugees from Kerenza, the crew of the Alexander and Hypatia, and the survivors of Heimdall have to figure out how to get to Kerenza to save their friends and family and defeat Bei-Tech. If they can't win, they atleast have to get word to their company about what happened so Bei-Tech can be held accountable for this whole mess.

This book has it all, humor, action, romance, great characters, and some great twists and turns. I really wasn't sure how things were going to end. This is a great wrap up to the series. I honestly want to start all over again from the beginning and do it all over again and keep the books on repeat they were that good.

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Review: Precious Stone Trilogy by Kerstin Gier

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up because I needed a book that involved time travel. This was a quick read and it was alot of fun. I really liked the historical aspects that were thrown in and the time travel concept in this book. I didn't want an overly complex sci-fi book at the time, and the time travel in this is very simple, so if you want something more complex and scientific, this may not be the book for you.

I thought the characters were completely believable as well. Gwenyth behaves exactly like a teenager who is interested in pop culture, boys, modern music, and just wants to spend time with her friends and family. She wants nothing to do with her stuffy relatives and the things they are interested in, even if it makes her look dull and uneducated in their eyes. She just wants to be herself and doesn't care what they think. When she finds out that she can travel back in time instead of her cousin, Charlotte, Gwenyth is completely unprepared and overwhelmed. All of those around her are bewildered because she isn't Charlotte, who has been preparing for time travel her entire life. I didn't appreciate everyone calling Gwen stupid and putting her down all the time, because she isn't perfect or training. She is also an immature teenager, which is to be expected. Her cousin is mature and groomed for the situation that Gwen has been trust into unwillingly and the insults were just unnecessary.

Overall, I found this very fast paced and entertaining. This is YA so the content is clean. The writing was good, but there is still so much unknown. I do feel like some of the plot could have been flushed out a bit more and more content could have been included. There are hints at a romance or a potential love triangle. It ends with a bit of a cliffhanger and a lot of unanswered questions. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier
Narrated by Marisa Calin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. I expected more growth from the characters and more plot development in this book. Both of those fell a little flat for me. I want to know more about the prophecies and why Paul and Lucy stole the chronograph and ran away. Both of those plot points are kind of just hanging out there with no real explanation in sight. I'm hoping those come to some sort of conclusion in book 3.

I do love Xemerius, he is Gwen's dead demon gargoyle pet. If you don't know already, Gwen can see and talk to spirits of the undead. Xemerius meets up with Gwen and Gideon after a time travel event and once he realizes Gwen can see and hear him he won't leave her be. Xemerius adds and element of comic relief to the story, he is also able to get information for Gwen that she can't get because the people who are supposed to be training her and helping her get the hang of the whole time travel thing are keeping her in the dark and treating her like she is inferior.

Much like in the first book, I could have done without the constant barrage of calling Gwen stupid and telling her she's pretty much useless. She pretty much finds out she can time travel and they start sending her on missions the next day without any information and training, yet everytime she walks in a room she's called a name and told she's not worthy, called stupid, and made to feel inadequate. Gwen never speaks up for herself, I thought maybe she'd get fed up eventually and tell them enough is enough. She had a bit of a spine in the first book, which I liked. She's too focused on being boy crazy about Gideon in this book to really care. There is too much about how handsome Gideon is in this and too much jealousy for Charlotte, neither of which adds to the plot.
Gwen and Gideon's romance was a given, you know its coming from the first book. They just don't really have any chemistry. I appreciate that there isn't really a love triangle, but their romance is missing something. It might be that Gideon is kind of a jerk to her most of the time and you aren't yearning for them to get together.

This review makes it sound like I didn't like this book. I did enjoy it. It is entertaining, but I feel like this book and the first book could have been condensed. This book doesn't really move the plot along and the first book felt a bit too short.

Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
Narrated by Marisa Calin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Much like my review of the second book, this one is more of the same. Gwen is constantly jealous of anyone talking to Gideon. She is unsure of herself at every step, some of that is warranted, while most of it is not. You aren't sure if you like Gideon or not because he's pretty much been a jerk to Gwen since day 1, and you aren't sure if he likes her or not.

I thought we were getting somewhere when Gwen's friend Leslie tells her at the beginning of the book to stop being sappy and get over her boy troubles, but the book is riddled with teenage angst and romance. I'm sure younger readers will eat this up, but I wanted something with a bit more substance. The ending was much to convenient. I kind of figured out who dun it earlier on, but I wasn't 100% sure, so I wasn't surprised at the reveal. There were still some plot holes that were left unresolved in the end that I would have liked wrapped up

I did love Xemerius, he is ever present and provides comedy at every turn. He is by far my favorite character in the series.

Overall, the conclusion of the series wasn't as strong as I would have liked. I was hoping for a strong ending. I'm glad to have read the series. It was entertaining, it just wasn't as plot driven as I would have liked and definitely had more focus on the romance than I prefer.

Review: Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this. It follows Leah Wesfall during the goldrush era. Lee as she is known for much of the book, has a talent for finding gold. It calls out to her whenever she's near. Only Lee's parents know about her gold finding talent, which is both a blessing and a curse. As the residents get wind of the gold in California, Lee's parents are murdered, leaving Lee in the care of her estranged Uncle Hiram. Lee decides that she has to escape her Uncle's clutches and set off to find her best friend Jefferson and make it to California where her gold sense will be useful.

The only way Lee can think of to get to California safely on her own is by pretending to be a boy, so Leah becomes Lee and she makes her way west. She is hired by a prominent family to help out on their journey to California to stake their own claims. Lee's journey to find Jefferson and escaper her uncle is not without peril. The wagon train they are travelling with has a group of unsavory characters, who will leave you to die if you don't move quickly enough on the trail. The trail itself is dangerous enough and any illness, injury, or other emergency can set the whole group back. The men in charge don't like setbacks, as setbacks can cause more problems. As the story unfolds it becomes harder and harder for Lee to conceal her true identity and to keep her opinions to herself. As a woman she is fairly self suffient, but she learns that society has determined that she can’t own anything or have any rights without a husband. Her best friend Jefferson is in the same boat because his mother was a Cherokee Indian, as half Native American he has almost no rights. This was true of the time, and Carson touches on many of the racial and sexist issues that existed in that time period.

This book really reminded me of playing Oregon Trail in elementary school. I spent hours playing that game and trying to keep my electronic wagon trail family alive. I loved that game, so this book brought back happy memories of playing that game, but it was also respectful of the actual gravity of the situation that the true pioneers faced as they traveled west to find their fortunes.

I highly recommend the audiobook!


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Review: Defy Series Review by Sara B. Sarson

I'm trying something a little different here, I'm going to post reviews for all 3 books in the series.  I recently read them and I'm very behind on posting my reviews.  I wasn't overly impressed with this series.  The writing isn't great, but I found the series OK on audio.  They were fairly short.  Be warned though, this is not a fantasy series as it is often labeled.  It is a romance series with some fantasy and magic elements thrown in.  The third book is a little more centered around the plot and fantasy, but the plot is centered around the romance and A LOT of teenage emotional decision are make throughout.

Defy by Sara B. Larson
Narrated by Rebecca Mozzo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Let me start out by saying that I was expecting a fantasy. This was recommended to me as a book I read because of several of the fantasy books I'd previously read. This is a romance with fantasy elements. Even the description promises a powerful female lead in a fantasy environment. I was pretty disappointed from that perspective because it was not what I was expecting.

Alexa Hollen is in hiding as a boy in the prince's guard. She and her twin Marcel joined the army and then the prince's guard after their village was destroyed and they were orphaned. In an attempt to keep Alexa out of the breeding houses, she pretended to be a boy and join the military. The breeding houses are horrid places where women are raped and mistreated by the men of the land in order to have children to feed the kings fighting forces and create more women for the breeding houses. It's as awful a concept as it sounds. Alexa becomes Alex and she is a formidable soldier. She has earned her place in the guard by beating pretty much every man in the guard. No one can beat her including her brother. Alex has a level head on his shoulders, but as soon as people begin to admit that they know that Alexa is a girl she starts to act flighty and second guessing herself. This was irritating. She played her part as a boy for years, then as soon as a boy bats his eyes at her everything is all heart all aflutter, and blushing, and swooning for the rest of the book. Alexa is supposed to be this strong, warrior but she is suddenly worried about her appearance and letting her emotions lead her every move when she didn't do so as Alex. Its like she got a lobotomy when the dreamy prince and her best friend told her she was pretty. I'm all for my heroines keeping their femininity, but they can keep their wits about them too.

Onto the boys, Marcel is pretty much a non-player in the story. Her best friend Rylan tells her that he always knew she was a girl and that he's madly in love with her. The prince, Damian, who has also been putting on an act as a spoiled brat prince, reveals that he's known her identiy all along as well and wants her to know his secrets. Rylan doesn't stand a chance and she and Damian have a love at first sight kind of connection. This is where hearts start beating out of control and Alexa loses her mind. The love triangle is awkward because Rylan keeps pushing even though Alexa isn't interested. Alexa and Damian have all kinds of issues, but you know they will end up together. There isn't even a moment when you think Rylan will get the girl. So much of the plot focuses around the romance that you forget that there's a war going on and that there is literally bad magic going on that's causing trouble in the kingdom. Once that is resolved everyone thinks things will be good for a while and perhaps peace will reign for a bit.

There wasn't much world building in this, they live in a jungle where there are snakes and panthers. There's a war going on but we don't really know why. The characters aren't very well developed. We don't know much about the magic system other than there are sorcerers and black sorcerers. The plot is weak and overshadowed by the romance. I wanted a fantasy, I was expecting a fantasy, I got a romance novel. On a bright note, the audiobook isn't very long and is well narrated.

Ignite by Sara B. Larson
Narrated by Rebecca Mozzo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm happy to say book 2 is much better than book 1. It is still heavily focused on the romance, but there is more plot to this one and the characters are a little more developed.

I found Alexa's denial of her feelings for Damian to be quite irritating. She bases everything on her looks which a strong female lead shouldn't do. Damian wants her for his queen and makes it very clear that he doesn't care that she has battle scars, he loves her unconditionally. She pushes him away, yet her inner monologue is childish and immature. Just as things in the kingdom seem to settle after Defy, an emissary from a neighboring kingdom named Vera shows up. Curiously, Damian's ally's begin to attack his borders as she arrives. Alexa is jealous of the way Damian acts with Vera, he is quickly captivated by her beauty. When the visitors taster is poisoned and Damion's brother Jax suspiciously disappears, Alexa rises to the occasion to uncover the mystery and save the boy. Rylan goes with her to save the boy, but they both get captured. The weak love triangle tries to resurface, but not with much success They find an unexpected villain in the camp where the boy is being held, and Alexa and Jax eventually escape while Rylan is left behind injured. Damian and Alexa have a new enemy, and new challenges to face one of which is how to get Rylan back.

Again, not much world building or development of the magic system. The plot is better as is the character development but its still weak. I had my expectations set from the first book, so this was entertaining for what it was. It is a fluffy romance with some fantasy elements. I did appreciate the bonus scenes on the audio book.

Endure by Sara B. Larson
Narrated by Rebecca Mozzo with an appearance by Steve West
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The finale was the best of the 3 books in this series. It was much more plot based and was much more fantasy focused. While this is still a romance series, this particular installment focuses more on the magic, thought we never fully understand it, and the actual plot and I enjoyed it much more than the other 2. The writing and character development is still lacking, but it made for a decent audio book. This is one of those guilty pleasure reads, you roll your eyes the entire time but find yourself enjoying it.

I will say I was disappointed that we got Steve West to narrate Damian’s perspective, but it was just a tease. I did appreciate the extras that were added to the end, they did add to the story and were a nice bonus. I would have liked more of Damian's perspective and more of Steve West's narration.

The pacing of this book was slow, and some of the scenes could have been edited down as they didn’t really add to the plot. This book is one that a very slow build, then everything happens in the last 25% of the book and the end feels rushed. The book is filled with Alexa running into situations head first without much thought. I often found myself rolling my eyes at her dumb decision making throughout. She’s supposed to be this amazing warrior, but she doesn’t have a bit of sense or battle strategy that came with her gift of fighting. She gets captured trying to rescue Rylan, who if you remember from book 2 was taken hostage by the enemy. This part of the plot line felt unnecessary, especially because it had no meaningful outcome to the story, it was just long and unimpactful.

In the mean time, Damian is preparing to go to war and trying to protect the source of magic in the lands. We never fully understand the magic system and why it’s worth going to war over, but we do get more about it in this book. I would have liked more about it, but I felt like we got enough. If this were a series more heavily based in fantasy I would have expected much more and wanted to understand it much better, but given how little this series was actually centered around the fantasy elements I’ll let it go.

As far as the romance goes, Alexa is still head over heals in love with Damian and not quite sure why he loves her. Eventually she accepts his proposal to be his queen. Damian is always asking her not to do things because he may lose her. He’s selfish that way throughout the series, but you just know they are going to live happily ever after in the end. Rylan never stood a chance, but I think the love between Alexa and Rylan was addressed well. She never led him on, but he held on to something that was never there to begin with. I think there was decent closure there.
Something unexpected that you don’t see much in books that Larson managed to pull off is that she killed off several of the main side characters. Some of them are fairly prominent throughout the series while others aren’t as significant. You don’t see authors kill their darlings off in books very often, but in Endure we see most of the players die by the end of the series.

Again, this series wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. It was entertaining as an audiobook. I will say again, if you go into this thinking it is a fantasy series, it is not and you will be disappointed. The series gets better as it goes on, but its not a favorite.


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