The Laughing Listener
May 2019
Format: Hardback
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars

Guess who’s kicking themselves for waiting so long to read this?? That’s right.



This book was just so unexpected?? Since I took so long to read this, I knew going in that the formatting was unconventional and honestly, that was the main draw for me. If it hadn’t been for my curiosity on the unusual way Kaufman and Kristoff wrote this, I probably never would have picked it up. The promise of Kady and Ezra rekindling an old flame sounded so cliche and I was worried this was just going to be an emo teen romance in space. Especially because I wasn’t a huge fan of Kaufman’s other book [b:These Broken Stars|13138635|These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1)|Amie Kaufman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1383578978s/13138635.jpg|18315607]. But Illuminae was so different than what I thought it would be!

THE GOOD

Okay, OBVIOUSLY the biggest pro for this book is the way it’s put together. I’ve heard amazing things about the audiobook too, but I forced myself to read a physical copy because I wanted to experience it all myself. And I’m so happy I did!! There’s just something so special that you wouldn’t get with the audio. All the snarky little notes, the cool doodles, the maps—it’s like reading a work of art. I was pretty much in awe the entire time. It was the perfect compliment to the story, balancing it out super well without being too distracting. Plus, it makes for a surprisingly quick read. Don’t let the size fool you, I got through this pretty fast and I’m a super slow reader.

And speaking of story, I really liked this! We’re thrown right into the action and I was invested almost immediately. Just when you think you have it all figured out, Kaufman and Kristoff throw some major twists in there that had me reeling. This story didn’t go in the direction I thought it would AT ALL (there are basically zombies in this book. ZOMBIES) and I was living for it.



I was also very fond of all the characters. Kady is basically my hero now because she’s so badass and all her friends were so fun to read. Kaufman and Kristoff didn’t shy away from killing off their characters, which I love despite the heartache it caused. At this point, I’m pretty used to Young-adult books washing things out or using the fade-to-black method, but Illuminae didn’t really do that. It was so nice! I mean, this is supposed to be a crisis. People are being attacked. A deadly disease is being spread. People are bound to end up getting hurt and I’m so glad the authors didn’t shy away from that.

THE UGLY

The only negative thing I have to say about this book is Ezra. I just… wasn’t a huge fan? I don’t know, I didn’t HATE him, but I didn’t love him either. He was such a blah character! His sense of humor was great and I thought he was cute sometimes, but I found myself caring more about the characters around him. Like my guy Jimmy! Plus, Ezra’s relationship with Kady seemed kind of one-sided to me? I could feel how much she loved and cared about Ezra, but didn’t get that same depth of emotion from him. It’s probably because

AIDAN was posing as Ezra for over half the book

, but I still wish there could have been… more from him somehow.

FINAL WORD

This was such a fun read!! I loved every second and can’t wait for the next one. Zombies in space people!

#1 ↦ Illuminae ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧
#2 ↦ [b:Gemina|29236299|Gemina (The Illuminae Files, #2)|Amie Kaufman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480097137s/29236299.jpg|44560442] ↦ ????
#3 ↦ [b:Obsidio|24909347|Obsidio (The Illuminae Files, #3)|Amie Kaufman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501704611s/24909347.jpg|44560443] ↦ ????