This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. 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 enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

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.

Holy shit, this was a fantastic audiobook!  I’ll be the first to admit that I had zero interest in reading this book.  Sci-fi isn’t really my preferred genre (although I do love the Starbound trilogy) and honestly by the time BEA and ALA had rolled around last year, I was already sick of hearing everyone rave about this damn book that wasn’t even out yet.  Ahhh, the hype monster… I hate when it gets to me.  It got to the point where I was like ‘oh look, another person who loved Illuminae…what else is new?’  When I heard that the audiobook would have a full cast of 20 narrators, I thought for sure this sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.  Especially since this story is told in such a unique way.  It wasn’t until Nick was reading and loving this book that I was like, ‘okay, well if Nick loves it then I have to read it!’  I still wasn’t too sure about how the audio would work, but I decided to give it a shot when I was offered an audio copy for review.  I can 100% say that this is THE BEST AUDIOBOOK I HAVE EVER HEARD!  Ever!  And I have heard over 300 audiobooks in the last two years so that really is saying something.

I know what you’re probably thinking: how is this audiobook told if the book format is so different?  Well, those were exactly my thoughts and I admit that the curiosity was the main reason why I decided to listen to the audiobook.  I don’t know how they made it work, but not only did the audio producers and narrators pull this off, they fucking nailed it!  There are 20 narrators for this project, which sounds like overkill, but trust me every single second is a work of art.  I never once felt confused as to who was who (which can be a problem for me in audiobooks with more than 3-4 narrators) and the transitions between narrators was seamless.  Since the book is told in ‘case file’ style, most of the chapters are told through either interviews, emails or chats which works perfectly in audio form.

I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.  You would think kick ass story + 20 narrators would already be great, but in addition to all of that, we also get these special effects that bring the story to a whole new level of epicness! Not once did the special effects and sound effects ever sound cheesy or over the top because they did such a great job and it fit with the story.  Guys, there were actual battle sound effects in the battle scenes!  And the narrators did a fantastic job at not just reading the words of the story, but bringing it and the characters to life!  Anyone that follows me knows that I love me a good audiobook, and it doesn’t get any better than this.  I am dying to not only read the next book, but to listen to the audiobook for that too because I know it’s gonna be just as kick ass as this one.

I realize that this didn’t tell you shit about the actual book, but let’s face it, I’m sure you’ve all read all the raving reviews for this book so I’ll leave that to them (you can read Nick’s review here).  This is basically a gushfest about how awesome the audiobook is for this book and how I wish every single one of you would try it!  After seeing a hardcover copy of this book and person (omg it’s sooooo pretty!), I really want to get it and listen to the audiobook again while reading the book.  That way I can have the audio and visual experience!  Even if you’ve already read Illuminae or if you’re late to the party like me, I can’t recommend this audiobook enough.  Sadly, I couldn’t find an audio clip to embed so you guys can listen to a preview, but you can listen to a sample here.  I’ll also link this cool article that talks more about the audio production for this book and add a sample of the interview below:

• Producer Janet Stark says, “Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff really understand audio.From start to finish, they offered brilliant suggestions for the translation of each page of ILLUMINAE with multiple POVs. This production broke all the rules. The shared excitement of everyone involved and the momentum of the story and its style worked wonders. From doubling up actors in the booth, to creating the Ghost ID character voice, to the space/pilot scenes and SFX and tweaking the pre-mixes, it has all my favorite ingredients. A truly remarkable project.”Sound designer Ted Scott calls the ILLUMINAE audiobook his “all time favorite project.”

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