Art Installation: A Review of Illuminae, Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

The morning sunbeam that brightened my yoga practise while cheerful was ineffective in bringing warmth. Canada has frozen over as has my toes, little stubborn icicles refusing to believe in green leaves, soft winds. A fan of extreme weather patterns, the -36 wind-chill does little to squash my winter love. If we are going to do this season, might as well do it with gusto. 

The tree continues - ornaments catching my favour attempt to convince me to extend their reign for one more day. January 6th has always been our tree-tossing day. Yet, with the furnace roaring, the hubby playing Zelda and the kid heading back to school on Monday, what harm could a little extended sparkle cause? A diluted Christmas, with barely an attempt to formulate a book list, Santa still left me a little parcel of science fiction wonder under the tree. Gleefully happy that my hubby continues to understand my intense desire to read over the holidays, I cracked open my first book of 2018 on New Year's Day.

And what an adventure, Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff brought me right back to those wonderful feelings of 2012 when I read Leviathan Wakes. We all have those book moments we wish we could relive. Understanding the genius of War and Peace, experiencing the encompassing thrill of Dune, wanting nothing more to live in a peach with James and his insect friends. With every book cover I crack, anticipation rises as I hope for vomit zombies. After all, don't we all just want to curl up during the holidays reading about the coming end of the universe? Maybe, that is just I but to win my heart, gift this girl a good space operatic adventure that throws all the tropes right in my face.

A small illegal mining operation on the planet Kerenza has been violently attacked by the mega corporation Beitech. Our hero Kady, having just broken up with her boyfriend Ezra, watches her world explode. Her transition from survivor, to refuge to conscripted reluctant hero moves at the speed of light. As the last shuttle bay doors close, the beitech battleship Lincoln pursues the small fleet of survivors aboard the freighter Copernicus, science ship Hypatia and their crippled saviour, the battle carrier Alexander. There can be no survivors to report this take-over. Plague virus, psychopathic A.I, a battle cruiser on the hunt smashes us with detail. This is a ride that will not let you go. 

Dare I say, Illuminae is so much more than a science fiction book, it is an art installation. Beitech's crimes against Kerenza are catalogued through hacked emails, medical and classified military reports, sensor arrays, and diagnostics of battlecarrier Alexander's corrupt A.I., AIDEN. Nothing seemingly new, as SF has been doing this technique of world-building since the 60s but the sheer audacity to publish a SF story with the soul of EE. Cummings is bold. Holding Illuminae in your hands, having to turn the pages upside down to read battle text, you feel immersed more effectively than tradition paragraphs. Sheepishly, my first wayward thought as I opened its illustrative pages was it wasn't my thing - dialogue heavy this had to be a pseudo attempt at science fiction. Thankfully, the plot is a grabber. The initial design began to fade to quickly becoming an increasing important element to the dramatics of the book. I prefer my science fiction served up one way: prose. How wrong I was. 

2018 began with a work of art, how exciting this year is turning out to be.