{Blog Tour & Giveaway} ILLUMINAE: How This Incredible Book Came to Be

What that banner says is true: you have really never read a book like this before. It's thrilling. It's ingenious. But best of all, it's told through so much mixed media, it will have your head spinning. In a very pleasant sort of way, of course. :)

As soon as I finished reading Illuminae, I immediately wanted to start reading it again. It's just fabulously twisty that you don't want it to end. So, when I was asked to participate in the blog tour for this incredible book, I immediately replied in the affirmative. And I may or may not have begged for a guest post.

Which is how I ended up getting the authors to dish on how Illuminae came to be. Read more on that below and you can check out my review here and a piece I wrote on the unusual method used to incorporate profanity in the book here. Oh, and you can also enter to win your own copy of the book, too, so be sure to read all the way to the end!

About the book:

Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files, book #1
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

Inspiration: How Illuminae Was Made

There are so many things to love about co-authoring. You’ve always got someone to help you brainstorm your way out of a plot hole. You’ve got someone to share the hard parts, celebrate the good parts, and perhaps most importantly, you’ve got someone to ask ‘what if…?’

‘What if’ is how Illuminae happened.

It’s a strange book, made up of emails, IMs, schematics, military reports, surveillance materials, comic strips, posters and the ramblings of a mad artificial intelligence. Every single page is designed, and as the story unfolds, the narrative and the format weave together so that each affects the other, and each adds new dimensions.

But it didn’t start out that way. It started with a ridiculous dream Amie had—we were already friends, and she dreamed we were writing a book together, and it was in email format. (The anxiety was that I’d forgotten the plot. Hi, my name’s Amie and I’m a writer. I have an active imagination.) Once we stopped laughing, we started thinking. Why would it be in email, we said? Well, perhaps the main characters can’t be in the same place. Why not? They’re on spaceships. Why can’t they just fly to the other one’s spaceship? What about some kind of plague, or quarantine? Okay, how else could that get worse? What if they were being chased? What if their computer was faulty? Hey, what if their computer was one of the narrators?

This sort of waterfall of ideas will be familiar to most writers—you start with a seed, and one thing leads to another, to another, to another. Another thing that’s familiar to writers is the concept of the “first idea”. When it comes to many things in life, your first instinct is often the right one. If you don’t think you should trust someone, you probably shouldn’t. If you don’t feel safe, you probably aren’t. But when it comes to writing, that’s not always so.

Your first idea is definitely something, but if you want to really find the depth in your story, you need to push past it to the next idea, then the next, then the next. You do this as many times as you can, until you start to hit unexpected territory. Until you start to hit inspiration, and move away from the familiar. The joy of having a co-author around, is that you don’t have to do it on your own. Instead of straining your brain solo to work out ‘what if’, you’ve got someone there to throw ideas at you that you never would have come up with alone.

‘If A,’ you think to yourself, ‘then what if B? Or wait, C! Oh wow, I could go with D! No, even further, what if E happened?!’

Then your co-author shows up and says ‘Have you considered 14? Or a refrigerator?’ What they do, we mean, is come up with ideas outside your frame of reference. They bring their own set of skills and strengths to what you’re doing, taking you out of your comfort zone, and like the little piece of grit that gets inside an oyster and makes a pearl, their unexpected questions make your ideas all the stronger.

Having a co-author is awesome because there’s someone who knows the story as intimately as you, and because you can eat all the chocolate (Amie) because they don’t have a sweet tooth (Jay), or because they’ll do all the mathematical stuff (Amie again) because you once got 17% on a trigonometry test (Jay HEY BACK OFF HE STUDIED HARD OKAY IT’S JUST NOT HIS STRONG SUIT.)

But more than anything, having a co-author is awesome because of the clever, funny weird and wonderful ‘what if’ questions they ask—and the places they take you that you’d never go on your own. And that’s exactly how Illuminae came to be.

About the Authors:

Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of the Starbound series. Jay Kristoff is the award-winning author of the Lotus War series. Collectively, they are 12’5” tall and live in Melbourne, Australia, with two long-suffering spouses, two rescue dogs, and a plentiful supply of caffeine. They met, thanks to international taxation law, and stuck together due to a shared love of blowing things up and breaking hearts.

Find Amie:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Tumblr

Find Jay:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram

One winner will receive a finished copy of Illuminae. US only. Prizes provided by Penguin/Random House.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to check out the rest of the tour for more awesome content and chances to win! Thanks for stopping by & happy reading!

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Labels: amie kaufman, beautiful covers, blog tour, censorship, cursing and swearing, favorite authors, favorites, giveaways, guest post, jay kristoff, penguin, random house, sci-fi, the illuminae files

{Review} You Have SERIOUSLY Never Read a Book Like ILLUMINAE Before...Ever

Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files, book #1
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Source: ARC received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

You have to practically be living under a rock these days not to have heard of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's collaboration in The Illuminae Files. The hype for this book is real and it is so deserved. I couldn't even contain my excitement when I read it back in June and had to go all fangirl-y over it. (I really hate made-up curse words, FYI, and that post is basically about how I love how they handled swearing in the book.) I think I swore more reading this book than any other because it was just so insane and fast-paced, and I was in a constant state of what the hell is even happening right now?!?

This novel is told through a series of reports, emails, IM chats, data logs, etc. I am a huge fan of epistolary novels, and I think the use of so much other media to tell this story was clever, unique to the type of story this is, as well as just plain genius. It adds to the sense of foreboding while also keeping the reader connected to the characters.

"I am frequently underestimated. I think it's because I'm short."

THOSE CHARACTERS THO. Kady is fierce, determined, loyal, devious, sneaky and just plain awesome. I want to be her when I grow up. She just doesn't know the meaning of the word quit, even when things are at their most dire. And then there's sweet, lovable Ezra. Their banter and email exchanges are funny and adorable, but he can't help but be second fiddle to Kady's amazing presence. Which should also clue you into the fact that the romance is secondary to the main plot. More on that in a minute. And, of course, I can't forget AIDAN, the Artificial Intelligence system on Kady's ship who becomes a character in his (its?) own right. When computers and machines start thinking for themselves, we're all in trouble. After this, I will never be able to look at AI the same way again. Ever.

"Am I not merciful?"

Amid the break-up, banter, and questions of will they get back together? -- assuming they survive! -- there's also an intergalactic war-type thing going on, the implications of which are far-reaching and further proof of the genius of this novel. I was so immersed in this novel, in the here and now and the survival of Kady and Ezra that I forgot to look at the bigger picture while I was reading. And it was a crazy big picture that totally blew my mind.

Simply put: you need this book in your life. Stat. I don't think I know I've never read a book like this, that kept me so glued to the pages, while telling me so many different stories -- or aspects of one big story -- and in such a manner. What the authors did here is simply incredible and I'll never be able to do it justice in a review.

It would be an amazing feat if this book isn't already on your radar, but if it isn't, make this the moment that you add it to your TBR. Hell, it's only a smidge over $10 to pre-order it over on Amazon, so why don't you go ahead and do yourself a favor. Oh, and stop back by later this month for a guest post from the authors as part of the Illuminae Blog Tour!!!

GIF it to me straight:

Me to Illuminae...okay, and Kady:

About the Author:

Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of the Starbound series. Jay Kristoff is the award-winning author of the Lotus War series. Collectively, they are 12’5” tall and live in Melbourne, Australia, with two long-suffering spouses, two rescue dogs, and a plentiful supply of caffeine. They met, thanks to international taxation law, and stuck together due to a shared love of blowing things up and breaking hearts.

Find Amie:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Tumblr

Find Jay:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram

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Labels: amie kaufman, beautiful covers, censorship, cursing and swearing, discussion, favorite authors, favorites, jay kristoff, random house, reviews, sci-fi, the illuminae files

I Swear...

I curse like a sailor. What? It's fun! I mean, I tone it down considerably when I'm around the little one, but when she's not around, all bets are off. I'm all "F@$% this!" and "You've got to be sh!tting me" that. I also like to combine obscenities to make up new ones. But you'll never catch me making up cuss words to sugar-coat what I mean. I feel like the intention is there no matter what, that the same connotation is implied, so what's the point?

April and I posted about cursing in reviews and a little about the use of fake swear words in YA novels awhile back, but I don't actually think I've come across the made-up cuss word in a good while. But I'm reading Illuminae right now, co-written by the amazing Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and in this brick of a novel, they've employed the most ingenious way to get around using profanities while still having the intended affect. No "frex" or "shucking" or "bleeps" here.

This novel, which is told through a series of reports, emails, IM chats, data logs, etc., is prefaced with a letter explaining what follows (shown to the left). At the very bottom, it mentions the fact that the documents in the report are censored and then makes light of the fact. I didn't really think anything of it when I first read it, but all throughout the book, anytime a profanity is used, a black censor bar appears over the text. It's not hard to guess the word beneath in most instances, and the fact that the word is blocked from the text at all is kind of ridiculous, considering the circumstances and what other information the documents include.

You can see an example of a very censored conversation between one of the main characters and his companion aboard the Alexander. This IM chat is profanity-laden and one of the funnier exchanges witnessed in the book because of it. Striking out the obscenities does nothing to hinder what the characters are trying to express, but it also doesn't make it seem as juvenile as using less vulgar language by way of invented curse words.

I also love that the "censorship" of the documents, of the book itself, is fitting for the type of story this is. Like in Kaufman's other collaboration with Meagan Spooner, this is a sci-fi full of conspiracy and cover-up, and the omission of the derogatory words only serves to further that purpose.

I am a huge fan of epistolary novels, and I think the use of so much other media to tell this story just adds to the intrigue. Especially when all of the mixed media contains those little black bars. There is a ton of sh!t going down in this book, and yeah, the subjects of this investigation, or whatever, are dropping F-bombs left and right. I don't think I'd be any less inclined to do so were I in the same situation. Also...the main characters in this novel are recently broken up and they have a lot to hash out.  ;-)

Whoa, I really went off on a tangent with that, but basically, I love everything about this novel and I wanted to share that with you. Especially the "censorship" bit, though, because seriously, getting around the use of profanity in this manner is sheer genius. And in case you were wondering, THIS is the book I've been blathering on and on about. And the one you're likely to see me blathering about for months to come:

Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files, book #1
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 20, 2015

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.

I'm a huge fan of Amie's collaboration with Meagan Spooner on the Starbound series, but I've read nothing of Jay Kristoff's yet. I was hoping to remedy that before this book released, but that's neither here nor there, since I started reading Illuminae the second the ARC was in my hands. Also, I've heard nothing but amazing things about Kristoff's own series. Must. Make. Priority.

Guys, put simply, you need this book in your life. I don't think I've ever read a book like this, that struck me in such a way. I'll review the book in full closer to release, but I just wanted you guys to know that this book should be on your radar if it isn't already. TBR. Yours. Put it on there.

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Labels: amie kaufman, beautiful covers, censorship, cursing and swearing, discussion, favorites, jay kristoff, random house, sci-fi, the illuminae files