Illuminae

Story

It is the 26^th century, the year 2575, and Ezra and Kady are stuck in a web of conspiracies. During an intergalactic war, the two must contend with rogue artificial intelligence, a deadly virus which has broken out on a spaceship, and their own break-up. In this tightly structured story told through documents, the reader themselves must try to solve the mystery.

Why we chose it

An innovative story told through the documents in the case, a series of correspondences, casualty lists, ship dossiers and classified files, making the design of the book part of the story and allowing readers to solve the mystery for themselves.

Where it came from

Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman are both Australian authors who have written or co-written several New York Times and internationally bestselling fantasy, science fiction, and young adult series.

The two met in Melbourne and Kaufman has said they began working together after she had a dream in which they were creating a book out of emails. After laughing, they began the book for fun, eventually expanding on this idea, leading to Illuminae’s unusual form. When it came to deciding how far into the future to set the book, they consulted an astrophysicist friend.

Where it went next

On publication Illuminae made the New York Times Bestseller List. It won several awards, including the 2015 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction novel, the 2016 Gold Inky Award for best teen fiction and the 2016 Australian Book Industry Award Book of the Year for Older Children.

Associated stories

Illuminae is the first in a bestselling trilogy. The second book, Gemina (2016) also won the Aurealis Award, and the third book, Obsidio was published in 2018. Kristoff and Kaufman have also collaborated on the Aurora Cycle (2019). Jay Kristoff’s other books include the Lotus War trilogy (2012 – 2013) and the Nevernight books (2016 – 2019). Amie Kaufman’s other work as illustrator includes the Starbound series (2013 – 2015) with Meagan Spooner.