--- product_id: 49438677 title: "Illuminae: The Illuminae Files: Book 1" price: "€ 26.01" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/49438677-illuminae-the-illuminae-files-book-1 store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # Full-cast audiobook experience 600+ pages immersive format Top 15 Space Opera YA bestseller Illuminae: The Illuminae Files: Book 1 **Price:** € 26.01 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🚀 Unlock the future of storytelling—don’t just read sci-fi, live it! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Illuminae: The Illuminae Files: Book 1 - **How much does it cost?** € 26.01 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/49438677-illuminae-the-illuminae-files-book-1) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Dual Format Power-Read:** Pair the visually stunning physical book with a full-cast audiobook to unlock a multi-sensory storytelling adventure. - • **Critically Acclaimed Bestseller:** Ranked #14 in Space Opera for Young Adults with over 4,700 rave reviews and a 4.4-star rating—join the cult following now. - • **Innovative Mixed-Media Storytelling:** Experience a sci-fi narrative like no other, blending transcripts, IM chats, reports, and commentary for a uniquely immersive read. - • **Twist-Filled, Edge-of-Your-Seat Plot:** Dive into a gripping story of survival, hacking, and interstellar war that keeps you guessing until the last page. - • **Perfect for Expanding Your Sci-Fi Horizons:** Whether a newcomer or a fan, Illuminae’s fresh format and compelling characters make it a must-read for the modern millennial professional. ## Overview Illuminae: The Illuminae Files: Book 1 by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman is a groundbreaking YA sci-fi novel that redefines narrative with its mixed-media format. Combining transcripts, chat logs, and reports, it delivers a cinematic experience further enhanced by a full-cast audiobook. With over 600 pages of twisty, high-stakes drama, it ranks among the top Space Opera titles for young adults and boasts a strong 4.4-star rating from thousands of readers. ## Description The internationally and New York Times bestselling first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy that bends the sci-fi genre into a new dimension. Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she’d ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But the warship could be the least of their problems. 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 biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra. Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents, Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy. ‘Never have I read a book so wholly unique and utterly captivating.’ Marie Lu ‘It certainly filled the Battlestar Galactica-shaped hole in my heart.’ Victoria Aveyard Can’t get enough Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman? Try the epic Aurora Cycle series! Review: Compelling and tense - quite unputdownable - 4.5 of 5 stars Illuminae is one of those books that I've been wanting to read for quite a while. It was recommended to me by a few reliable bloggers so it was definitely on the shelf and yet I was reluctant to get to it. Sci Fi isn't my first love, I admit, that and coupled with a book aimed more at a YA audience and the possibility that the story focuses quite heavily on romance well I needed a little push and SciFi Month 2016 provided that gentle nudge. Firstly, to the story. This is definitely a book review that I don't want to give too much away in. There are plenty of twists and turns to this story and future readers don't need me to spoil the surprises along the way. I noticed that Kristoff himself gave an excellent synopsis over on Goodreads which basically summaries the story as: girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl loses planet and family. Girl ends up on a damaged spaceship - with a faster space ship in hot pursuit. On top of this we have a zombie style outbreak taking place on board one of the ships and an AI computer gone insane. Basically as the story opens we make the acquaintance of Kady and Ezra, their planet is under attack from warships and it doesn't seem like they're taking prisoners. Kady and Ezra were in a relationship that literally ended on the evening before the story starts but they're momentarily flung together as they make a desperate attempt to get off planet in a fleet of ships making a bid to escape. Of course they are once again torn apart and although it takes a little while the two of them make tentative moves to once again establish contact with each other. It seems that the threat of a warship hot on your tail, intent on killing any witnesses is a big incentive in putting things in perspective and bringing people back together. There's a lot more to the story than the above of course but Kady and Ezra are the key protagonists that we follow as they not only try to stay alive but also finally reach the conclusion that the people responsible for this attack need to be exposed. The story is written in epistolary format with briefing notes, messages and surveillance transcriptions lending the story a realistic feel. This is a style that I really enjoy it might not be for everyone but I think it's a good way of providing the reader with key information without the need to resort to massive info dumps. What I think really worked well for this story was the build up of momentum. The fleet of escape ships are at a massive disadvantage to the warship pursuing them. They don't have the speed and the damage sustained during the original attack on the planet of Kerensa has left their hyper jump capacity damaged, on top of this they are incapacitated further by being massively overburdened in terms of the numbers they are now carrying. Throughout the story we watch the progress of the warship with visuals that display how many months/days and hours there are before they are intercepted which helps to heighten the tension for the reader. Meanwhile, the feeling on board the ships trying to escape is desperate. Information is not readily forthcoming and suspicions run deep. All of this coincides with what appears to be a massive break down in the AI onboard one of the ships and running alongside this we start to understand that during the original attack on the planet bio weapons were used and those infected need to be quarantined. Kady and an acquaintance she has made have turned to hacking the ship's systems to try and uncover what is really going on. To aid their work they need to make contact with someone on board one of the other vessels and so Kady is forced to reach out to Ezra for help. The characters - well, I really liked Kady. She's a very easy to read character. She's quick witted, intelligent and very cool under pressure - but she has a real person's flaws. She may be quick at hacking into a computer network but she's not a ninja. She can unlock doors but doesn't like to use weapons and she is genuinely afraid when being chased by, well, I won't go into that! Basically she runs the gamut of emotions and I really liked that about her. Ezra on the other hand is probably a bit more of a simple lad - he calls a spade a spade, he doesn't have the quick wit of Kady but he's a good guy and loyal to a fault and I really did feel for the two of them - in fact that was actually what gave me the most tension whilst reading - I so wanted them to get back together and they just kept hitting more and more obstacles to survival. In a reader who cares little for romance that was quite a revelation. This is a fast paced story with plenty of action. The action is virtually instantaneous from the start of the story and it keeps the momentum right through to the conclusion. That thing about having your heart in your throat - I felt that at a few points whilst reading. I wanted things to go smoothly for this pair - and yet they hit set back after set back. In terms of criticisms. Well, I didn't like the layout of the book itself - I understand that it's something of a work of art but reading on a fairly basic e-reader that doesn't come across or work well at all. I'm sure it works better on a traditional paper format but this is a niggle of mine, particularly as I read a lot of my books in electronic format these days - I think the book should work in both formats. I'm not going to use this review as the opportunity to rant though as this didn't really bother me too much as I skipped over the pages in question. Also, I'm not entirely sure that those elements brought anything to the story - others will probably know better on that front. I thought the ending felt a little bit rushed to be honest. There was an opportunity to make it considerably more tense and to really work on the readers' emotions even more - perhaps the authors decided they wanted to give us a break. Overall, niggles aside, I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read. I don't really read a lot of sci fi so for me the plot and themes involved felt really quite original and very gripping. I suppose hardened sci fi readers might feel differently in that respect. I would definitely recommend Illuminae, it does have a romance running throughout the plot but because of the way in which the story is told this doesn't come across as overpowering or 'cheesy'. There's no insta-love here, more a realisation of what's important to the main characters. And, of course there's the mystery at the heart of the novel - which still remains to be uncovered. I will definitely pick up No.2 to see where this goes to next. A wonderful story filled with tension and desperation. Review: Unputdownable - I've heard nothing but good things about Illuminae since it was released in 2015 - I can't believe this novel has been around for four years already - and I feel like I've been seeing Jay Kristoff's name everywhere this year, so when I came across the kindle edition of this YA sci-fi novel told via mixed media for less than £2 I snapped it up. I had a lot of fun with this novel and, despite the fact that it's over 600 pages long, I sped through it because of the format it's told in. In Illuminae we follow teenagers Kady and Ezra who, on the day Kady breaks off their relationship, end up fleeing their planet on two separate fleets with the warship that has destroyed their home in pursuit. What follows is a story that twists and turns as Kady, in particular, tries to find out the hell's going on and why so many lives have been ruined by hacking into government documents. To be honest that's all I want to say about this novel because I went into it knowing practically nothing about it and I enjoyed it so much more because of that. The less you know, the more it feels like this story is unfolding in front of you and you're simply along for the ride. Parts of this novel are pretty dark, and I loved those moments. The mixed media format, sometimes a string of dialogue from an online forum and sometimes a report from someone examining CCTV footage, keeps you on tenterhooks because you're experiencing the story as the characters are experiencing it and finding things out as they're discovering them. I have to say that, without the way it's written, I'm not sure how original this idea is. To be honest that doesn't bother me; I haven't read enough sci-fi to feel bogged down by tropes and there's no such thing as a completely original story anymore anyway. I want to mention it, though, because I think there may be some sci-fi aficionados who might go into this book expecting a completely original concept when it's actually the way this story is written, and not necessarily the contents of the story itself, that makes Illuminae so original. The characters are great; when Kady and Ezra are back on speaking terms their banter is really fun, and you get a sense of the history between them and how, now that their entire lives have changed so drastically, the problems they thought they had don't seem all that big. There was also one plot twist that took me completely by surprise and I loved it. When I say this is a twisty, turny book I mean it in every sense of the word, and I was well on the way to giving this book 5 stars. Then there was another twist, nearer the end, and unfortunately it lessened the impact of that earlier twist for me. I'd've loved this novel even more if Kaufman and Kristoff had been a little braver. If you've read Illuminae then I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about. That aside I had a lot of fun reading this novel and both Kaufman and Kristoff are authors I'd like to read more from in future. I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series, I've seen most people say the first book is the best and the second and third are just rehashed versions of the first, but I might be tempted to read Gemina if I find a cheap copy somewhere because one of the characters in it is a member of a crime family, and I love me a crime family... ## Features - Warning:Do not use near overhead power lines. - New Store Stock ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 67,966 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 37 in Space Opera for Young Adults 109 in Survival Stories for Young Adults 166 in Science Fiction Adventures for Young Adults | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 4,819 Reviews | ## Images ![Illuminae: The Illuminae Files: Book 1 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81KHF6HxY6L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Compelling and tense - quite unputdownable *by L***S on 21 November 2016* 4.5 of 5 stars Illuminae is one of those books that I've been wanting to read for quite a while. It was recommended to me by a few reliable bloggers so it was definitely on the shelf and yet I was reluctant to get to it. Sci Fi isn't my first love, I admit, that and coupled with a book aimed more at a YA audience and the possibility that the story focuses quite heavily on romance well I needed a little push and SciFi Month 2016 provided that gentle nudge. Firstly, to the story. This is definitely a book review that I don't want to give too much away in. There are plenty of twists and turns to this story and future readers don't need me to spoil the surprises along the way. I noticed that Kristoff himself gave an excellent synopsis over on Goodreads which basically summaries the story as: girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl loses planet and family. Girl ends up on a damaged spaceship - with a faster space ship in hot pursuit. On top of this we have a zombie style outbreak taking place on board one of the ships and an AI computer gone insane. Basically as the story opens we make the acquaintance of Kady and Ezra, their planet is under attack from warships and it doesn't seem like they're taking prisoners. Kady and Ezra were in a relationship that literally ended on the evening before the story starts but they're momentarily flung together as they make a desperate attempt to get off planet in a fleet of ships making a bid to escape. Of course they are once again torn apart and although it takes a little while the two of them make tentative moves to once again establish contact with each other. It seems that the threat of a warship hot on your tail, intent on killing any witnesses is a big incentive in putting things in perspective and bringing people back together. There's a lot more to the story than the above of course but Kady and Ezra are the key protagonists that we follow as they not only try to stay alive but also finally reach the conclusion that the people responsible for this attack need to be exposed. The story is written in epistolary format with briefing notes, messages and surveillance transcriptions lending the story a realistic feel. This is a style that I really enjoy it might not be for everyone but I think it's a good way of providing the reader with key information without the need to resort to massive info dumps. What I think really worked well for this story was the build up of momentum. The fleet of escape ships are at a massive disadvantage to the warship pursuing them. They don't have the speed and the damage sustained during the original attack on the planet of Kerensa has left their hyper jump capacity damaged, on top of this they are incapacitated further by being massively overburdened in terms of the numbers they are now carrying. Throughout the story we watch the progress of the warship with visuals that display how many months/days and hours there are before they are intercepted which helps to heighten the tension for the reader. Meanwhile, the feeling on board the ships trying to escape is desperate. Information is not readily forthcoming and suspicions run deep. All of this coincides with what appears to be a massive break down in the AI onboard one of the ships and running alongside this we start to understand that during the original attack on the planet bio weapons were used and those infected need to be quarantined. Kady and an acquaintance she has made have turned to hacking the ship's systems to try and uncover what is really going on. To aid their work they need to make contact with someone on board one of the other vessels and so Kady is forced to reach out to Ezra for help. The characters - well, I really liked Kady. She's a very easy to read character. She's quick witted, intelligent and very cool under pressure - but she has a real person's flaws. She may be quick at hacking into a computer network but she's not a ninja. She can unlock doors but doesn't like to use weapons and she is genuinely afraid when being chased by, well, I won't go into that! Basically she runs the gamut of emotions and I really liked that about her. Ezra on the other hand is probably a bit more of a simple lad - he calls a spade a spade, he doesn't have the quick wit of Kady but he's a good guy and loyal to a fault and I really did feel for the two of them - in fact that was actually what gave me the most tension whilst reading - I so wanted them to get back together and they just kept hitting more and more obstacles to survival. In a reader who cares little for romance that was quite a revelation. This is a fast paced story with plenty of action. The action is virtually instantaneous from the start of the story and it keeps the momentum right through to the conclusion. That thing about having your heart in your throat - I felt that at a few points whilst reading. I wanted things to go smoothly for this pair - and yet they hit set back after set back. In terms of criticisms. Well, I didn't like the layout of the book itself - I understand that it's something of a work of art but reading on a fairly basic e-reader that doesn't come across or work well at all. I'm sure it works better on a traditional paper format but this is a niggle of mine, particularly as I read a lot of my books in electronic format these days - I think the book should work in both formats. I'm not going to use this review as the opportunity to rant though as this didn't really bother me too much as I skipped over the pages in question. Also, I'm not entirely sure that those elements brought anything to the story - others will probably know better on that front. I thought the ending felt a little bit rushed to be honest. There was an opportunity to make it considerably more tense and to really work on the readers' emotions even more - perhaps the authors decided they wanted to give us a break. Overall, niggles aside, I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read. I don't really read a lot of sci fi so for me the plot and themes involved felt really quite original and very gripping. I suppose hardened sci fi readers might feel differently in that respect. I would definitely recommend Illuminae, it does have a romance running throughout the plot but because of the way in which the story is told this doesn't come across as overpowering or 'cheesy'. There's no insta-love here, more a realisation of what's important to the main characters. And, of course there's the mystery at the heart of the novel - which still remains to be uncovered. I will definitely pick up No.2 to see where this goes to next. A wonderful story filled with tension and desperation. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unputdownable *by J***N on 6 October 2019* I've heard nothing but good things about Illuminae since it was released in 2015 - I can't believe this novel has been around for four years already - and I feel like I've been seeing Jay Kristoff's name everywhere this year, so when I came across the kindle edition of this YA sci-fi novel told via mixed media for less than £2 I snapped it up. I had a lot of fun with this novel and, despite the fact that it's over 600 pages long, I sped through it because of the format it's told in. In Illuminae we follow teenagers Kady and Ezra who, on the day Kady breaks off their relationship, end up fleeing their planet on two separate fleets with the warship that has destroyed their home in pursuit. What follows is a story that twists and turns as Kady, in particular, tries to find out the hell's going on and why so many lives have been ruined by hacking into government documents. To be honest that's all I want to say about this novel because I went into it knowing practically nothing about it and I enjoyed it so much more because of that. The less you know, the more it feels like this story is unfolding in front of you and you're simply along for the ride. Parts of this novel are pretty dark, and I loved those moments. The mixed media format, sometimes a string of dialogue from an online forum and sometimes a report from someone examining CCTV footage, keeps you on tenterhooks because you're experiencing the story as the characters are experiencing it and finding things out as they're discovering them. I have to say that, without the way it's written, I'm not sure how original this idea is. To be honest that doesn't bother me; I haven't read enough sci-fi to feel bogged down by tropes and there's no such thing as a completely original story anymore anyway. I want to mention it, though, because I think there may be some sci-fi aficionados who might go into this book expecting a completely original concept when it's actually the way this story is written, and not necessarily the contents of the story itself, that makes Illuminae so original. The characters are great; when Kady and Ezra are back on speaking terms their banter is really fun, and you get a sense of the history between them and how, now that their entire lives have changed so drastically, the problems they thought they had don't seem all that big. There was also one plot twist that took me completely by surprise and I loved it. When I say this is a twisty, turny book I mean it in every sense of the word, and I was well on the way to giving this book 5 stars. Then there was another twist, nearer the end, and unfortunately it lessened the impact of that earlier twist for me. I'd've loved this novel even more if Kaufman and Kristoff had been a little braver. If you've read Illuminae then I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about. That aside I had a lot of fun reading this novel and both Kaufman and Kristoff are authors I'd like to read more from in future. I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series, I've seen most people say the first book is the best and the second and third are just rehashed versions of the first, but I might be tempted to read Gemina if I find a cheap copy somewhere because one of the characters in it is a member of a crime family, and I love me a crime family... ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A must read for Sci-Fi *by A***D on 21 April 2021* I will not lie, this was a book I bought in April 2020, purely because of the hype. I'd never really been interested in Sci-Fi, but I'd also told myself I needed to expand my reading horizons. And everyone was raving about it so I thought why not. It's only taken until I decided to do the A-Z 2021 challenge that I finally picked this up to fill the I section. And WOW. The formatting of this book is insane, absolutely amazing and so creatively planned out but equally insane. I loved it. When I started my Audible membership I had asked some friends for recommendations and they said Illuminae as its multicast (more than 1 voice actor). So I decided that I'd pair the amazingly formatted physical book with the full cast audiobook and read them in tandem. I do not regret it. The cast on the Audible audiobook is amazing and really bought the book to life. It felt like listening to a radio drama and I truly got lost in the book. The use of sound effects for certain parts really added to the atmosphere. The formatting for the physical book is like nothing I've ever seen before, a mix of transcripts, conversation logs, reports, post analysis and recorded commentary. This book is not written in continuous pro's. Each section designed to represent what it was. A report looked like a report, a IM chat looked like an IM chat. You get the picture. It was refreshing and oddly engaging. By pairing the audiobook with the physical it really helped make sense of the formatting. As we are still in the throws of a pandemic this book might not be for everyone as it deals with its own pandemic. Thankfully, it's not anything like covid. It's probably worse actually. But I loved how the two authors had created the plot of this book, starting with a bang and then leading us up the garden path. Drawing the reader further into the book. As I got near the end of Illuminae, I thought to myself "how have they made this 3 books, it feels like it's coming to a natural close" but it did not. The end left a very intriguing premise still out there and a natural lead into book 2 without giving any of it away. The two main characters felt a bit like chalk and cheese but that's usually how the best main characters are. I love Ezra and his overall vibe. Kady took some getting used to but in the end I did like her and could picture her to be real. There's a wide array of side characters, which I found were bought to life amazing by the narrators of the audiobook. I'm not sure if I'd have done them justice if I'd just read the physical book on it's own. But that should say more about me as a reader than the book. Everything felt really well put together, for me I loved this read and frustrated as to why I put it off for so long. If you want to dabble in sci-fi to see what you think this is the book for you! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hr/products/49438677-illuminae-the-illuminae-files-book-1](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/49438677-illuminae-the-illuminae-files-book-1) --- *Product available on Desertcart Croatia* *Store origin: HR* *Last updated: 2026-06-23*