Gemina by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff Series: Illuminae Files #2
Published by Random House Children's Books ISBN: 9780553499179
on October 18, 2016
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Action & Adventure, Survival Stories, Romance
Pages: 672
Read it as: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis
Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.
The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.
Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.
When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.
But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.
I never did review Gemina when I read it the first time, which is a damn shame because it was awesome and it deserves all the praise.
I’ll tell you this, reading these books is nerve-wracking. Every page means something and you just know it, you know it’s going to matter later, and it’ll probably be a bad thing that will have you biting your nails. But we love that. I think that aside from the original format, that’s what really hooked people into these books.
The characters do actually leap off from the page
The books as a whole kinda break the fouth wall, if you think about it. These are all files that we’re reading about things that ‘really’ happened. An email is an email, a video transcription is exactly that. You’re seeing the events as Leanne Frobisher would as she reads the Illuminae Files. So all of the participants feel so real.
This is specially true in Gemina, thanks to the addition of the gorgeous illustrations by Marie Lu. I think I liked Gemina even more than Illuminae. The sketches brought a level of life that elevated the whole book for me.
The worldbuilding is real
Okay, so I don’t know a lot about spaceships and stuff, but I feel like I understand this world they live in, or at least enough to follow the story, and that’s beautiful. Because I don’t need to know the whole story of the universe, just the necessary parts. And I never, ever feel as if the characters are walking in a blank space, they’re always so grounded. Well, except when they’re playing in zero-grav.
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Okay, so I know this review is super short, but I think you get my drift. It’s difficult to individually review books in a series when they really don’t have glaring flaws that bothered me or gave a bad experience. I loved Illuminae, and Gemina was a kickass follow-up. I hope I can bring you something better when I review Obsidio, which as of the writing of this review, I’m currently reading.
But if you’re on the fence about starting this series, maybe because of the hype, fear not because it’s truly amazing.
I really liked Gemina as well!! I think I may have loved Illuminae more just because it was the first in the series, and the first time I really encountered such a format. I’m really interested to see what your thoughts are on Obsidio though! There were some differences between Obsidio and both Illuminae and Gemina, imo.
Aahh the thing with these books is that each brings something new to the table. With Obsidio I just read the first notes passed between the characters XD Can’t wait to finish it either! Thanks for visiting!