Amie Kaufman

Jay Kristoff

When the space station Heimdall is invaded, Hannah and Nik must work together to defeat the enemy. Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, this "New York Times"-bestselling sequel to "Illuminae."

The Illuminae Files 2. Gemina

Dustin Tinch

not me reading this in one sitting hehe. it will never make sense how paying a mere $12.99 can get you an experience this fu**ing good! i love this series so much!! *sings...
"ooh ahh yeah i wanna lick your lollipop, ooh ahh yeah i wanna lick your lollipop, sweet as sugar sweet as pie kiss the boys and make them cry but other boys don't taste as sweet, now that I've had you..boy you got the sweetest lips this girl has ever tasted, boy i need some sugar on me"* iykyk bish this book was the "ish" ;) eww i hate myself

Colleen

3.5 Stars
 
I was pleasantly surprised when I read Illuminae early this year. I went into it with low expectations but ended up greatly enjoying the book. So my expectations for the sequel were higher and were not as well met. Gemina was still an exciting read, but I had a few issues with it.
 
The first issue I had was with the ebook formatting. This is an extremely visual series, and I strongly recommend getting a print book rather than audio. But the ebook version of Gemina was extremely glitchy. It included a recommendation to leave it locked on portrait, but I quickly found out that there were viewing problems regardless. The case file notes were cut off no matter which way I turned it or what size I made the font. Some of the illustrations had that problem as well. It was exceptionally frustrating. Save yourself a headache and stick with the print version.
 
Gemina follows different characters than Illuminae. The storyline ties into the first book, but it’s sort of an adjacent story rather than a direct sequel. I would still recommend reading them in order, but don’t go into Gemina expecting the characters from the first book.
 
Like the first book, Gemina is told in the format of a case file made up of emails, transcripts, audio logs, instant messages, and journals. Unlike the first book, Gemina included one of the character’s diaries in which she drew illustrations of characters and events. So there is even more of a visual element which I enjoyed.
 
The plot of Gemina is that the evil megacorporation is taking over the space station Heimdall. Two teenagers have managed to evade capture and are trying to outwit the elite squad hijacking their home. It’s like Home Alone set on a space station. Only bloodier. And with alien parasites, crazy AI, and wormhole quantum mechanics (don’t worry; the science is mostly background scenery and fairly dumbed down. You won’t need a physics degree to enjoy the story). The action kicks off almost right away, and it’s basically nonstop from there. That was both a pro and con that Gemina had in common with IlluminaeI was engaged in the story and couldn’t stop turning the pages, but I also wished that the story would take an occasional breather. Instead, it’s like driving down the Autobon at top speed for the duration. Like the first book, I read Gemina in less than three days despite its length.
 
One of the things I most enjoyed about Illuminae was the snarkiness. But that was a huge disappointment in Gemina. The humor felt forced rather than being effortless sarcasm. It was nowhere near the level of snark. Instead it was replaced by rather lame one-liners and jokes that just failed to land. I could almost hear the crickets chirping.
 
The other big problem I had with Gemina was the clichéd characters. Like the first book, it’s up to teenagers to save the world. But I never cared about Hanna and Nik. Hanna was the rebellious, vapid, spoiled captain’s daughter doing drugs for the hell of it and mooning over boys and clothes. She greatly annoyed me. Then there was Nik, the drug dealer from a crime family who was (of course) a misunderstood badboy who fulfilled every cliché possible: every tattooed, dangerous, flirty, tough-but-secretly-sensitive-and-yearning-for-love cliché ever written. Frankly, you lost me at drug dealer and drug user. And no matter what information was revealed about them, I never was able to become invested in the characters. So while the plot kept me totally engaged, I never got worked up about what would happen to the characters.
 
The nonstop action may have kept me turning the pages, but the fight scenes were mediocre. Hanna is supposedly trained in multiple martial arts and an expert at military strategy but still didn’t manage to be badass. It was also weird that her father gave her such thorough training in everything else but gave her zero gun training. Even if he didn’t want her using guns, a guy that extreme about training would most assuredly have sent her through at least basic gun training. And I know fight scenes are hard to write especially in this format where the narrator is describing what they are watching on security cameras, but they just felt like a blow by blow list of moves rather than good description of action. Some of them didn’t even fully make sense. So that was definitely a disappointment.

But overall, I enjoyed most of the book despite the annoying characters, one-pace plot, and unexceptional fight scenes. I was still feeling pretty charitable towards Gemina until the ending. Most of the story was good considering it is the penultimate book of a trilogy. It isn’t bogged down by Middle Book Syndrome. And I expected the ending to build up for the third book and most likely have a cliffhanger ending. But not only was the ending non-conclusive, it was also farfetched and kind of a Hail Mary. It really took the wind out of the sails and significantly decreased my excitement about reading Obsidio. There were also a lot of similarities with the first book and not in a good way. What felt exciting and refreshing in Illuminae felt stale in Gemina. Similar ideas, less appealing characters. I’ll still finish the series, but my excitement is tempered. It had better reevaluate what worked and didn't work in the first two books.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars (Unless you’re talking about the ebook format; that is a 1 Star)
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Charmaine

Wow, this was truly one heck of a journey. Once again, Kaufman and Kristoff have spun a masterpiece. There were so many plot twists I almost got whiplash. Confusion that left me reeling. Not to mention the space elements — so incredible! Like, how cool is Gemina?!! Annnnd there’s still one more book. I loved this story thus far, and I know I will love the conclusion. 💙

Alexis Rader

I ended up listening to the audio for this and holy shot it made the experience even better! This was so good, I’m so shocked at how much I cared for the characters and couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to see what happens in the last book.

Chelsea Hunter

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is the continuation of Illuminae, taking place right after but from different perspectives, and as was the case with the first novel - it was one of the best novels I've read and I loved it as equally as Illuminae. I was already hooked from the first novel, but it took me even less time to get through Gemina. It was a blend of action, intrigue, and the perfect dose of romance between Hannah and Nik. This story takes place on the Heimdall station that Kady and Ezra are currently heading for, and as before a lot goes on in this novel: BeiTech causing more problems, a space-time continuum concern, and aliens feasting on the people on the station.

What I love most about this series is how kick-butt our female heroines are. Hanna wasn't afraid to do anything if it meant protecting her friends and doing what must be done. She's also really good with hand-to-hand combat and she has a great personality. Nik is a hardened criminal who has a sweet side to him, and he's also really great (personally I love Ezra more). And I just love the flirting, and the slow building of the relationship between Nik and Hanna. Anothe great thing about this book is that you get another female hacker, Nik's cousin, Ella. And all of our characters from book one make an appearance in this novel, including our friendly murderous AI, AIDAN.

One of my favorite things about this novel was obviously how the story was told through documents: emails/IMs, files, reports, interviews, and art. I just love how unique this series is in that regard.

I would highly recommend this novel if you haven't yet had the chance to pick it up. Yes, it's a rather long novel, but because of the way it was written, it's such a quick read (at least it was for me), and didn't take me long to get through.

Emily Digweed

CAWPILE Review: 9.29

Didn't predict to enjoy this as much as the Illuminae... but I was so wrong. It was so much fun. By far the most enjoyable read I've had this year. Enjoyed watching the relationship between Hanna & Nik develop (I love you Nik) and the twists and turns in this book were gripping!

The Illuminae Files 2. Gemina

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