Review: Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I received this book for free from Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Timesbestseller that critics are calling “out-of-this-world awesome.”

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 Illuminaecontinues 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 theHypatia 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.

Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

I have a weird thing about sequels that aren’t about the main characters from the first book but since Illuminae was the bomb.com, I was still pretty excited for Gemina. I didn’t love it as much as Illuminae but that’s also probably because I missed the sh██ out of Kady and Ezra. I MISSED THEM SO SO MUCH because they are so wonderful together and I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS FOR THEM.

As a result of the mentioned weird thing I have, it took me a lot longer to warm up to Nik and Hanna but when I finally did, I was able to appreciate the fact that they were wonderfully well-rounded characters who were pretty darn easy to like. They are both funny and sarcastic like Kady and Ezra were but they also feel completely different from the pair in terms of their personalities. Hanna is a serious kick a██ and Nik is a criminal mastermind (sorta).

If you are a fan of opposites attract/hate to love sort of romance, their relationship will probably be kryptonite for you. I definitely enjoyed watching their relationship bloom as they came to understand one another while working together under desperate circumstances.

For others like me who have a hard time wrapping their minds around the fact that Kady and Ezra are no longer our main kiddos, they do make a cameo and Kady is name dropped a bunch so they aren’t completely forgotten about. Hanna and Nik’s story also works perfectly alongside Kady and Ezra’s and it’s so interesting to see all the ways in which they connect. I HAZ some questions though and I guess I’ll just have to wait until book 3 to get all the goody answers.

The sci-fic elements in this book are actually a lot more interesting than the ones in Illuminae. For me, Illuminae was a little more space opera and Gemina is a little bit more sci fic because more black holes/wormholes involved. Also some really f███ing cool s███ that I cannot elaborate one because spoilers (like actual major spoilers) but just beware of page 505 and make sure you have tissues on hand.

Most people know the BIG news by now that Marie Lu has a hand in some of the illustrations in this book and while those weren’t included in the ARC, you can see a couple here and they look absolutely GORGEOUS. I cannot wait to have a final copy in my hands so I can flip through and see all the amazing things I missed out on.

I do want to mention that it might be helpful to flip through Illuminae before diving into Gemina because the timeline stuff confused me at first and it took a while (and lots of flipping through Illuminae) to jog up my memory and have pieces fall into place.

So pick this s███ up, kids. Especially if you loved Illuminae because s███ really hits the fan in this one and I am READY to read book 3. GIVE IT TO ME NOWWWWW.

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Rashika

Rashika has been tired since 2013. There are very few things that spark joy for her besides a nice cup of tea, warm, baked goods, good books and good TV shows. She is here to pile onto your giant TBRs and to-watch lists. Offer her a cookie and she might be nice to you.

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