Rapid Review of Gemina, book two of the Illuminae Files

No spoilers in this Review of Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

I give it 4.5 stars.

I don’t know how they did it–but they did. Ms. Kaufman and Mr. Kristoff created an intriguing compilation of files–hundreds of them–and made it flow perfectly into an exciting, and even mind-bending narrative. Each character’s personality came through wonderfully in this format. (And to my surprise, one of my favorite personalities was the analyst that transcribes video footage–so funny.) I loved the first book in this series, Illuminae, and I liked Gemina even better!

The original Illuminae cast is still present but they are hanging in the outskirts of this story. (I think we will see more of them in book three.) Gemina follows a few residents of deep-space jumpstation Heimdall, who find themselves fighting for their lives and their home when an elite BeiTech strike team is sent to silence them. BeiTech, however, finds that this little rag-tag group won’t be quieted without a fight. Hanna, the privileged daughter of the station captain, and Nik, bad-boy drug dealer, are thrown together along with Nik’s cousin Ella in a cat and mouse game of survival.

SARA’S BOOK RATING

I give it 4.5 stars overall.
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I loved how it all came together through emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics. There are even drawings from Hanna’s own journal that were created by none other than Marie Lu, author of the Legend series. I had the privilege of both listening to the audio as well as holding the paper book in my hands. The audio adaptation was amazing, as it utilized a full cast of readers as well as sound effects. If you get the chance give the audio a try!

To sum up, I highly recommend this series and this book, especially if you are looking for something that’s a little bit different. It is a fun change from the usual format.

If you have read it, let us know in the comments what you thought!

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