Book Review: Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) (Non-Spoiler)

After Illuminae left me hanging with its ending, Gemina threw me off my seat with its plot full of betrayal, gore-creatures, stabbing, shooting and killing!

Synopsis

Without spoilers, this book follows the aftermath of Illuminae. It was set in the Jump Station Heimdall with completely different characters we followed through. It was still action-packed, enigmatic, page-turner, and mind-blowing. There were some characters in Illuminae that would be mention and appear in this book, and oh, I missed them so much!

At first, I was actually hesitant to read this book out of the fear that it would end with a cliffhanger, for the reason that I didn’t have a copy of Obsidio. But the book I’m currently reading was boring me so I decided to download the audiobook, dive in to it, and hope my favorite characters would survive.

Writing

The way this book was told was still the same as Illuminae. It includes emails, chat logs, radio transmissions, and other files and visuals that were pleasing to the eyes. I love how they put Illustrations on this one, telling what Hanna was putting in her journal. I noticed improvement of the writing. How they changed some of the appearance of the visuals. And how they executed the story splendidly. The audiobook really helped me to enjoy my reading experience. Especially the surveillance camera narrator. It was hilarious.

“It’s not about what I say, right? It’s what I do that matters here.”

– Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2)

Plot

Now I think this was where my problem with the book began. The plot was confusing at some point. I had to stop reading for a while because I can’t figure out if the book was set before, during, or after the Illuminae. I did my research and stumbled upon Jay Asher’s goodreads review and found out that it was set literally 5 minutes after what happened to Illuminae. We follow different set of characters in Jump Station Heimdall. There was chaos, and virus, and lots betrayal, killing, shooting, stabbing, and of course, hacking. Too much was happening on the plot, which was good, unless it’s not your thing. I really wanted to love the plot but I just couldn’t. I can’t help myself but to compare this book to the first one. Illuminae brought my standards so high, and I think that’s part of the reason why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first one.

@allen_thepageturner

Characters

Hanna Donnelly – Hanna was the Heimdall Station captain’s daughter. She was a blond girl who does dojo, which allowed her to fight her enemies physically.  She used to express herself by means of drawing. She get dusted (use drugs) every once in a while. Obviously Kady and Hanna were completely different to each other. While Kady fought using computer and codes, Hanna did the opposite. She fought using her own hands with her ability to kick butts, and break bones. She was introduced as a naughty girl, dating two guys at the same time, attend parties on weekends. But her development was seen in this book. As the plot progress, you would notice that she was actually a serious person, most especially when in danger. I love how she did traps, and improvise weapons (thanks to the army-influence of her dad) it made her a likable heroine. I liked her (but not as much as Kady. but I liked her).

“You might get only one shot. So shoot. You know who said that?”
The rifle clatters to the bloody floor.
“Hanna FUCKING Donnelly. That’s who.” 

– Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2)

Nik Malikov – Nik was a member of House of Knive (HoK) a notorous crime family. He has tattoos, with significant meanings (that would be explained in the book). He has dark hair and dark eyes and dimples. He endured a bad past when he was a child. Basically he was a typical bad boy character in a YA novel. For me personally, I didn’t saw anything special about him. It’s not that I don’t like him. I find his character a little bit cliche. Like I’ve seen bunch of characters like him scattered in YA novels. He was funny, confident, and brave. If the things I mentioned is up in your alley, you’ll definitely like him.

I wish the main characters were given a better development. I mean the book was over 500 pages they could have tell more stories about the characters. Most of the point of view in this book was given to the antagonists.

Overall

At first I wanted to give this book 3 stars. But as I made closer to the ending of the book, the rating was bumped higher. Overall I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. This could have been made better than it was already. I think they lacked in character development with this one. But I do appreciate that it was full of plot. The ending was not totally a cliffhanger, and I love the fact that they left some things untouched and I’m pretty sure they would tackle it in the third book, Obsidio. I would still recommend this book, but don’t expect too much, because you may or may not like it as much as Illuminae.

About The Author

Jay Kristoff is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LOTUS WAR, THE ILLUMINAE FILES, and THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE. He is the winner of two Aurealis Awards and an ABIA, was a nominee for the David Gemmell Morningstar and Legend awards, has been named multiple times in the Kirkus and Amazon Best Teen Books lists, and is published in over twenty-five countries, most of which he has never visited. He is as surprised about all of this as you are. He is 6’7″ and has approximately 13,030 days to live. He abides in Melbourne with his secret agent kung-fu assassin wife and the world’s laziest Jack Russell. He does not believe in happy endings.

jaykristoff.com
Twitter: @misterkristoff
Instagram: @misterkristoff
Goodreads: Jay Kristoff

 

Amie Kaufman is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of science fiction and fantasy for young (and not so young) adults. Her multi-award winning work has been published in 30 countries, and been described as “a game-changer” (Shelf Awareness), “stylistically mesmerising” (Publishers Weekly) and “out-of-this-world awesome” (Kirkus). Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and their rescue dog, Jack.

http://amiekaufman.com/
Twitter: @amiekaufman
Instagram: @amiekaufmanauthor
Goodreads: Amie Kaufman