Title: Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2)Authors: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Pages: 659
Rating: 5 Stars
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Hanna and Nik are celebrating Terra Day on the space station they live on, Heimdall, when it is attacked by terrorists from BeiTech. Fortunately, (or unfortunately- depending on how you look at it) the two were separate from the rest of the civilians when BeiTech locked everyone in. The two are pressed to find help in escaping their attackers as they're hunted down.
Of course this book was phenomenal. I gave Illuminae five stars, and Gemina was just as good. For those of you who have read Illuminae, be prepared for a new set of main characters. Hanna is the daughter of the station captain, and lives a life of luxury. Nik is part of a notorious crime family and does not. I was somewhat worried that I wouldn't like having new characters, but I instantly fell in love with them and became invested in the story. Plus, their story still connects to the characters in Illuminae, and we get to see a little bit of them here and there.
Like with Illuminae, Gemina is told through IMs, transcripts, journal entries and more. In fact, the lovely Marie Lu did the sketches inside Hanna's journal, and they are absolutely fantastic. The typography, graphics, and images found in Gemina are so gorgeous and powerful. It really adds much more feeling to the story. True, it was a little awkward having to turn the book upside down and sideways to read some pages, but it was worth it. (Mini arm workout am I right?)
Also! On the pages with "random" names, (lists of casualties and whatnot) I highly recommend you actually read through the names. You'll recognize many beloved YA authors scattered here and there!
If there's anything negative I have to say, it would be that I find the dialect of the characters a little too similar to ours. This book takes place five centuries into the future, and I feel like some of the things they say would be different. Like, the references they make are so... earthly. I don't know if the characters actually understand their references, or if they've just become old sayings at this point in the future. I'm not sure. Also, I'd love a little more worldbuilding. I understand that wouldn't really work with the story and format, but I really, really want to know more about what life is like in this world. What is Terra Day? What happened to Earth? How far into space have we colonized? However, these are so insignificant that I can't even dock down any stars for it.
Gemina was an incredible book. The plot had my mind whirling- I couldn't believe the roller coaster it had me on. If you're even debating not picking this series up, please do. It's such a great read. And don't be intimidated by the size- the format allows you to read it quickly.
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