taylorreadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I think I loved this more then the first one! Ella & Nik's texts were the best things EVER (<~-~ all caps whoooo!) đ đ đ
bookpixel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
onsee's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
positivelybooked's review against another edition
4.0
The last, like, 200 pages were absolutely insane. Completely mind-blown.
skiddlebosh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
timsreads's review against another edition
5.0
These authors are straight up SADISTIC and you would think I would realize that after reading multiple books they've written together. First off this series is crazy!! An entire book takes place over a small number of days and it feels like no one sleeps during the entire course of the plot. Gemina was undeniably gripping and went beyond the expectations of a book with its artful depictions of what went down. This book was intense but was balanced with the hilarious nature of the narration and the conversations between our teenage main characters. Seriously these kids cracked me the fuck up - its mind blowing how well these authors capture the voice of teenage youth.
Now going back to the sadistic comment, these a holes ended the book with a massive cliffhanger
Now going back to the sadistic comment, these a holes ended the book with a massive cliffhanger
geo_ix's review against another edition
5.0
God this series is so fucking good.
Just when I think there canât be more twists, I get more.
This one has a lot to do with wormholes and parallel universes and it was AMAZING. Iâll have to order the next book ASAP because I couldnât find it where I got these two, so hopefully I read this before the end of the year, if not, the start of next. And then Iâll finally start on the books I have from both these authors.
Side note on the format of the book: the chat logs on the darker pages was quite difficult for me to read in the WhisperNET parts, this I feel should have been a little clearer (the bold sections started to blend into the background of the IM screen, and if the background was a few shades lighter it wouldnât have been quite as bad.
Blood covered pages were a little crap too because I wanted to see it all and it was so dark I couldnât see shit, but that ones a bit more understandable and the bits I couldnât see properly werenât super important.
Just when I think there canât be more twists, I get more.
This one has a lot to do with wormholes and parallel universes and it was AMAZING. Iâll have to order the next book ASAP because I couldnât find it where I got these two, so hopefully I read this before the end of the year, if not, the start of next. And then Iâll finally start on the books I have from both these authors.
Side note on the format of the book: the chat logs on the darker pages was quite difficult for me to read in the WhisperNET parts, this I feel should have been a little clearer (the bold sections started to blend into the background of the IM screen, and if the background was a few shades lighter it wouldnât have been quite as bad.
Blood covered pages were a little crap too because I wanted to see it all and it was so dark I couldnât see shit, but that ones a bit more understandable and the bits I couldnât see properly werenât super important.
jazzyjan94's review against another edition
5.0
This review appears on my blog: https://confessionsofabookwormweb.wordpress.com/2020/10/05/book-review-super-spoilery-edition-gemina-by-amie-kaufman-and-jay-kristoff/
After I finished Illuminae, I jumped right into Gemina. Even though it is more of a companion sequel to Illuminae, it is still important to read Illuminae before picking this up. Honestly, I remembered less of what happened in Gemina than in Illuminae, but I was excited to read it!
Just like I did with Illuminae, this is going to be a spoilery review/reading journal.
Gemina follows two new characters, Hanna and Niklas, who live aboard the Heimdall Jump Station, which is still intact! (In Illuminae, the Kerenza refugees were wondering whether or not it was still around.) This novel opens up about a week or so after the end of the events of Illuminae. Hanna is the commander's daughter , and is dating one of the young officers. Niklas is a drug dealer who works for his uncle's cartel, the House of Knives. On Terra Day a mutiny is staged and the ship is under siege, and a whole lot of stuff goes down, however Hanna and Niklas fight to stay alive and keep the Heimdall going, especially when they discover that the Hypatia is on the way.
First off, at the beginning Kady's dad is still alive, which is god because she thinks he is dead. Also, I love how the dossier that makes up this installment is framed by the narrative of the executive director of BeiTech on trial for everything that happened in Illuminae, this book, and Obsidio. I also liked how Gemina deals with wormholes and how they are used for travel.
I forgot that Sam Wheaton, who Hanna strongly dislikes, was working undercover for BeiTech and that he is the one who made sure the Heimdall did not know that the Hypatia was coming. Also, I forgot how Niklas is unknowlingly partially responsible for getting the BeiTech special ops team on board!
Also, it makes me sad that Hanna's dad is killed because they had a pretty good father-daughter relationship.
For whatever reason whenever I read Falk/Cerebus (the Commander of the BeiTech special ops team) I keep reading it in the voice of Anton Ego from Ratatouille...I have no idea why, maybe it's his frequent use of the word "bliss." But as far as I know he's a lot younger than Anton Ego. My brain is just weird.
It's a little unnerving how ruthless Director Frobisher is - she's willing to have thousands murdered all for the sake of saving BeiTech's butts. Also just shows how greedy and bloodthirsty someone corrupt can be. However, I do appreaciate how Sam Wheaton starts to have doubts about his involvement in BeiTech's hostile takeover of the Heimdall....and I have just remembered that it isn't really Sam who is the undercover BeiTech agent, it was Jackson Merrick, Hanna's boyfriend posing as Sam, I remember that that was a great twist! I had remebered that he was involved with Falk's crew showhow, but I had forgotten that he was actually Rapier (Falk's call name for him.) Dang that was good!
And who can forget thaose weird worm-like creatures, Lamina, crawling around the station and feeding off of peple so they can grow bigger. There is so much crap going down and it's and even wilder ride from about the 300 pages mare. But the Lamina are definitely the creepiest part of Gemina! Especially the eldest one who decidcdes to go in search of more "food" within the Heimdall.
Once the wormhole is brought back online things start to get even more interesting - and even a bit trippy.
Now I remember the pain of Nik dying and Hanna being all alone.
It is also interesting how the multiverse/ parallel universes is brought into play. I think it is well done, but I'm going to be honest and say that even when rereading it, I still do not fully understand it, but I think that it's supposed to be that way intentionally - I think. Also, I really liked how Nik is still alive and that it was his parallel universe self that was killed.
It was cool how Jackson redeems himself by sacrificing himself so that Nik, Hanna and Ella can escape to safety in the end.
Overall, Gemina is a great follow-up to Illuminae, although it does suffer from that second book slump in certain places. However, I will say I really enjoyed it, in fact I think I enjoyed it a lot more than the first time I read it! It gets trippy a bit, but it is still really good. Although not as good as Illuminae, and I think that is because ity had a lot more mixed media pages, whereas Gemina was more heavy on the video surveillance transcripts. 5/5 Stars.
After I finished Illuminae, I jumped right into Gemina. Even though it is more of a companion sequel to Illuminae, it is still important to read Illuminae before picking this up. Honestly, I remembered less of what happened in Gemina than in Illuminae, but I was excited to read it!
Just like I did with Illuminae, this is going to be a spoilery review/reading journal.
Gemina follows two new characters, Hanna and Niklas, who live aboard the Heimdall Jump Station, which is still intact! (In Illuminae, the Kerenza refugees were wondering whether or not it was still around.) This novel opens up about a week or so after the end of the events of Illuminae. Hanna is the commander's daughter , and is dating one of the young officers. Niklas is a drug dealer who works for his uncle's cartel, the House of Knives. On Terra Day a mutiny is staged and the ship is under siege, and a whole lot of stuff goes down, however Hanna and Niklas fight to stay alive and keep the Heimdall going, especially when they discover that the Hypatia is on the way.
First off, at the beginning Kady's dad is still alive, which is god because she thinks he is dead. Also, I love how the dossier that makes up this installment is framed by the narrative of the executive director of BeiTech on trial for everything that happened in Illuminae, this book, and Obsidio. I also liked how Gemina deals with wormholes and how they are used for travel.
I forgot that Sam Wheaton, who Hanna strongly dislikes, was working undercover for BeiTech and that he is the one who made sure the Heimdall did not know that the Hypatia was coming. Also, I forgot how Niklas is unknowlingly partially responsible for getting the BeiTech special ops team on board!
Also, it makes me sad that Hanna's dad is killed because they had a pretty good father-daughter relationship.
For whatever reason whenever I read Falk/Cerebus (the Commander of the BeiTech special ops team) I keep reading it in the voice of Anton Ego from Ratatouille...I have no idea why, maybe it's his frequent use of the word "bliss." But as far as I know he's a lot younger than Anton Ego. My brain is just weird.
It's a little unnerving how ruthless Director Frobisher is - she's willing to have thousands murdered all for the sake of saving BeiTech's butts. Also just shows how greedy and bloodthirsty someone corrupt can be. However, I do appreaciate how Sam Wheaton starts to have doubts about his involvement in BeiTech's hostile takeover of the Heimdall....and I have just remembered that it isn't really Sam who is the undercover BeiTech agent, it was Jackson Merrick, Hanna's boyfriend posing as Sam, I remember that that was a great twist! I had remebered that he was involved with Falk's crew showhow, but I had forgotten that he was actually Rapier (Falk's call name for him.) Dang that was good!
And who can forget thaose weird worm-like creatures, Lamina, crawling around the station and feeding off of peple so they can grow bigger. There is so much crap going down and it's and even wilder ride from about the 300 pages mare. But the Lamina are definitely the creepiest part of Gemina! Especially the eldest one who decidcdes to go in search of more "food" within the Heimdall.
Once the wormhole is brought back online things start to get even more interesting - and even a bit trippy.
Now I remember the pain of Nik dying and Hanna being all alone.
It is also interesting how the multiverse/ parallel universes is brought into play. I think it is well done, but I'm going to be honest and say that even when rereading it, I still do not fully understand it, but I think that it's supposed to be that way intentionally - I think. Also, I really liked how Nik is still alive and that it was his parallel universe self that was killed.
It was cool how Jackson redeems himself by sacrificing himself so that Nik, Hanna and Ella can escape to safety in the end.
Overall, Gemina is a great follow-up to Illuminae, although it does suffer from that second book slump in certain places. However, I will say I really enjoyed it, in fact I think I enjoyed it a lot more than the first time I read it! It gets trippy a bit, but it is still really good. Although not as good as Illuminae, and I think that is because ity had a lot more mixed media pages, whereas Gemina was more heavy on the video surveillance transcripts. 5/5 Stars.
sophiaeve's review against another edition
4.0
i didnât like this as much as the first one but it was still a great book and so far a fantastic series! the ending was crazy and my brain couldnât handle it.
i will say though that the conversations felt much more âadults try write like teensâ than the first, & death doesnât really mean anything in this book and those âtwistsâ were never really effective
also, feel like a trigger warning for animal death/abuse needs to be noted.
i will say though that the conversations felt much more âadults try write like teensâ than the first, & death doesnât really mean anything in this book and those âtwistsâ were never really effective
also, feel like a trigger warning for animal death/abuse needs to be noted.