Genre: Sci-Fi Age Range: YA Star Rating: 4 stars Series: Yes - second book in trilogy
*SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for ILLUMINAE*
Synopsis:
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.
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 the Hypatia 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.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
I’m glad I continued listening to this series, as I actually quite liked it. I didn’t particularly like the book ILLUMINAE, and the audiobook was better, but I knew the story already so I wasn’t sure if I’d try GEMINA.
However, GEMINA is a good audiobook. It has more “footage was transcribed by analyst” sections than ILLUMINAE, so felt more like a “traditional”. There are long sections where all the action is described (including what the characters look like!), so I could see what was going on. There were far fewer chat log conversations between characters, which I think really helped me. I definitely lean more to stories where I can imagine what’s happening more clearly.
Are the characters somewhat over powered and too skilled? Yes. Is this a book that loves describing what happens to blood in zero gravity? Yes (if you’re not a fan of blood, maybe avoid this one, there was endless “a million sparkling red suns” and “glistening droplets hanging in the air”). But it was a fun listen, very action packed.
I felt like I knew Hanna and Nik more after listening to this for the first time then reading and then listening to ILLUMINAE. They feel far more fleshed out, as the romance isn’t the heart of who they are. These are two characters who are primarily allies, who happen to develop feelings. They’re not pining for each other, but getting on with the job and defending their home.
There are two “twists” in the book, but they’re exactly the same type of twist as in ILLUMINAE, so I could predict them well in advance. Thus neither were a surprise, and fell very flat. I felt cheated by the writing, as it came across as lazy that the same two “shocking plot twist” beats were used.
I am moving on to the third audiobook, OBSIDIO, and it should be fun to see Kady and Hanna meet in person.
Read my reviews of other book by the author(s):
Written together:
The Illuminae Files (this series):
The Aurora Cycle:
- AURORA RISING (#1)
- AURORA BURNING (#2)
By Jay Kristoff:
The Nevernight Chronicles (adult):
- NEVERNIGHT (#1)
- GODSGRAVE (#2)
- DARKDAWN (#3)
By Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner:
The Other Side of the Sky:
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 
I think out of the three of them, Illuminae is the weaker book. Yes the audiobooks have a lot to answer for in how much I now love this series, but it was with Gemina that I truly got into it. Hanna and Nik were more engaging characters and the chemistry between them wasn’t pushed too much like it was between Kady and Ezra in Illuminae.
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For me, it was more that there were fewer chat logs. I like narrative prose
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Yeah, that was a bonus too.
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