Gemina, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Hey all! 

I just finished reading Gemina, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff! 

I got a signed copy (!) from a special Gemina box by The YA Chronicles! I've been waiting for this book since Illuminae came out last year and I absolutely loved it! *-* 

 "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. 

The saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the space station Heimdall. Hanna is the station captain's pampered daughter, Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. Little do they know that Kady grant and the Hypatia are headed to Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion. 

When an elite BeiTech team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. Soon, Hanna and Nik aren't just fighting for their own survival. The fate of everyone on the Hypatia - and possibly in the known universe - is in their hands. 

But relax. They've totally got this. They hope. 

So I was somewhat expecting Gemina to start off at the end of Illuminae. After all, Illuminae ends with (highlight) "Now run", so in my mind it made sense for it to start off with Kazy and Ezra back on Hypatia. 

Well I was wrong! 

Gemina is focused on a new set of characters. You have Hanna, who is the captain's daughter. She's popular, hosts lots of parties, gets what she wants, does drugs, etc.. (a person I would not get along with, basically). You also have Nik. His family is a part of the House of Knives, a crime group. He has tattoos representing his deeds, is openly flirty, deals a drug made from a certain worm, and is somewhat reluctant towards being a part of the House of Knives for much longer. Nik is basically Hanna's drug dealer until they are forced to work together to help the entire Heimdall crew from disaster. 

Although I doubt I would like these characters as people in real life, they were fantastic chraracters! They were super well written, nicely developed with flaws and strengths, and definite personality traits. They worked really well together (although not as well as Kady and Ezra, in my opinion! ^^) 

There are two main side characters. Jax, Hanna's boyfriend, and Ella, Nik's cousin. I really loved Ella's character, she was probably my favorite in the book! She was sassy and rude, despite being chair-ridden due to a disease she had when she was young. She is known as 'little spider', due to her ability to hack the web. 

Jax... he's a jerk. I'll leave it at that. 

Oh! I was SO happy that AIDAN was a major part of this story! The artificial intelligence unit is one of my favorite 'characters' - It is sarcastic yet innocent at the same time, almost like a super-smart child. I loved how AIDAN at times would basically cut whoever was narrating the video recordings. It said

"No.

Much as Analyst ID 7213-0089-DN can be relied upon

to transcribe murders in lavatory stalls,

or the executions of innocent plastic birds, 

this quite unthinkable,

almost incomprehensible 

moment

cannot be left to his questionable narrative talents.

It would be irresponsible to allow it."

AIDAN is way too aware that it is smart, haahaha XD 

The plot of this book develops in a similar way to Illuminae - basically all things turn into chaos! The way the story is told - through instant messaging or transcripts was perfect. It makes for a fast read and an incredible mindscape. It really contributes to the story! Throught the book there are also illustrations by Marie Lu that give a less 'electronic' impression of the story. The illustrations are Hanna's drawings in her diary, and they bring another dimension to her personality - she might be the popular one, but she still has a mind of her own and secrets she keeps. 

So the people in Gemina have a very different problem than those in Illuminae. Whereas Illuminae's group was threatened by a disease and a physcho AI system, the people on the Heimdall are faced with a murderous group of BeiTech workers, and with huge worm-like creatures that would basically eat people... not the nicest attack! 

This book also deals with the concept of the Multiverse - the theory that for every decision you make or don't make, a new universe is created in parallel in which you made the choice you didn't make. Basically, the Heimdall is a ship capable of making wormholes to another parallel universe. It was a key player in the evacuation of Kerenza. 

(highlight)

So it's probably no surprise to you that since the concept of multiverses are covered in a sci-fi context, more than one universe would be present, right? I LOVED those parts, when the two would interract! It was done so well, especially when Universe A Hanna and universe B Nik were each talking with AIDAN at the same time, and were in the same situation, in which everything they did was practically mirrored in the other person's actions. SO COOL! 

The emotions in this book... oof it was hard sometimes! You can really feel what the characters are going through. I guess that's one of the benefits of having direct speech as one of the ways this was written out. 

I have to get going, I'm sorry this review is such a mess! (I'll try fixing it later, it's just my mind is still going a million miles per hour with what happened at the end of the book!) 

I'm giving this a 4.5/5 feathers! Incredible sequel, and now I'm kinda dying for book 3!!!

Have you read Gemina? What did you think about it? Let me know!! :D 

Have a great day!