Gemina

Written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Narrated by Carla Corvo, Lincoln Hoppe, MacLeod Andrews and 5 more

Brace yourself for GEMINA—the highly anticipated sequel to the book critics called “out-of-this-world awesome,”—featuring journal illustrations by bestselling author Marie Lu!
 
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 sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.
     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.
     Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling listeners into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

Read by Carla Corvo, MacLeod Andrews, Steve West, Erik Davies, Lisa Cordileone, and a full cast
 
Praise for Illuminae:
 
A New York Times Bestseller
A PW Bestseller
 
“Out-of-this-world awesome.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred
 
“Stylistically mesmerizing.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred
 
“An arresting visual experience.” —Booklist, Starred
 
“A game-changer.” —Shelf Awareness, Starred

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781101916674

Amie Kaufman

Amie Kaufman is a New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult and middle grade fiction and the host of the podcast Amie Kaufman on Writing. Her multi-award-winning work is slated for publication in over thirty countries and has been described as “a game-changer” (Shelf Awareness), “stylistically mesmerizing” (Publishers Weekly), and “out-of-this-world awesome” (Kirkus Reviews). Her series include the Illuminae Files, the Aurora Cycle, the Other Side of the Sky duology, the Starbound trilogy, the Unearthed duology, the Elementals trilogy, and The World Between Blinks. Her work is in development for film and TV and has taken home multiple Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, and a Gold Inky, made multiple best-of lists, and been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Raised in Australia and occasionally Ireland, Amie has degrees in history, literature, law, and conflict resolution and is currently undertaking a PhD in creative writing. She lives in Melbourne with her husband, daughter, rescue dog, and an extremely large personal library. Learn more about her and subscribe to her newsletter at amiekaufman.com.

Reviews for Gemina

[mmparker-213929 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not as enjoyable overall as the first, but made me laugh a lot - that's a rare book.

[danielle.desrochers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.25 stars
I really liked this. Not as good as the first, but I think that was more of a “not where I expected to start off” issue than an actual issue with the book.
I can’t wait to read the last one!
I really liked Nik, but Ella was my favorite character by far!

[tuusannuuska-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3,3 stars

The world and the concepts were okay, but man, oh man, did I not like the romantic relationships. All that drama was completely unnecessary and entirely cheesy. Blech. The worst parts in addition to the relationships were the beginning and the ending (particularly the ending). I did not enjoy the stylistic decisions, no matter how much I do like AIDAN.

Still, more than likely gonna read Obsidio as well, just to find out what's gonna happen.

[elspethw-137053 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Similar Too Perfect Heroine. But again a fun plot. Crazy cliff hanger so going to keep going. Very contemporary slang that will be dated on 10 years despite it being set 400 years from now. Amazingly fun gross action. The usual.

[akbouterse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an awesome sequel! I was a little nervous that I wouldn't like the new characters, Hanna and Nik as much as I liked Kady and Ezra from the first book but I really enjoyed them. The old characters do show up and I really enjoyed those parts. I also really enjoyed the new location of this book on the space station Heimdall, which was fun to see because it's a bit more of a permanent residence than a fleeing ship is. The action in this book is just as intense as the first book in this series and the characters have just as much to deal with. In the first book there were space battles, deadly outbreaks, and killer AI and there are just as many bad scenarios in this book so if you didn't like that aspect of the first book you probably won't like this one. The book continues to be written in the format of instant messages, emails, video footage, and pretty pictures that we saw in the first book. Again I am a little biased to love books written like this. I read a lot of books written in formats like this when I was younger so they kind of have a special place for books like this. I did also like the story but I didn't love it quite as much as the first one. this was still a 5-star book for me but I felt like the plot points were a little more convoluted than the first one. This story also ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger so I really want to read the next book now but it's not coming out for a while. Can't wait for it.

[holdenkillfield · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The format and idea of providing a dossier are what brought me to this series. After reading the first book of the series, I decided to continue because I enjoyed the storytelling format. The problem, though, is that the characters are the same.

They are cookie cutouts of each other with only the names and physical attributes changed. Hanna and Kady are the epitome of the girlz rulz, badass chick tropes. They speak the same and are flat. There are no real characterizations or personalities in any of these characters. The same goes for Ezra and Nik. They are the broody, boys who have a romantic side. Again, they speak the same and have no real depth other than superficial physical changes, such as one has tattoos, and the other doesn't.

The biggest problem I had with book 1, and this book is how EVERY LAST CHARACTER speaks in a sarcastic, snarky tone. Seriously? Does everyone feel the need to run one-liners and zingers non-stop? It gets exhausting to read every character speaking essentially the same way. The only character that has their own voice is the AI, AIDAN and he is a machine. I find it interesting that the authors couldn't create distinct voices for their human characters, let alone their main human characters.

I gave the first book 3 stars because visually, it is fun, and the idea of the story's presentation gave it a boost. Unfortunately, the second book is the same story brought over with "different" characters who are just the same as the first and are dealing with the same dilemmas. 2 stars.

[snickel63 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved this book/series so far! I wish it had a bit more about the characters from the first book, but it is still beautifully written. I love the way Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff write together and it is apparent that they are very successful when they work together. Their characters are very relatable. I read this book and listened to the audiobook and I would recommend that to everyone. If you read the book, make sure you listen to the audiobook at some point. It is narrated extremely well and feels more realistic as a listener. I cannot get over how computer "speak" is integrated into pictures. I love this series and would recommend it to anyone who likes sci fi novels or wants to read things that I consider completely unique. This book is written in a way unlike other books. There may be a few out there that are written in a similar format, but nothing can compare to this amazing series!

[jpeterman-190606 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it just as much as the first one! This one focuses on another couple of teens, and while I loved that I still wished it had more of the first couple!

[librarycheri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The ending will require a final book in the trilogy, and I look forward to the mix of ordeals and characters that will come together.

This book will be difficult to review without spoilers, but like Illuminae, it was filled with a great assortment of complications, scifi, and suspense. My main complaint was that some sections dragged on for too long, and the split format was sometimes a challenge to commit to.

The author needs to stay true to the unique format and its purpose created in the first book. Gemina needs to decide if it is a screenplay, a novel, or a continuation of court documents. The files in the first book were great; the ones in Gemina would be too long if gathered for the same sort of reason.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but liked the first one better, and a book 3 should not need another 650 pages to convince anyone of the wrong-doings of BeiTech.

[mrnattania72 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I should be packing BUT
This was as awesome as the first book, Action, Mild Violence, Teens Kicking Ass and Taking Names. It just keep getting better with each addition to the story. At first I was wondering what happened to the Hypasia, then it finally came into play - Just as manipulative as the first. . . having you think one way only to crush those predictions and have to rethink!

[radiohead1985 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cinematic, gorgeous, FUN. A cracking plot full of twists and turns, and a healthy dose of corporate skepticism and science nerdiness, and perhaps the best execution of the "did he/she really die?" trope. In terms of the plot, I did notice a few striking parallels to the first book in the series. For most of the book, it felt like it was going to be simply a grander, better version of Illuminae, but it really shone in the end, with the alternate reality sequences. Everything from the concept, to it's beautiful formatting on paper, and just the simple text, really saved this book.

The book was also surprisingly easy to read, provided that it was full of reports and text logs and surveillance summaries. Most of the characters were a riot, and the writing style despite the constant death and destruction, alternated between being wisecracky and grandiose. In terms of the sheer science-fiction, it wasn't as detailed as say Andy Weir's The Martian, but the authors definitely knew what they were talking about.

The characterization in this book was somewhat interesting. Our two protagonists Hanna and Niklas, closely resembled Ezra and Kady from the previous book. Kady's resemblance to Hanna is even explicitly alluded to in the book. The character development in this book was quite straightforward, involving Hanna a stereotypical "station commander's daughter" and Niklas, a reluctant member of a Russian drug cartel, rising up the occassion and heroically saving the station. We also witnessed a host of side characters, including the Beitech invasion team, and other works onboard the Heimdall station. I felt this was the only place the book was lacking - in moral complexity or emotional frailty. Although the book did have its moments with jasmine corsages and Hanna's sketches, for the most part it remained focused on the plot - which in the end turned out to be the right choice.

Definitely excited for the next installment.

[viragoreads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This follow-up to Illuminae was phenomenal! I became immediately invested in the characters and their plight. Everything was so exciting and there was so much going in, but again, it never got confusing. This format continues to intrigue me and I'm very much looking forward to reading the conclusion to this adventure.

[faith_murri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nov 16, 2019 update: So, I've been thinking about it and I'm gonna lower this from 4 stars to 3. It, especially in the dark, abysmal shadow of Obsidio, was really not that great. update over

Patience and Silence had one beautiful daughter. And her name was Vengeance.
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I have to admit that I wasn't nearly as into this one than I was with Illuminae. It just didn't click as much, and I found much of the conflict to be convoluted and too conveniently resolved, which makes for crappy tension. I didn't even feel any kind of connection to the main characters until around halfway through, and this book is long. Most of the issue was the sheer obnoxious similarities between Kady Grant and Hanna Donnelly (that are even referenced in-universe, they are so prevalent)--and unfortunately, it took a great deal of murder and sadness to make me like Kady, and nothing on that scale happens to Hanna ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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Most of the emotions I felt were more for the shock-value of the situations, not necessarily because I had grown attached to specific characters. After a while, the plot armor was obvious. The only character I found myself genuinely liking was Niklas Malikov, and that's mostly just because he's a riot.

there's this moment
this tiny moment
in between the time you decide to pull a trigger and the time the death arrives
there's just you and it and everything you're about to take away
it's too big. it goes on forever

Another issue I have with this that in retrospect is also a problem with Illuminae is the narrative style. It is wonderful, beautiful and lyrical, but it isn't diverse, and given the nature of the format, that is a problem. I doubt every single person is nearly as good of a writer as they are portrayed to be. It makes the presence of the authors stand out, which in makes me remember I'm reading a book; in other words, it takes me out of the story.

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But! AIDAN came to the rescue and saved this book for me! As usual, his computer charm and slightly poetic ramblings warmed my soul! I would read AIDAN narrate someone going to the store and I would love it.

Overall, this was fun and thrilling but ultimately does not compare to the first book. Perhaps in another universe,Illuminae is less astounding and this book is better in comparison. But alas, this is the universe we live in.

OF ALL OUR INFINITE POSSIBILITIES, THESE ARE BUT TWO.

[ray_-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book got a whole lot better on the second read
Now I'm pumped up for the third!

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

AHHH! Very rarely are follow up books as good as the first one, but Gemina is amazing, possibly even better than the first one! I can't decide! Seriously soo good, these teenage space opera action packed, romance laced book is food for the soul. Gemina picks up the story from Illuminae, but with a new cast of characters. Instead of being aboard the space shuttle Hypatia, Nic and Hanna are on the wormhole station, Heimdall. Which is just where Hypatia is headed. Hanna is the spoiled brat of the commander and Nic is drug dealing gang dealer. But there is much more to them then meets the eye. When a series of terrifying events throw them together, they learn to look past the surface, because in order to thwart Bei Tech industries they're going to have to work together. Things are only going to get worse. One hell of a follow up and ends on a cliffhanger. I need the third book now!!

[krau0098 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Iluminae files series and I enjoyed this book a ton. I didn't like it quite as much as the first book but it was pretty close to being just as wonderful.

This story takes place on the Heimdall jump station, the jump station that the Hypatia is planning to take refuge at. Unfortunately, BeiTech is desperate to cover things up and decides to invade and attempt a takeover of Heimdall station. Similar to the first book there are two main obstacles for our characters: the first is the invading force and the second is of a more alien nature.

I didn’t relate to these characters and enjoy them quite as well as the ones in Illuminae. Hanna is a pampered captain’s daughter with hidden depths and Nik is a gangster who is misunderstood. These aren’t my favorite types of characters, but they did end up being interesting and worked well in the story.

The invasion that happens here is much more in your face. The alien presence adds a creepy factor to the story but I didn’t think it was nearly as scary as what happened in Illuminae.

The book is action-packed and incredibly hard to put down. I continue to really love the world, the story, and the creative way the book was pulled together and formatted.

Overall this was an absolutely amazing addition to the Illuminae Files series. Although I didn’t like it quite as much as Illuminae, it was still an incredibly awesome read. I already picked up the third book at my library so I can read it soon!

[vulco1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Whew, this book was good. Like Die Hard or Home Alone in space. At least as good as the first installment.

Good righting, good characters, edge of my seat the whole time.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

BeiTech is trying to cover their tracks after taking out Kerenza and is now going after space station Heimdall, trying to intercept survivors before their stories can be told. The book is written as a dossier to give evidence about what happened aboard the station after a BeiTech team attacks the station. Ella, Nik, and Hanna are ready to fight back. Lots of action, death, and destruction as the teens try to stay alive and have their stories told.

[librarianryan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

#JayKristoff and #AmieKaufman are EVIL. Not James Patterson evil, where he is driving my library broke and needs to be assassinated for putting his name on everything. No, this is more the I NEED #3 NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! type of evil. The type of evil, where you are annoyed they put out something so good and left you in a lurch realizing that the horizon of the next book is over a year away, since this one is not even published yet.

I will not lie, I had not read Illuminae before I picked up a copy of Gemina at BEA. I had read the first book of the Lotus Wars (and plan to get back to the series soon). It was only after a game of Heads or Butts over 3 copies of Nevernight, and standing in the very tall shadow of Mr. Jay that I decided I needed this book. And that the three teenagers with me for Book Con had to experience standing in line for 2.5 hours for a BOOK! And let me tell you it was WORTH IT! (2 books in a few weeks worth it).

Gemina runs congruent and a little after Illuminae. And we have a different cast of characters. I was a little worried about this at first because it can be a failure (Forest of Hands and Teeth, I'm looking at you). That is not the case here. We start off with Hanna. The pretty rich girl military brat whose daddy is commander of the Hemidall station. I want to hate her so bad, and in the beginning I do. After running off to meet with her drug dealer to get some party favors for Terra Day. I want to hate her. As a military brat these were the girls I could not stand growing up. But here I am, fallen in love with a character who I should hate. You just cant help yourself. Then there is Nik, the drug dealer. He, I also want to hate. I am against everything he does, at least for the first 50-100 pages. But then, gosh dang it, there goes the character love again. Then there is Ella the tech genius. Her you love from the moment you meet her.

I said books 1 and 2 run congruent. Hypathia is on its way to Hemidall, but BioTech has sent henchmen to Hemidall to make sure the Hypathia does not make it. All heck breaks loose, and the fight for survival is on. Some things I saw coming from a mile away (Bad guy, no surprise), but the physics stuff. I studied physics and have had many debates about the possibilities brought to life in this book, and it makes me a little mad I missed it. My physics club would be so disappointed in me.

So the authors have stated that this is a trilogy. Ah oh, better watch out for the dreaded 2nd book slump. Do not worry about that here. No slump detected. I know some other reviews thought there was a small one, but not this reviewer. This still had the "Put Me Down and DIE" feeling to reading. I'm saying that even reading a galley, that is missing most pictures and galley (but descriptions are present) throughout the book. Sleepless nights, and get nothing done days have happened because of this book series. The most dastardly thing is that I will have to wait over a year to see #3 since this book is not even out yet. UGHHHHHHHHHHH

I lied, I can say that this book has the absolutely WORST last line in a book EVER!!! Jay, Amie, YES I "wanna know how it ends?"!

[lisa5127 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! It hurt my brain just a little with space/time issues, but I LOVED it. Much better than the first book

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Yep, this is pretty much a rewrite of the first book in the series, Illuminae: Spunky, well-trained teenage girl and kind-of-fucked-up-but-ultimately-noble teenage boy survive a space massacre and then try to survive the aftermath as perpetrators of said massacre try to kill them too. The text is mostly epistolary/after-action reports and features unreliable narrators, including sometimes the insane AI that survived the earlier book, along with text that sometimes curls in spirals or other forms. Also, there are brain-eating monster slugs, which contribute to the chaos but then are gotten rid of in something of an anticlimax, as the author perhaps realized she’d created too powerful an adversary. The slugs did give rise to what to me was the funniest of all the black humor moments, when the boy protagonist and his equally criminal cousin remember what they forgot to deal with due to massacre/invasion, which is to say the hatching of the slugs. (The slugs produce drugs, which is why someone thought it was a fine idea to bring a bunch of brain-eating slugs aboard a space station full of brains.)

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While this book has the same killer plot and pacing as Illuminae, I'm much less fond of the "if you sexually harass a girl long enough eventually she'll date you" romance in this one.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sequel/companion to Illuminae, Gemina focuses on teenagers living on the space-station Heimdall as they deal with a ruthless invasion.

It’s told very effectively through instant messages, descriptions of surveillance footage, diagrams, a character’s sketchbook and other documents. I particularly liked the sketches, and the way the story portrayed the characters’ familial relationships as complex and important.

I didn’t find Gemina quite as intense or as surprising as Illuminae, as I had a better idea of what to expect. I didn’t anticipate the timing and circumstances of various developments, but I wasn’t surprised when particular characters were killed, or else managed to survive; I didn’t predict the twist but I was waiting for there to be that sort of twist. I knew what sort of story it was, and what sort of ending it was heading towards.

That said, there was at least one twist which was completely unexpected. And also, although Gemina would be more surprising if one hadn’t read Illuminae, one then wouldn’t be able to appreciate all the ways it is connected to the first book.

I’m very curious to see what the third book does.

[empressreece · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Illuminae Files: #2 - 4.5 stars

I LOVED Illuminae! It was one of my top favorite books of 2015 so I had high expectations for Gemina-probably too high I think. I waited and waited not-so-patiently for my pre-ordered copy and then ughh it finally gets here and....I was impressed with the book itself; the cover and layout is gorgeous but I was letdown a little bit by the story. I just didn't fall in love with it like I did Illuminae. Don't get me wrong it was still really good but the dialogue in the first half of the book just had a lot more of an immature, younger undertone to it and I could not get into it or relate with it at all. In the second half though, when their situation becomes a lot more dire, the tone of the dialogue changed and it wasn't as bad. I liked the story a lot more for it too.

[seriesousbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

took me a while to warm up to Hanna but I enjoyed the suspense of this book a lot. definitely had its great and fantastic moments

[pennma05-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Epic! I loved seeing a few of the characters from Illuminae connect into this book but I also really enjoyed the new main characters. I loved the banter between Hanna and Nik. I was totally getting adrenaline rushes while reading this with all of the action and craziness happening on board the ship. Once again, I completely loved the formatting. Genius.

[caitief-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a really cool book - LOVE the illustrations and these characters are awesome. Looking forward to the last book!

[carolyndenman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So, it took me a little while to find time to read this book, because I had a feeling that once I started, nothing else would get done in my life until it was finished. Yep. I was right. The story was so smoothly paced there must have been a team of people with brooms clearing the road in front of it. Not one boring pothole, or plot hole, to tempt me to take a break. And talk about a tidy plot! Nicely complex, and yet no discernible weak points. When I realised they were messing with wormhole theory, I was worried this would be used as a cheap device to make everything come good in the end, but it was well thought through and lots of fun. Given the fast pace of the action, I was so impressed they still managed to find time to develop the characters as well as they did. That is some creative and talented writing. I highly recommend it for any readers who may be feeling a bit bored with the 'sameness' of other stories in this genre.

[shahnareads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my heart.
It gets ya! More then once. gah

I really like this series. Right in the feels the whole time.

goddamn.

[acargile-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book two of The Illuminae Files, Gemina is just as suspenseful and tension-filled as the first. If you haven’t read Illuminae, STOP and read it. You need that information to understand what is going on and who the people are at the end of this novel.

This novel takes place at the Heimdall Waypoint where the Hypatia is to arrive with our characters from book one, Illuminae. Like the first novel, you need to pay attention to the beginning. The Kerenza Trials are going on--it’s day 82 and Frobisher is on trial. The rest of the novel is a review of the files concerning what happened according to Hanna Donnelly. Like the first novel, this novel consists of primary sources pieced together to tell the story, so it’s not in a narrative form.

Our new characters are Hanna Donnelly, Jax Merrick, and Nik Malikov. Hanna’s father is in charge of Heimdall; his chief engineer is Isaac Grant (yes, Katie’s father--Katie from book one). A holiday is coming up, so many people are leaving Heimdall to celebrate. Meanwhile, Mr. Grant and Mr. Donnelly are working on maintenance on the wormhole, which is what the Heimdall sits on. Obviously, this is very dangerous. Everyone else is planning on partying, including Hanna and her boyfriend Jax. Hanna buys drugs from her dealer, Nik, to more thoroughly enjoy the holiday. While purchasing her supplies, BeiTech (the company from book one) sends a crew to take over Heimdall in hopes of stopping the Hypatia from getting the word out about what they did on Kerenza. Nik and Hanna are off the grid when the bad guys arrive, so they are left to fight while everyone else has armed people overseeing them. These are not people to mess with--they kill Hanna’s father first to show who is in charge. The rest of the novel is Hanna and Nik trying to stop the bad guys, get word to Hypatia, and make sure everyone is safe. It’s intense!

Like the first novel, I listened to this one. I didn’t realize it would be different characters and had to use the book as backup until I knew what was going on. Then, I was able to just listen. There is an entire cast reading this novel and they rock! I am not a science fiction fan; I hate Star Trek and stuff like that. THIS series is so good, and I never would have guessed it. I loved the suspense of the novels. I highly recommend reading them. Now, I’m greatly anticipating book 3--drat! I want the book now!