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 readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless (goodreads).
The question after Illuminae was, "what more can these two do?" And the answer is: SO MUCH MORE.
Plot: Gemina follows two different teens on a different ship that is seemingly unrelated to the Hypatia. During a festival, a group of assassins begin picking off citizens who don't comply to their mutiny and Hanna and Nik are in the race for survival because gun-totin' assassins aren't the only things out to get them. Unlike
Illuminae, I found
Gemina to be fairly straight forward.
Illuminae read like a space soap opera and
Gemina seemed to follow the path of Die Hard
. Gemina did pack some major punches though and has an ending that made me desperate for just one more page. The Illuninae Files is going to be one of these unforgettable stories and I can't imagine the explosive conclusion (is this going to be a trilogy? I have no idea).
Characters: I was initially worried about the lack of Ezra and Kady in Gemina, but I found Nik and Hanna to be strong characters who were dying to have their stories told. I especially loved Nik who came from a mobster family but was head over heels in love with the captain's daughter. Their interactions reminded me of Ezra and Kady. The main reason I can't give this a full five-star rating is because I missed the random character narration that we got in Illuminae. Illuminae was such a special novel because we got glimpses into the lives of other characters, even if it were just for a second. Gemina mostly follows Nik and Hanna around so it felt like they were the only ones on the ship.
Worldbuilding: Gemina pulled in elements from Illuminae so expertly that I was never lost nor did I have moments where I had forgotten the events of Illuminae. The world would have been a bit better for me if more people were involved in Gemina. Like I said before, we mostly follow the point of views from either Team!Nik/Hanna or Team!Assassins which made the world feel bare.
Short N Sweet: Gemina is a book that is well worth the wait. I can only imagine what these two master minds will bring into the third novel.
