Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2)

I think you will agree with me when I say that the hype train for this book series never ends. We’ve all seen how people kept on talking about Illuminae last year and I was really excited for that book that I always check my local book stores whenever I go home and boy I did enjoy reading that book.

Illuminae didn’t exactly end in a cliffhanger but the idea of reading more books about these space adventures is exciting so Gemina never left my radar. Luckily, I got sent an advanced copy of this book so I’ll be forever thankful to the lovely people over at Penguin Random House.

Gemina literally picks up minutes after the events in Illuminae, only focusing on a different space vessel and completely different characters.

The main characters are Hanna Donnelly and Nik Malikov. Hanna is the daughter of the Commander of Jump Station Heimdall, Charles Donnelly, who happens to be friends with Isaac Grant. Yes that same “Grant” so y’all know things are going to be interesting. Nik Malikov is a member of a notorious crime family, albeit very reluctant. So obviously Nik and Hanna have nothing in common, but they are thrown away to work together in order to save the universe – literally.

I love the character dynamics between Hanna and Nik. They are total opposites which makes their banter fun to read. One might say that Hanna and Nik might be similar to Kady and Ezra, yeah I could say that somehow but they are totally different characters with different personalities. I also enjoyed the addition of different narratives, like Hanna’s journal, I can’t wait to see the final sketches for that and I’m super excited because Marie Lu illustrated them!

My favorite character is Ella Malikova, Nik’s cousin. She’s snarky and sweet and very intelligent as well. I also enjoyed seeing familiar names on the casualty list and I can’t wait to read more from the final copy. Never did I get excited about reading names on a casualty list.

I actually put this book down for a while to listen to the audiobook of Illuminae, which in turn heightened my experience of reading this book. Given the A+ storytelling from the first one, this book got better in so many ways. More action, more thrills, more fun. It was a glorious experience overall and I couldn’t put the book down since I resumed reading it because the story keeps on building up. I really can’t wait for you all to read this book!